By the time they arrived back at No. 8, Esme’s headache was almost gone. She sank down onto the couch and tried to explain her vision. The details were fading fast. Only the image of the pearl retained its clarity.
‘I heard everyone’s wishes—hundreds, thousands of them. When they stopped, the fountain looked new. There were great waves of colour in the sky above me. It was the Aurora of Aeolia … I think. I went back to the beginnings of the city … of the world.’
She took up the compendium, which had become a permanent fixture on the driftwood table, and turned to the entry on the Aurora of Aeolia.
‘That’s what it looked like. And then the king and queen showed up.’
‘What?’ Daniel exclaimed. ‘Michail and Sofia?’
Daniel’s shock mirrored her own. She levered herself off the sofa. She nee
