After years of watching his uncle, Jak found he was good at delegating tasks. Gammi and Bert were already taking care of the food and decorations, so he asked Jeremy to arrange for the music and help him invite the guests.
The day before the party, Jeremy told Jak that a band led by a friend of his from another school would play at the party for free; it would be their first performance in front of a real audience and they liked the idea of working out the kinks before taking their act public. Jeremy assured Jak that he’d invited plenty of people and that his party was sure to be a success, but Jak didn’t care who was there as long as Tamisin was one of the guests.
Jak had made his decision – he’d have to take her back even if it was just so they could straighten out the mess with the other goblins. As the time for the party drew near, he became increasingly restless. It wasn’t the party itself that worried him, it was finally taking Tamisin on the long-awaited trip through the Gate.
On Halloween night, Jak put on his travelling clothes. He packed a knapsack with a few essentials, hoping that he could make whatever else they needed. Gammi and Bert would be going with him, just as they’d planned all along, and together the three of them would keep Tamisin safe should the bird goblins – or anyone else – come after her. By the time the first guests arrived, Jak felt better about the plan. He would take Tamisin to his uncle, convince Targin that she couldn’t control lightning and get the bird clan to leave her alone.
Jeremy was the first to show up along with half a dozen of his football-playing buddies. Then the band arrived and everything was in turmoil as they set up their equipment in the living room. More guests came to the door and then, before Jak knew how it had happened, the house was full of people – yet Tamisin still wasn’t there.
Feeling crowded and uncomfortable, Jak went outside to get some fresh air. He was watching the neighbourhood cats cross into his garden when a car pulled up beside the kerb and Tamisin got out. Jak was so pleased to see her that he almost didn’t notice her friend or the boy who had been driving.
“Do you know my brother Kyle?” Tamisin asked.
“Hey, man,” said Kyle, extending his hand to Jak. “Great house.”
“Thanks,” said Jak. And then a boy came out the front door, saw Kyle, and clapped him on the shoulder, and the two disappeared inside.
Jak glanced at the girls’ costumes as he escorted them into the house. Tamisin’s black cat costume almost made her look like a cat goblin. “I like what you’re wearing,” he told Tamisin. “You too,” he told Heather.
They were standing in the entrance hall when Gammi threw open the basement door and scurried up to Jak. Standing on tiptoe, she whispered in his ear, “We need to talk.” She’d already told him of her intention to stay in the basement with Bert while the party was going on, so he knew that whatever she had to say must be important.
Jak manoeuvred Tamisin and Heather around so they were facing the other way. There was no telling what they would see through the open basement door, and the last thing he wanted to do was try to explain Bert. “Sorry,” he said, edging towards Gammi and the basement door. “I’ve got to look into this. I’ll be right back.”
Jak took the steps two at a time. It was dark in the basement; they could all see well without lights. Gammi and Bert were sitting in two reclining chairs. To his surprise Tobi was there as well. “There’s somethin’ goin’ on that I thought ya should know about,” said the little raccoon goblin. “There’s a rumour goin’ ’round ’bout a reward for a human girl with special talents. Now mind, they ain’t sayin’ her name, but I know as sure as nuts fall from a tree that they’re talkin’ ’bout Tamisin. I wanted to warn ya that ya might have yerselves some visitors – the kind no sane body wants to have. Give ya time to get prepared to do what-some-ever.”
“They’re coming here? How would they know –”
“Because they’re goblins, that’s how. They’ve been watching ya ever since ya got here. And most goblins are bad at keeping secrets ’cause they’re just too much fun to tell. Pretty soon what one knows, they all know. Say,” said the little goblin, perking his ears towards the ceiling. “What’s that I hear?”
Jak tilted his head to listen. At first all he could hear was the not-very-good music that Jeremy’s friends were playing. It was loud and repetitive and . . . Between one beat and the next there was a pause, and in that semi-silence Jak heard a sound that made the hair on the back of his neck rise and his fingers flex as if he had claws like Gammi’s. A strange goblin was cackling right here in Jak’s own house.
Jak was up the stairs in two bounds with Bert shoving him from behind. They burst through the door into a scene straight from a nightmare. Goblins that he had never seen before were pouring from every room into the hall that led to the kitchen. A scream cut through their excited voices and they began to sing, covering the sound with their own. Jak knew beyond any question that Tamisin had been the one who screamed.
While the human partygoers watched as if the whole thing was being staged for their entertainment, Jak shoved past the last of the goblins into the kitchen, where they were streaming out the back door. There was no sign of Tamisin, but Heather’s pale face and look of horror told him all that he needed to know. “Oh, no you don’t!” he shouted. Whatever their reason for wanting her, Jak wasn’t going to let them get Tamisin.
One leap and Jak was on the kitchen table. Another leap and he landed on the back of a goblin with the body of a human and the eyes and snout of a hyena. The goblin went down as Jak ran out the door and into the dark beyond.
Lightning split the sky as thunder shook the ground. Some of the goblins shrieked and ran, but enough stayed clustered together that he couldn’t see the still-screaming Tamisin. They were halfway to the towering trees when they paused, and then they were moving again as lightning struck the ground nearby. The wind began to blow as a heavy rain pelted him, but Jak was close enough now that he could see her in the outline of the shimmering Gate.
The goblins were trying to push and drag her towards the trees when Jak pounced on the first one, knocking him out with a single blow. Frantic that they might be hurting her, Jak used everything he had learned from fighting Nihlo, and took on one goblin after another. Then Bert was there, adding his astounding strength to Jak’s until only one last goblin held Tamisin. Jak paused, confused. It was Nihlo with a sneer on his lips and a cast on his leg. Could his uncle have sent his son, thinking his nephew was a failure? Jak clenched his jaw when he saw that his cousin had his hand around Tamisin’s slender neck. Watching Jak’s face, Nihlo squeezed the girl’s throat until ruby droplets of blood beaded the tip of each claw.
Tamisin gasped and lightning struck, much closer now, deafening everyone who stood near. Jak could feel its power make his hair stand on end and his nostrils burn with the biting stench. Glancing at Tamisin’s face, he saw the plea for help in her eyes. He couldn’t let Nihlo have her, even if his cousin was just taking her to Targin.
Jak’s muscles tensed as he prepared to spring, but Nihlo saw and forced Tamisin’s head back as he dug his claws in deeper. Once again Bert arrived, and with a swipe of his meaty hand he knocked the cat goblin aside just as Jak leaped to snatch Tamisin away. The wet ground was slippery, and Jak skidded as he landed, catching part of the blow so that it spun him around. Instead of pulling Tamisin out of the way, he fell into her. As a bolt of lightning cracked the sky in two, they tumbled towards the trees and through the shimmering Gate to the land of the fey.