An olive-skinned man in a gaudy shirt flashes a grin and greets Pride warmly from behind the bar. “Back so soon?”

“I heard Tabby was back,” Pride says.

“Down the corridor, last door on the left.” The man whistles sharply, and a dark-skinned man standing at the entrance to the corridor looks over, nodding when the barman points to you and Pride. “Yemi’ll let you through.”

“Thanks, Harvey,” Pride says.

The huge bouncer lowers his head when Pride approaches, and you remind yourself once again that Pride is a literal god. A flash of red hair in the middle of the dancefloor has you glancing over at Uriel, who is dancing with his shirt off, garnering the kind of attention that would make most people blush. You smile to yourself and follow Pride to the end of the corridor, where he knocks on the last door on the left.

“Come in,” a woman calls.

She’s sitting at a dressing table, trying on a long silvery wig, all bouncy waves and shine. She glances at us in the mirror, then spins on her stool to face Pride, “What do you think?”

“If not for the silver, you would look exactly as you did the first time I met you,” he says.

She looks familiar, and it’s not until she stands and pulls off the wig, revealing a blonde bob underneath that you realise why. “Isabelle?”

She blinks at you, her eyes widening until she gasps, “Why, if it isn’t Edward Sheeran. Wait…” She slaps a hand over her mouth, then whispers, “But how did you do it?”

Pride assesses you shrewdly. “Tabby hasn’t gone by Isabelle for a long time. Just what did Uriel and Bel get you into when I left you in Victorian London?”

You laugh because it feels so long ago, yet it wasn’t, but it was.

“They played Uriel’s heartbroken yet murderous cousin to perfection,” says Tabby, eyeing you fondly. “They helped put away a murderer.” She clicks her fingers. “Oh, what was the bastard’s name?”

“Faultless Molvander,” you remind her.

“What a legacy to bear with a name like that,” she says. “But you still haven’t explained how you ended up there.”

“Let’s just say we had a run-in with a faulty portal,” Pride says.

“Is it working now?” she asks. “Because I have a meeting with Kane, and I don’t want to pull Yemi off the door if I can help it. It’s inexplicably busy out there this evening.”

“It’s working perfectly well, and yes, you can have a ride back to Kane’s,” says Pride. “But I came here for a reason.”

“You want the Shadow Codex back?” Tabby guesses. “Funnily enough, that’s why I need to see Kane. Raguel is pushing for Cascade protection on the club, and if he gets his mitts on my wards…”

“He can sweep in whenever he feels like it and confiscate whatever he wants?” says Pride.

“Precisely. I have a hard enough time keeping the pricks from the Home Office out, and as far as I know, Rosemont doesn’t know half of what I have stashed here.”

“Does Raguel?” you ask. “Because Uriel said he’d do anything to get his hands on Pride’s artefacts.”

“Did he, now?” says Pride, sharing matching arched eyebrows with Tabby. “Looks like I came to collect in the nick of time, then.”

“Give me a few minutes,” Tabby says, then disappears through the door.

When she’s gone, you ask, “What’s the Shadow Codex?”

“A book,” he says. “It contains every variation of spell capable of conjuring anything from the Tarragoth Axis.”

“Where the ash army came from?”

He nods. “I move it around often because, though it’s protected with a number of enchantments, it has a strong signature that will eventually leak into its environment.”

“Do you have a new place to move it to?”

“I have the perfect place in mind,” he says. “Somewhere nobody would ever think to look.”

He doesn’t elaborate, and you don’t ask.

Tabby rushes through the door, closing it quickly behind her. “He’s here,” she says, shoving a tiny ring box into Pride’s waiting hand. “Raguel.”

“Shit,” he mutters, opening the box to prod at the contents.

“That’s a book?” you ask.

“I told you there were enchantments. Come on, get the portal out and make it snappy.”

You open the bum-bag and pull out the portal, which expands in your hand the second it’s clear of its constraints.

“Kane and Fable,” says Pride, throwing it to the floor. “You first, Ed.”

***

You land in the back room of Kane’s shop, where Soup lets out a disgruntled yowl before bouncing onto the highest perch in the room.

“You’re back!” Simeon exclaims happily, as if you’re long-lost friends. “Is Pride…”

Pride lands right behind you, then Tabby.

Simeon claps his hands. “A full house. What fun!”

“Hey, you’re wearing a suit,” you say.

“I was considering going to a funeral,” he says.

“Oh, somebody died?” It seems a silly thing to have said now that it’s out.

“I expect so,” he says. “There’s always someone dying, isn’t there?”

“Wait, you’re going to… gatecrash a random funeral?”

“I am considering gatecrashing a random funeral,” he corrects. “If I can find one.”

“Is that a hobby of yours?”

“Who are they talking to?” Tabby whispers.

“I wouldn’t call it a hobby,” Simeon says. “More a way to pass the time when one is bored. But we have visitors now, so…”

“I should probably take that now,” Pride says, reaching for the bum-bag.

You reluctantly hand it over, far too reluctantly considering how ugly it is. “I think I’m going to miss this thing.”

Pride smiles as he straps it to his own waist, where it disappears, leaving the gross belt buckle behind. Then, he heads for an old walnut sideboard, pulling out a felt-lined drawer. Inside, sits a new bum-bag, just as ugly as Pride’s. He hands it to you. “A gift. To remember me by.”

You wrap it around your waist, smiling down at the vibrant orange colour, and swallowing a surge of disappointment when your fingers trace the top zip, meeting only nylon where you’ve grown accustomed to the hard enamel of Pride’s bag. “Thank you. Wait! The feather.”

Pride rummages in his bag, pulling out the white feather Violet gave you, and you lay it gently in the bum-bag, which seems to be filled with things that weren’t there a minute ago.

“Replicas,” Pride says.

“Are we all done?” Simeon asks, smiling broadly.

“Tabby’s here to see Kane,” you tell him.

He heads for the door. “This way, then.”

“Is someone going to tell me who they’re talking to?” Tabby asks again.

Pride opens the door when Simeon drifts through it. “That’s Simeon,” Pride explains. “He’s no longer with us.”

“I’m right here,” Simeon argues.

“Oh, I remember Simeon,” Tabby says. “I didn’t realise he was still here.”

You’re right behind Simeon. “Don’t forget to—”

It’s too late. Simeon drifts through the velvet curtain into Kane’s shop.

“Simeon!” Kane barks.

“Sorry,” he says. “Pride distracted me with his manliness.”

Kane groans, then he catches sight of what you’re wearing, which you only now remember belongs to Uriel. “You found a way to subvert it, then?”

“That shirt was hideous, by the way,” you tell him.

Kane chuckles. “The leggings were Simeon’s.”

Simeon gasps. “You gave them my Jurassic leggings? How dare you?”

“They’re back in your wardrobe now,” says Kane.

“I don’t trust you,” Simeon grumbles, drifting back through the curtain.

“For gods’ sake, Simeon!”

Simeon doesn’t respond.

“I understand you need your wards replacing,” Kane says, glancing up at Tabby, as he winds up a clock that proceeds to go backwards at twice the speed of normal time.

“More like upgrading,” says Tabby.

“Watchlist magic?” Kane asks.

Tabby grimaces. “I’m afraid so.”

“You’re aware I’m unlicensed?”

“I’m aware you’re the best,” she says.

“It will cost you.”

“I should hope so,” she says. “I wouldn’t be here if I wanted a cheap fix.”

The velvet curtain flips aside to reveal Simeon, still wearing his shirt and suit jacket, which is now paired with dinosaur leggings and fluffy slippers, this time shaped like monster feet. “So, you weren’t lying,” he announces to the room, running a hand down his scaly thigh. “And our new friend didn’t make them baggy in the knees, so I’m calling it a win.”

When the shop door opens, setting off a tinkling bell, Tabby’s mouth twists in a sour fashion. “Rosemont.”

You turn to find the Duke of Rosemont closing the door behind Azrael.

“This is quite the gathering,” Rosemont says. “Did my invitation get lost in the post?”

“Does anyone ever invite you anywhere, Rosemont?” Tabby enquires.

Rosemont ignores the slight, directing his piercing blue eyes in your direction. “I’ll be taking the frisbee, since a certain person cannot keep themselves out of trouble with it.”

“But how will I get home?” you ask.

“I’ll take you myself.”

“You?” asks Tabby.

A strange look passes between them, then Rosemont nods at Azrael, who is still waiting by the door, looking bored out of his skull. “We.”

You glance up at Pride, who gives a discreet nod towards the bum-bag you’re wearing. You know very well the frisbee is not in there because it’s in Pride’s bum-bag. Still, you open the top zip, trying not to show surprise when you find the small frisbee pouch sitting on top, just as it does in Pride’s bag. You hand the fake to Rosemont with what you hope looks like a reluctant pout.

Rosemont tucks it inside his jacket pocket. “Say your goodbyes,” he says, before joining Azrael by the door.

You’re mortified by the hot tears brewing in your eyes, but you manage quiet goodbyes. Tabby graces your cheeks with air kisses, Simeon gives you a hug you can’t feel, and Kane tells you to stay indoors during the next full moon. Pigeon the talking raven squawks at you to eat your greens, and Mush allows you to scratch behind his ears, which makes him more cross-eyed than usual. Soup peers down at you from the top shelf of a bookcase.

Pride reaches for your hand, and you let him take it, but you can’t bring yourself to look at his face. You don’t know if he’ll see you or Aguillard, and you’re not sure which is the better option.

“I won’t forget you, adventure buddy,” he says, pulling you into a hug and whispering in your ear. “Remember me, okay?”

You nod against his chest. “I’ll remember,” you promise. “Goodbye, Pride.”

“Farewell,” he says.

You head to the door, where Rosemont awaits, his elbow held out for you to take. You tuck your arm in his, and then you do look at Pride. He winks at you, his smile soft, his eyes bright.

Then he’s gone.

And so are you.