Elizabeth`s bones suddenly felt a hundred tonnes lighter.

　　"Wait", hushed Barnaby, scanning fretfully for danger. "They`re not just going to leave it lying about unguarded. There`s bound to be some kind of booby trap - invisible tripwires, hidden pressure pads, starved Katheeri Blood Bats . . . "

　　But Elizabeth didn`t hear a word. "Got it", she said, racing brightly across the room towards the clockwork, inter-dimensional rift-making machine.

　　The last time she had set eyes on it had been beneath the frozen forest, and the small and tatty box seemed even more shambolic than she had remembered. But as she looked down at its innumerable gears and wheels and cogs and springs, it appeared to her then as something more priceless than she could have imagined.

　　Home.

　　And for one hypnotic fraction of a second the glass at the front of the Omnaria appeared to shine, the connection leaving her feeling ultra-consciously awake. An unmistakable feeling of power flowed back into her veins.

　　Elizabeth blinked, unsure if any of this had really just happened.

　　But that wasn`t the only unusual thing.

　　Her hand was hovering delicately over the plinth.

　　"What are you waiting for?" Luella whispered.

　　The truth was that Elizabeth didn`t rightly know. She wanted to pick the Omnaria up, but there was something - she couldn`t say what - holding her back. It was as though the box and the palm of her hand were a pair of magnets trying to push each other apart.

　　"Come on, let`s go!"

　　This was it. Getting the Omnaria back was what they had travelled all this way to do.

　　And yet . . .

　　Driving through her resistance Elizabeth grabbed hold of the handle, picked up the box and passed it to Barnaby, who flipped open the top for a quick check of the insides.

　　"Hmmm. It looks like someone has been messing about with the dialodes", he fussed, "but everything else seems to be - oh, hang on a minute, now that`s interesting . . . "

　　"Isn`t it just?" a sweetly sinister voice declared.

　　Everybody heard it. And everybody was just as confused to be hearing it, largely because there was no-one else there in the room.

　　Something groaned. And the colossal, elephantine, gargantuan door to the vault swung open.

　　There, on the other side, stood a woman who resembled a cat. It wasn`t so much her appearance - although her high-carved cheekbones did have a feline quality - as the effortless way that she moved, gliding regally, almost floating over the floor. Sleek black hair and velvet green robes flowed obediently behind her. A purple gemstone locket hung around the pale smooth skin of her neck.

　　But the most astonishing thing about her wasn`t any of this. It was her eyes. The almond-shaped pools would have been striking enough had they both been the same colour. But as it was the effect was even more extraordinary. One eye was a brilliant turquoise, the other an eerie red.

　　And both of them were sparkling with malevolent intent.

　　"Penelope!" Luella gasped, feeling the grip of her guns.

　　"Don`t sound so surprised - it`s my tower", said the Empress, taking another float-step towards them. She glanced casually at the Omnaria, which Barnaby was cradling like a newborn lamb. "And where do you think you`re going with that?"The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

　　"We`re taking back what belongs to us", growled Aelgren, drawing his small sword.

　　Penelope blinked, supremely undisturbed. "Is that so?"

　　"Aye, it is".

　　Luella extended her pistols. "And we`re taking you with us as well - so consider yourself our hostage".

　　"Oh don`t be so silly", said Penelope, dismissively, waving the threat aside with an elegant, black-nailed hand. "Did you think that you had kept your experiments a secret from me Barnaby?"

　　Barnaby`s eyes ballooned in their sockets at the mention of his name. "But . . . how do you - "

　　"I know rather a lot about all of you". Penelope`s smile was sugary and cold. "My eyes and ears on the Wyse Council have been keeping me very well informed for some time. So I`m perfectly aware of your machine. And I know all about the girl from the prophecy".

　　Elizabeth felt a finger of dread pointing in her direction as the woman`s twin coloured eyes fixed unnervingly on her.

　　"I wasn`t sure about your powers at first, but that demonstration in the Skycage was quite remarkable". Penelope winked at Elizabeth as if she was sharing an intimate secret. "Congratulations - it seems you`ve passed the test".

　　Luella locked her aim. "I`m warning you!"

　　Penelope slid closer. "We would have met earlier but for the ineptitude of my Commanders. They were supposed to have captured you at the Northern Ridge, but unfortunately your escape meant I was forced to make . . . alternative arrangements".

　　A shiver of realisation spidered down the back of Elizabeth`s neck. Alternative arrangements - it was the same phrase that Arraflax had used in the letter on Penelope`s desk.

　　All the parts of the puzzle began to fit themselves together.

　　"You wanted us to come here all along!?"

　　The faintest outline of a smile was creeping over Penelope`s face, like the shadow of a dragon slowly devouring the sun. "Why of course. Didn`t anybody find it strange that there was only one guard back at the jail? Or that there was no-one watching your airship when you escaped? Or that you were allowed to wander in here accompanied by just two of my useless helpers?"

　　Penelope`s thin, jagged lips became a crimson slash of malice. "And who do you think told the Wyse Council that your little box had been brought here in the first place?"

　　Elizabeth was almost choking in shock. Thoughts were piling up so fast that there was barely time to think them. "All this has been a trap!" she gasped. "But . . . why would - "

　　"Because I wanted you to see that I`m not the monster they say I am". Penelope held out her slender, willowy arms. "Look at me, do I seem so bad to you?"

　　Luella was quivering with rage. "I`m not going to warn you again . . . "

　　"Elizabeth, whatever they`ve told you about me - about your father - it isn`t true. You have to listen to me, I`m the only one who can - "

　　The roar of the guns almost blew Elizabeth off her feet. Luella was screaming and firing wildly . . . But it was as if the Empress simply wasn`t there. The shots flew straight through the space where she was standing, making firewood out of the row of oil paintings beyond.

　　Penelope, with a wicked gleam, raised her hands aloft, green robes billowing around her. Reams of liquid smoke began pouring from her palms. Seething, twisting ribbons filled the vault.

　　And Elizabeth squirmed in horror as the demonic things came through, stub-horned creatures with vicious fangs and deadly thrashing claws.

　　Izzario reached out a hand. "Aelgren - your sword".

　　Aelgren threw.

　　The beasts attacked.

　　Izzario was a blur, the air around him flashed with steel. The monsters came as smoke then scales, attacking at hurricane speed.

　　The blade hunted the repellent swarm, creatures crumbling, returning to ash as they fell slain at Izzario`s feet.

　　Aelgren drove into the fray, fists like boulders crashing hard against the foe. Another wave crested and fell brutally upon them, the structure of battle an indistinguishable frenzy of rage.

　　Elizabeth`s ears stung with vile, dying shrieks.

　　"RUN!" Izzario yelled.

　　But Elizabeth was of no mind to flee.

　　She shaped her hands to strike . . .

　　Penelope got there first. The arc of Elizabeth`s attack was dispelled with a silken swish of an arm, the powerburst shattering into a million shards of crystal light. The remains of the shockwave now just faint and brittle echoes.

　　Penelope threw a counter-attack, frizzling the air with streams of lightning. Elizabeth raised her shield in time, grimacing beneath the surge as a torrential shower of white-hot sparks littered the floor around her.

　　The vault filled with tremendous peals of high-pitched cackling laughter.

　　The Empress lifted her hands again. More columns of black smoke began to appear.

　　"ELIZABETH!"

　　But Barnaby`s warning was in vain. The writhing, pulsing mass enveloped her. Elizabeth felt the coils tightening, smothering her face, her throat and lungs struggling to rally against the stifling acrid burn.

　　Elizabeth threw everything she had, focusing all her energy for a full-scale, supercharged, megasonic blast.

　　And the last thing she felt was the ZAP! of the electric shock and the flash of a thousand fireworks exploding right in front of her face.

　　For a very long time after that, there was nothing.

　　Just the softly falling snowflakes of an eternal velvet night.