Meanwhile, Mia had opened the window.
Without a doubt, she was doing exactly the same thing in reality too. But maybe the real window would jam. Or maybe Lottie had a vase of flowers standing on the sill, and Mia would knock it over by accident. Maybe the real Buttercup was awake by now and scurrying around her legs, barking. Mia would be woken by the noise, or at least Lottie would, and then …
Mia sat on the windowsill and swung her legs over it. It looked as if she would simply climb over into the new room, but I knew that her legs were really hanging in the air many yards above the drop to the paved garden path that ran all around the house.
Think, Liv! Think of a way to beat Arthur with his own weapons.
Something collided with the energy field.
“Bloody hell,” said someone behind me. It was Henry. “What’s going on here?”
I had no time for explanations. It was too late for that.
Arthur turned around once more, probably to enjoy the moment to the fullest. When he saw Henry, he briefly compressed his lips. I used the moment when his attention was distracted.
“What are you waiting for?” growled Arthur, looking at my little sister again. He seemed to be in a hurry now. “Go on!”
But suddenly Mia hesitated. The room with the brick walls beyond the window had disappeared, and instead you could see the sky. I quickly imagined a large yellow full moon and any number of stars, so that Mia could see as much as possible.
Arthur shot me a hate-filled, furious glance, but I was light-years away from feeling even a glimmer of triumph.
“Mia! No!” I shouted again, and this time, somehow or other, I seemed to be getting through to her. At least, she looked around at us in surprise, as if she had heard something that puzzled her.
Meanwhile, Henry had obviously dealt with the energy field. He took a step forward. “Come away from there,” he told Mia quietly.
She looked at him, wide-eyed. “Away?” she asked.
I leaped forward, but at almost the same time, Arthur made an angry gesture. This time I hit the invisible wall when I was level with Lottie’s bed, while Henry, behind me, let out a groan.
Arthur had the upper hand again. “Don’t let anything take your mind off it,” he told Mia in that flattering voice of his, and she turned away from us and looked back at him. My sky and moon had disappeared; the room with the unplastered brick walls was back right in front of Mia, looking even more tempting than before. “It’s your very own mystery, and it’s up to you—”
To solve, he had probably been going to say, but he never did. Because suddenly, right before our eyes, Arthur disappeared.
Just like that, without warning and without a sound. One moment he was there, the next he wasn’t.
“What on earth…?” whispered Henry, coming up beside me.
Bewildered, I raised my head and looked around the room. Still there was no sign of Arthur. Was this some new kind of mischief, or was the danger really over?
“He must have woken from the dream,” said Henry, pulling me to my feet. I hadn’t even noticed that I was still crouching on the floor where the impact of the wall had sent me flying. Nor had I felt the tears running down my cheeks.
Arthur’s energy field had disappeared with him, and so had the illusion of the room beyond the window.
Mia was still sitting on the windowsill. Ready to jump down. Confused. And I realized that it wasn’t over yet.
“You must wake from the dream and get her down from there,” said Henry urgently. “Now. At once.”
“I can’t.” I hardly knew my own voice, it sounded so hysterical. “I’ve been trying to do that all this time.” A huge sob escaped me. “I must wake, I must…”
“Then do it,” said Henry. “Liv, wake up!” He took me in both his arms, turned me to face him, and kissed me hard on the mouth.
30
WHEN I WOKE in Mia’s bed, still half sitting, my face wet with tears, and gasping for air, I didn’t waste any time checking whether I was really awake or not, but jumped out and ran. Only to stumble and fall after five steps, because I’d forgotten the rope tied around my ankle. At least I was sure now that I wasn’t dreaming. My knee hurt too much for that.
Without a thought for the others in the house, I raced out of the room, along the corridor, over the creaking floorboard, up the stairs, and into Lottie’s bedroom. I felt for the switch, my hands flying nervously, and turned on the ceiling light. Mia was standing in the corner of the room beside the open window, staring wide-eyed into nothing. Buttercup sat beside her, panting, but when she saw me, she came over, wagging her tail.
The window was wide open, and icy air came streaming in. Lottie was lying in bed wearing her sleep mask, just as she had been in Mia’s dream, snoring softly.
I felt weak at the knees with sheer relief that Mia wasn’t perched on the windowsill anymore.