Page 34 of Secrets of the Eternal Flame

‘Guilt,’he said simply.

‘What does Maddie have to feel guilty about?’

‘Like you, she carries a lot of it, starting with the death of her mother in childbirth and going through to not being able to do more for you when you lost your parents. And she is battling guilt because the Flame went out.’

‘That’s not her fault! It was mine for not being there, for not bonding with it.’ A sigh escaped me. ‘How do I help her?’

‘The best thing you can do is to be her friend. Be there for her, make her feel she’s indispensable. I can tell you that from experience, which means more than you could know.’ His eyes met mine as he smiled, and I knew he was no longer talking about Maddie but about himself – aboutus.

This conversation hadn’t been as hard as I’d feared; in fact, it had been quite easy. I could envisage popping in sometimes to talk to Ernie, maybe even making a habit of it – although I had enough on my plate without adding in dates with Ernie. Thinking of my ever-growing to-do list, I remembered Gwen’s missing items.

‘While we’re talking about helping,’ I said to Ernie. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve got a magnifying glass I can borrow, have you?’ He struck me as the type of person who would have one.

‘I’m sure I do,’ he said. ‘Just give me a minute.’ He went to one of the cabinets and started pulling open drawers and tossing things out – a rabbit’s foot, a broken pair of glasses, what appeared to be a leather-studded collar – until finally, he gave a littleahanoise. ‘Here it is. What do you want to magnify?’

I pulled the mother-of-pearl frame out of my bag and showed him the picture. ‘It’s that part there – the mug. I wanted to see if there are any markings on it that might be useful in tracking it down.’

As Ernie held the magnifying glass over it, I saw that the small symbols were runes. Although my dad had tried to make me study runology, my knowledge was mainly about those used by witches, not those used by fae folk – and it was definitely the latter engraved on the mug.

I took a photo with the magnifying glass held over them. ‘The goblin who owns it says it’s been stolen, but I’m not certain it has been. Her memory’s not so great and there’s every possibility that she’s simply misplaced it.’

When Ernie didn’t reply, I looked up at him questioningly. He remained exactly where he had been, rigid as if he had been frozen.

‘Ernie? Are you okay?’ The silence was so overwhelming it made my stomach muscles tighten. ‘Ernie?’ I said again.

He blinked then stared back at me. ‘That’s not a mug,’ he said finally. ‘Thatis the Calix Sanare.’

Chapter Twenty-One

Ernie spoke as if it should be perfectly clear what he meant, but unfortunately I hadn’t the faintest idea what he was talking about. ‘The Calix Sanare,’ I repeated. ‘And that is…?’

‘You may know it by its other name,’ he said. ‘The Cup of Completion.’

‘The Cup of Completion?’ An icy chill passed through me as I recognised the name, and I had a clear memory of me in my early teens sitting in my father’s library.

We had spent the day discussing powerful relics. The type of people who would come after the Eternal Flame would come after any magical power – and the Cup of Completion was on Dad’s list.

‘It was carved by the first goblin and imbued with the power of stardust from the first constellation,’ Dad had said, ‘Whatever power lieswithin the one who drinks from it will be multiplied by every star in the sky.’

‘Literally?’ I had asked, eyes wide.

‘Well, probably not literally.’ Dad had grinned. ‘But close enough. Drink from the Cup of Completion and you’re next to God. Naturally it’s guarded by the goblins who created it.’

‘Would it work on non-magical people?’ Or, more importantly, on magical duds like me?

‘It wouldn’t work if they were truly non-magical,’ he’d said, clearly pleased by my interest. ‘If their lineage didn’t contain a hint of magic as far back as the first dawn, then it would have no effect. But if they had a great-great-great-great ancestor, so far back in their history that the magic had all but gone and they didn’t even know it was part of their past, then it would bring it to the surface and they would likely become powerfully magical.’

I had felt a huge pang of excitement; if I could get my hands on the cup I might finally take my true place in Witchlight. ‘So what do you do? Drink from it and that’s it? You’ve got massive powers?’

From the way his smile dropped, I suspected he had suddenly realised what I was thinking. I was grateful he didn’t call me out on it. ‘Surprisingly, the cup’s ability to magnify powers is not the reason it is coveted. It’s difficult to use and the processcan only occur on specific days when the first constellation is in line with the North Star.’

‘Which is how often?’ I asked, trying to appear only casually interested.

‘About once every 427 years.’

Disappointment struck so hard that I struggled not to let it show. ‘So why do people want it if not for the power?’ I had asked when I was finally sure I could speak calmly.

‘For its ability to heal,’ my father replied.

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