‘Absolutely not. Mirabelle is right,’ said Bertram. ‘It would be rude.’ He nodded and looked very gruff and serious, then he seemed to reconsider. ‘Would it be rude?’ he asked, looking hopefully again at Enoch.
Mirabelle could feel a tightness in her chest. She glowered at the twins and Bertram.
‘We used to hunt humans,’ said Daisy gleefully.
‘This is true,’ said Eliza.
‘And they used to hunt us,’ said Dotty, looking cowed and miserable.
‘Which is why we have the Covenant to maintain balance and peace between us. We do not encroach on them, and they do not encroach on us. We stay within the confines of the Glamour. That is the agreement we made with the humans generations ago, and we must respect it,’ sighed Enoch.
‘The agreement was made between us and the village. They’re from beyond the village, and I know the Covenant extends to not hunting anyone in the outside world too, but they came to where we live not the other way around, so maybe we can eat them,’ said Daisy.
‘That’s a technicality and you know it,’ Mirabelle snarled.
Daisy shrugged and it took all of Mirabelle’s strength not to leap across the table and shake her.
‘I can’t even remember what human flesh tastes like,’ said Eliza.
As if on cue Gideon gave a tiny belch.
Mirabelle turned towards Enoch.
‘We need to help them,’ she said.
‘And we all need to agree on the best way to deal with this intrusion from the outside world,’ said Enoch, rocking back in his chair in exasperation. ‘Where is Odd?’ he shouted.
‘We don’t need Odd,’ said Mirabelle.
‘My dear Mirabelle, as senior member of the Family—’
Mirabelle hopped off her chair. ‘You’re not the most senior – Piglet is the oldest. And they should be welcomed by us. Strangers or not.’
Enoch gave a sardonic smile. ‘As you know, Piglet is little better than a child when it comes to matters of governance.’
‘Governance!’ Mirabelle snorted.
‘What’s governance?’ Dotty whispered to Daisy. Daisy shrugged.
Enoch was struggling now, his face a mass of tics and twitches. ‘Mirabelle,’ he growled.
‘No one is eating anybody,’ said Mirabelle, her chest so constricted with fury it felt as if she might never breathe again.
‘In fairness, Mirabelle, you’re not able to eat anybody,’ said Daisy.
This time it was Enoch’s turn to slam the table. ‘Where is Odd?’
Bertram pointed towards the ceiling.
All eyes looked upwards as a black swirl grew just inches beneath the ceiling, and the portal opened. A small figure fell through it and landed with a crash on the table.
Odd stood up and dusted himself off. He picked up a bright red fez, which he’d dropped in his fall, and placed it back on his head. He frowned and pointed to his right, then his left.
‘I think I need to reassess my entry points,’ he said.
Enoch glowered at him.
Odd looked at everybody. ‘What are we all here for?’
‘We have guests,’ said Mirabelle.
‘Uninvited guests,’ said Enoch, giving Mirabelle a haughty look.
‘Guests we can’t eat,’ said Bertram, jigging up and down in his chair.
‘A young boy and a young girl came through the Glamour,’ said Eliza.
‘That’s impossible,’ said Odd.
‘So we thought,’ sighed Enoch.
‘Apparently there’s a tear in it,’ said Eliza.
Dotty and Daisy clutched each other and whimpered. Uncle Bertram started sucking his thumb. Enoch closed his eyes and looked pained.
‘A tear?’ said Odd. ‘That’s not good. I’ve never heard of anything like that happening before. Can it be repaired?’
‘Yes,’ said Enoch. ‘Although it might take some time.’
‘That means anyone can get in, doesn’t it?’ Dotty whined.
There was a moment of silence as they all considered this. Eliza shifted uneasily in her chair, and Bertram, without looking at her, reached out and held her hand. Enoch looked troubled. Mirabelle caught his eye and immediately he straightened up in an effort to mask his concern. He cleared his throat.
‘We will deal with the problem, and with our visitors,’ he said.
‘I see,’ said Odd. ‘So we repair the damage to the Glamour and send our uninvited guests on their merry way?’
‘The boy is sick, Odd,’ said Mirabelle. ‘They have no one else.’
She gave him a pleading look. Odd looked at her sympathetically and nodded. He walked across the table towards Enoch. Enoch looked at him with suspicion, then Odd sighed, took the fez off and laid it on Enoch’s head. Enoch blinked in disbelief. Mirabelle thought she might explode with delight. Gideon had clambered up into her lap and he looked at Enoch, his eye shining with wonder.
‘A gift for you, Uncle,’ said Odd. ‘An act of generosity. Perhaps you can see your way to a generous gesture of your own.’
Enoch looked at Mirabelle as she clamped a hand to her mouth and tried not to laugh. He glared up at Odd, then ripped the fez off his head.
‘Perhaps,’ he hissed.
Odd bowed then made a circle in the air to his left with his little finger. A portal opened.
‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go upstairs.’
Odd entered the portal and it winked out of existence. A second later there was a clattering sound as something hit the floor of the room directly above them. All eyes looked towards the ceiling, and there was a muffled ‘Ouch.’
Eliza tutted and shook her head. ‘He needs to learn to use the stairs.’
Enoch looked at Mirabelle. ‘A week and no more,’ he said.
Mirabelle nodded, her lips clamped together tightly to stifle her glee. She squeezed Gideon to her and he hugged her back.
Mirabelle and the others left Enoch and Eliza to discuss the matter of the Glamour. Mirabelle thought Enoch looked particularly troubled, but she presumed he would figure out a way of fixing it. There were ways she knew nothing about, magic she had heard whispers of that could be worked to fix it. Of that she was certain. Bertram was worried that the flowers might go wandering into the outside world. Enoch reminded him that, like them, the flowers were bound by the Covenant and their own promise to protect the path.
It was near dinnertime, so Mirabelle made her way to the back of the house, to the larder, and opened its once-green door, now peeling paint and grey with age.
Mirabelle walked in and was greeted by the smell of raw meat. Four slabs of ribs hung from hooks in the ceiling. Mirabelle chose the smallest one, then she wheeled a hand cart out from the corner, unhooked the slab and plonked it onto the cart.
‘Mirabelle.’
Odd was standing in the doorway, holding a coconut.
‘A coconut,’ he said, smiling as he held it up for her to see.
‘I can see that, Odd. Why do you have a coconut?’
Odd deposited it on a shelf. ‘Uncle Bertram asked me for something interesting to test his palate.’
‘You’ve been away a lot recently,’ said Mirabelle. ‘Where’ve you been?’
‘Oh, you know,’ he shrugged, ‘here, there and everywhere.’