AN: OK, so the next chapter will start from when Sian leaves her mother and Kiara at the top of the Astronomy Tower, which you will read a little further down. This is when this book starts to get really emotional; I know that when I read the little goodbye piece between Sian and her mother last week that I shed a few tears, so from this chapter onwards - and especially the next chapter - I highly advise you all, my dear readers, to bring your tissues, for you will need them. For now, though, I leave you with this chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it and I will be posting again next week.

Chapter 29

The Lightning-Struck Tower

KIARA

Once back under the starry sky, I heaved Crighton on to the top of the nearest boulder and then on to her feet. Sodden and shivering, Crighton's weight still upon me, I concentrated harder than I had ever done upon my destination: Dragsmeade. Closing my eyes, gripping Crighton's arm as tightly as I could, I stepped forwards into that feeling of horrible compression.

I knew it had worked before I had opened my eyes: the smell of salt, the sea breeze had gone. Crighton and I were shivering and dripping in the middle of the dark High Street in Dragsmeade. For one horrible moment my imagination showed me more Inferi creeping towards me around the sides of shops, but I blinked and saw that nothing was stirring; all was still, the darkness complete but for a few streetlamps and lit upper windows.

"We did it, Professor!" I said with difficulty; I suddenly realised that I had a searing stitch in my chest. "We did it! We got the Horcrux!"

Crighton staggered against me. For a moment, I thought that my inexpert Apparition had thrown Crighton off-balance; then I saw her face, paler and damper than ever in the distant light of a streetlamp.

"Ma'am, are you all right?"

"I've been better," said Crighton weakly, though the corners of her mouth twitched. "That potion ... was no health drink ..."

I almost laughed at that, and I couldn't help but wonder how Crighton could make a joke like that after what she had endured. But then, to my horror, she sank on to the ground.

"Ma'am - it's OK, ma'am, you're going to be all right, don't worry - "

I looked around desperately for help, but there was nobody to be seen and all I could think was that I must somehow get Crighton quickly to the hospital wing.

"We need to get you up to the school, ma'am ... Matron ..."

"No," said Crighton. "It is ... Professor Triphorm who I need ... but I do not think ... I can walk very far just yet ..."

"Right - ma'am, listen - I'm going to knock on a door, find a place you can stay - then I can run and get Matron - "

"Tiana," said Crighton clearly. "I need Tiana ..."

"All right then, Triphorm - but I'm going to have to leave you for a moment so I can - "

Before I could make a move, however, I heard running footsteps. My heart leapt: somebody had seen, somebody knew we need help - and looking around I saw Sir Smoothster scurrying down the dark street towards us in neat flat slippers, wearing a red velvet dressing gown.

"I saw you Apparate as I was pulling my bedroom curtains! Thank goodness, thank goodness, I couldn't think what to - but what's wrong with Susan?"

He came to a halt, panting, and stared down, wide-eyed, at Crighton.

"She's hurt," I said. "Sir Smoothster, can she come into the Flying Owls while I go up to the school and get help for her?"

"You can't go up there alone! Don't you realize - haven't you seen - ?"

"If you help me support her," I said, not listening to him, "I think we can get her inside - "

"What has happened?" asked Crighton. "Smoothster, what's wrong?"

"The - the Death Trail, Susan."

And he pointed into the sky in the direction of Dragon Mort. Dread flooded through me at the sound of the words ... I turned and looked.

There it was, hanging in the sky above the school: the blazing red large S, with many smaller s's coming off it like spines, the mark the Love Destroyers left behind whenever they had entered a building ... wherever they had murdered ...

"When did it appear?" asked Crighton, and her hand clenched painfully upon my shoulder as she struggled to her feet.

"Must have been minutes ago, it wasn't there when I put the cat out, but when I got upstairs - "

"We need to return to the castle at once," said Crighton. "Smoothster," and though she staggered a little, she seemed wholly in command of the situation, "we need transport - brooms - "

"I've got a couple behind the bar," he said, looking very frightened. "Shall I run and fetch - ?"

"No, Kiara can do it."

I raised my wand at once.

"Accio Smoothster's brooms."

A second later we heard a loud bang as the front door of the pub burst open; two brooms had shot out into the street and were racing each other to my side, where they stopped dead, quivering slightly, at waist height.

"Smoothster, please send a message to the Ministry," said Crighton as she mounted the broom nearest her. "It might be that nobody within Dragon Mort has yet realised anything is wrong ... Kiara, put on your Invisibility Cloak."

I pulled my Cloak out of my pocket and threw it over myself before mounting my broom; Sir Smoothster was already hurrying back towards his pub as Crighton and I kicked off from the ground and rose up into the air. As we sped towards the castle, I glanced sideways at Crighton, ready to grab her should she fall, but the sight of the Death Trail seemed to have acted upon Crighton as a stimulant: she was bent low over her broom, her eyes fixed upon the Trail, her long caramel-silver hair flying behind her in the night air. And I, too, looked ahead at the Trail, and fear swelled inside me like a venomous bubble, compressing my lungs, driving all other discomfort from my mind ...

How long had we been away? Had Chris and Chrissie's luck ran out by now? Did they sense Sian, hidden under an Invisibility Cloak, or was she still safe? Was it one of them who had caused the Trail to be set over the school, or was it Nikita, or Lincoln, or Kestrel, or Keziah, or some other member of the CA? And if it was ... I was the one who had told them to patrol the corridors, I had asked them to leave the safety of their beds ... would I be responsible, again, for the death of a friend?

As we flew over the dark, twisting dark lane down which we had walked earlier, I heard, over the whistling of the night air in my ears, Crighton muttering in some strange language again. I thought I understood why as I felt my broom shudder for a moment when we flew over the boundary wall into the grounds: Crighton was undoing the enchantments she herself had set around the castle, so that we could enter at speed. The Death Trail was glittering directly above the Astronomy Tower, the highest of the castle. Did that mean that death had occurred there, and if so, was it Sian's? I looked sideways again at Crighton, and I saw her looking worried, which confirmed my suspicion that she had the exact same worry as I.

Crighton had already crossed the crenelated ramparts and was dismounting; I landed next to her seconds later and looked around, and as I did so, my worry about Sian evaporated, for she threw off her Invisibility Cloak and hurried towards us; she was the only other person there, and the door to the spiral staircase that led back into the castle was closed.

"Mother!" Sian called, as she ran to her mother with her arms outstretched.

"Oh, magi," Crighton breathed weakly with relief, as Sian hugged her mother, running into her a little too hard, for Crighton staggered slightly. Sian drew back a little to look at her mother, and her look of relief turned to worry as she studied Crighton. Then, looking at the place where my broom was, she glared at me, but before she could start yelling, Crighton stopped her by saying, "Do not blame Kiara, Sian ... she was just doing as I told her ... this is all on me, I swear ..."

Sian turned back to her mother, worry now creasing her features.

"But - what happened to you, Mother?"

"There's no time to explain, Sian," said Crighton firmly. "Now, did anyone see or sense you up here when they made the trail?"

"No, Ma," Sian answered. "I remained here under the Cloak after I got it from your office, just like you told me to. I stayed hidden in the shadows. When they came, I didn't know who it was; once I heard the footsteps, I stayed as still as I could and closed my eyes - I even held my breath for good measure. They didn't stay up here long, though; once they had cast the Trail, they left. I don't even know if anyone's died yet."

Crighton sighed and said, "Well, at least you're safe, Sian." Then her expression grew more serious, and she said, "Sian ... we have both been aware of what is shortly going to happen to me for quite some time now ..."

Sian looked confused for a moment, then her expression changed to one of shock-horror. "No, no, not now ... I'm not ready ..."

"I know you're not, Sian," said Crighton, gathering Sian in her arms and stroking her hair. "I know you're not, and to be honest, neither am I. But I need you to carry on being the brave, strong girl I know you are ... keep my promises ... tell your brothers and sisters and your father that I love them all and always will ... can you do that for me, magi?"

"Of course, Ma," Sian said in a muffled voice into her mother's chest; it sounded like she was crying.

"Good. Now ... know this ... no matter what happens, my darling, remember that I love you ... and I will always love you ..."

"I live you too, Ma," said Sian in a choked voice. Crighton kissed Sian on top of her head, and when she drew back I was shocked to see tears streaming down Sian's cheeks, and I didn't know why at that moment, but for some reason I was worried, for what they were saying to each other sounded exactly like a goodbye. Sian then kissed her mother's cheek and stared at her mother for a few long moments before she ran to where her Invisibility Cloak lay, threw it around herself and flew out of the door and down the spiral staircase.

Crighton stared at the door, her features melancholy, as her backened hand clutched at her chest. I decided to remind Crighton of my presence.

"What should I do, Professor?"

Crighton jumped out of her reverie and said, faintly but clearly, "Go and wake Tiana. Tell her what has happened and bring her to me. Do nothing else, speak to nobody else and do not remove your Cloak. I shall wait here."

"But - "

"You swore to obey me, Kiara - go!"

I hurried over to the door leading to the spiral staircase, but my hand had only just closed upon the iron ring of the door when I heard running footsteps on the other side. I looked round at Crighton, who gestured to me to retreat. I backed away, drawing my wand as I did so.

The door burst open and someone erupted through it and shouted: "Expelliarmus!"

My body became instantly rigid and immobile, and I felt myself fall back against the Tower wall, propped like an unsteady statue, unable to move or speak. I could not understand how it had happened - Expelliarmus was not a Freezing Charm -

Then, by the light of the Trail, I saw Crighton's wand flying over in an arc over the edge of the ramparts and I understood ... Crighton had wordlessly immobilised me, and the second she had taken to perform the spell had cost her the chance of defending herself.

Standing against the ramparts, very white in the face, Crighton still showed no sign of panic or distress. She merely looked across at her disarmer and said, "Good evening, Danielle."

Malty stepped forwards, glancing around quickly to check that she and Crighton were alone. Her eyes fell upon the second broom.

"Who else is here?"

"A question I might ask you. Or are you merely acting alone?"

I saw Malty's pale eyes shift back to Crighton in the reddish glare of the Trail.

"No," she said. "I've got back-up. There are Love Destroyers here in your school tonight."

"Well, well," said Crighton, as though Malty was showing her an ambitious homework project. "Very good indeed. You found a way to let them in, did you?"

"Yeah," said Malty, who was panting. "Right under your nose and you never realised!"

"Ingenious," said Crighton. "Yet ... forgive me ... where are they now? You seem unsupported."

"They met some of your guard. They're having a good fight down below. They won't be long ... I came on ahead. I-I've got a job to do."

"Well, then, you must get on and do it, my dear girl," said Crighton softly.

There was silence. I stood imprisoned within my own invisible, paralysed body, staring at the two of them, my ears straining to hear sounds of the Love Destroyers' distant fight, and in front of me, Dani Malty did nothing but stare at Susan Crighton who, incredibly, smiled.

"Danielle, Danielle, you are not a killer."

"How do you know?" said Malty at once.

She seemed to realise how childish the words had sounded; I saw her flush in the Trail's reddish light.

"You don't know what I'm capable of," said Malty more forcefully, "you don't know what I've done!"

"Oh, yes, I do," said Crighton mildly. "You almost killed Keith Ball and my daughter, Christina Dawson (which I was not pleased to hear about, by the way). You have been trying, with increased desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Danielle, but they have been feeble attempts ... so feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether your heart has really been in it ..."

"It has been in it!" said Malty vehemently. "I've been working on it all year, and tonight - "

Somewhere in the depths of the castle below I heard a muffled yell. Malty stiffened and glanced over her shoulder.

"Somebody is putting up a good fight," said Crighton conversationally. "But you were saying ... yes, you have managed to introduce Love Destroyers into my school which, I admit, I thought impossible ... how did you do it?"

But Malty said nothing: she was still listening to whatever was happening below and seemed almost as paralysed as I was.

"Perhaps you ought to get on with the job alone," suggested Crighton. "What if your back-up has been thwarted by my guard? As you have perhaps realised, there are members of the Order of the Centaur here tonight, too. And after all, you don't really need help ... I have no wand at the moment ... I cannot defend myself."

Malty merely sneered at her.

"I see," said Crighton kindly, when Malty neither moved nor spoke. "You are afraid to act until they join you."

"I'm not afraid!" snarled Malty, though she still made no move to hurt Crighton. "It's you who should be scared!"

"But why?" I don't think you will kill me, Danielle. Killing is not nearly as easy as the innocent believe ... so tell me, while we wait for your friends ... how did you smuggle them in here? It seems to have taken you a long tome to work out how to do it."

Malty looked as though she was fighting down the urge to shout, or to vomit. She gulped and took several deep breaths, glaring at Crighton, her wand pointing directly at the latter's heart. Then, as though she could not help herself, she said, "I had to mend that broken Vanishing Cabinet that no one's used for years. The one Montague got lost in last year."

"Aaaah."

Crighton's sigh was half a groan. She closed her eyes for a moment.

"That was clever ... there is a pair, I take it."

"The other's in Borrin and Burka," said Malty, "and they make a kind of passage between them. Montague told me that when she was stuck in the Dragon Mort one, she was trapped in limbo but sometimes she could hear what was going on at school, and sometimes what was going on in the shop, as if the Cabinet was travelling between them, but she couldn't make anyone hear her ... in the end she managed to Apparate out, even though she'd never passed the test. She nearly died doing it. Everyone thought it was a really good story, but I was the only one who realised there could be a way into Dragon Mort through the Cabinets if I fixed the broken one."

"Very good," murmured Crighton. "So the Love Destroyers were able to pass from Borrin and Burka into the school and help you ... a clever plan, a very clever plan ... and, as you say, right under my nose ..."

"Yeah," said Malty who, bizarrely, seemed to draw courage and comfort from Crighton's praise. "Yeah, it was!"

"But there were times," Crighton went on, "weren't there, when you were not sure you would succeed in mending the Cabinet? And you resorted to crude and badly judged measures such as sending me a cursed necklace that was bound to reach the wrong hands ... poisoning mead there was only the slightest chance I might drink ..."

"Yeah, well, you still didn't realise who was behind that stuff, did you?" sneered Malty, as Crighton slid a little down the ramparts, the strength in her legs apparently fading, and I struggled fruitlessly, mutely, against the enchantment binding me.

"As a matter of fact, I did," said Crighton. "I was sure it was you."

"Why didn't you stop me, then?" Malty demanded.

"I tried, Danielle. Professor Triphorm has been keeping watch over you on my orders - "

"She hasn't been doing your orders, she promised my father - "

"Of course that is what she would tell you, Danielle, but - "

"She's a double-agent, you stupid old woman, she hasn't been working for you, you just think she is!"

"We must agree to differ on that, Danielle. It so happens that I trust Professor Triphorm - "

"Well, you're losing your grip, then!" sneered Malty. "She's been offering me plenty of help - wanting all the glory for herself - wanting a bit of the action - 'What are you doing? Did you do the necklace, that was stupid, it could have blown everything - ' But I haven't told her what I've been doing in the Room of Needs, she's going to wake up tomorrow and it'll all be over and she won't be the Scarlet Lady's favourite any more, she'll be nothing compared to me, nothing!"

"Very gratifying," said Crighton mildly. "We all like the appreciation for our own hard work, of course ... but you must have had an accomplice, all the same ... someone in Dragsmeade, someone who was able to slip Keith the - the - aaaah ..."

Crighton closed her eyes again and nodded, as though she was about to fall asleep.

" ... of course ... Smoothster. How long has he been under the Imperius Curse?"

"Got there at last, have you?" Malty taunted.

There was another yell from below, rather louder than the last. Malty looked nervously over her shoulder again, then back at Crighton, who went on, "So poor Smoothster was forced to lurk in his own bathroom and pass on that necklace to any Dragon Mort student who entered the room unoccupied? And the poisoned mead ... well, naturally, Smoothster was able to poison it for you before he sent the bottle to Beadu, believing that it was to be my Christmas present ... yes, very neat ... very neat ... poor Mr Match would not, of course, think to check a bottle of Smoothster's ... tell me, how have you been communicating with Smoothster? I thought we had all methods of communication in and out of the school monitored."

"Enchanted coins," said Malty, as though she was compelled to keep talking, though her wand hand was shaking badly. "I had one and he had the other and I could send him messages - "

"Isn't that the secret method of communication the group that called themselves Crighton's Army used last year?" asked Crighton. Her voice was light and conversational, but I saw her slip an inch lower down the wall as she said it.

"Yeah, I got the idea from them," said Malty, with a twisted smile. "I got the idea of poisoning mead from that Sackbrain daughter of yours, as well, I heard her talking in the library about Match not recognising potions ..."

"Please do not use that offensive word on my daughter in front of me," said Crighton.

Malty gave a harsh laugh.

"You care about me saying 'Sackbrain' when I'm about to kill you?"

"Yes, I do," said Crighton, and I saw her feet slide a little on the floor as she struggled to remain upright. "But as for being about to kill me, Danielle, you have had several long minutes now. We are quite alone. I am more defenceless now than you can have dreamed of finding me, and still you have not acted ..."

Malty's mouth contorted involuntarily, as though she had tasted something very bitter.

"Now, about tonight," Crighton went on, "I am a little puzzled about how it happened ... you knew that I had left the school? But of course," she answered her own question, "Smoothster saw me leaving, he tipped you off using your ingenious coins, I'm sure ..."

"That's right," said Malty. "But he said you were just going for a drink, you'd be back ..."

"Well, I certainly did have a drink ... and I came back ... after a fashion ... " mumbled Crighton. "So you decided to set a trap for me?"

"We decided to put the Death Trail over the Tower and get you to hurry up here, to see who'd been killed," said Malty. "And it worked!"

"Well ... yes and no ..." said Crighton. "But am I to take it, then, that nobody has been murdered?"

"Someone's dead," said Malty and her voice seemed to go up an octave as she said it. "One of your people ... I don't know who it was, it was dark ... I stepped over the body ... I was supposed to be up here when you got back, only your Centaur lot got in the way ..."

"Yes, they do that," said Crighton.

There was a bang and shouts from below, louder than ever; it sounded as though people were fighting on the actual spiral staircase that led to where Crighton, Malty and I were stood, and my heart thundered unheard in my invisible chest ... someone was dead ... Malty had stepped over the body ... but who was it?

"There is little time, one way or another," said Crighton. "So let us discuss your options, Danielle."

"My options!" said Malty loudly. "I'm standing here with a wand - I'm about to kill you - "

"My dear girl, let us have no more pretence about that. If you were going to kill me, you would have done it when you first Disarmed me, you would not have stopped for this pleasant chat about ways and means."

"I haven't got any options!" said Malty, and she was suddenly as white as Crighton. "I've got to do it! She'll kill me! She'll kill my whole family!"

"I appreciate the difficulty of your position," said Crighton. "Why else do you think I have not confronted you before now? Because I knew that you would have been murdered if Lady Zira realised that I suspected you."

Malty winced at the sound of the name.

"I did not dare speak to you of the mission with which I knew you had been entrusted, in case she used Legilimency against you," continued Crighton. "But now at last we can speak plainly to each other ... no harm has been done, you have hurt nobody, though you are very lucky that your intentional victims survived ... I can help you, Danielle."

"No, you can't," said Malty, her wand hand shaking very badly indeed. "Nobody can. She told me to do it or she'll kill me. I've got no choice."

"Come over to the right side, Danielle, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your father tonight to hide him likewise. Your mother is safe at the moment in Azkaban ... when the time comes we can protect her too ... come over to the right side, Danielle ... you are not a killer ..."

Malty stared at Crighton.

"But I got this far, didn't I?" she said slowly. "They thought I'd die in the attempt, but I'm here ... and you're at my power ... I'm the one with the wand ... you're at my mercy ..."

"No, Danielle," said Crighton quietly. "It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now."

Malty did not speak. Her mouth was open, her wand hand still trembling. I thought I saw it drop by a fraction -

But suddenly footsteps were thundering up the stairs and a second later Malty was buffeted out of the way as four people in red robes burst through the door on to the ramparts. Still paralysed, my eyes staring unblinkingly, I gazed in terror upon four strangers: it seemed the Love Destroyers had won the fight below.

A lumpy-looking woman with an odd lopsided leer gave a wheezy giggle.

"Crighton cornered!" she said, and she turned to a stocky, tall man who looked as though he could be her brother and who was grinning eagerly. "Crighton wandless, Crighton alone! Well done, Dani, well done!"

"Good evening, Acantha," said Crighton calmly, as though welcoming the woman to a tea party. "And you brought Abaddon, too ... wonderful ..."

The man gave an angry little titter.

"Think your little jokes'll help you on your deathbed, then?" he jeered.

"Jokes? No, no, these are manners," replied Crighton.

"Do it," said the stranger nearest to me, a big, rangy man with matted grey hair and whiskers, whose red Love Destroyer robes looked uncomfortably tight. He had a voice like none that I had ever heard: a rasping bark of a voice. I could smell a powerful mixture of dirt, sweat and, unmistakeably, of blood coming from him. His filthy hands had long yellowish nails.

"Is that you, Rasputin?" asked Crighton.

"That's right," rasped the other. "Pleased to see me, Crighton?"

"No, I cannot say that I am ..."

Rasputin Silverfur grinned, showing pointed teeth. Blood trickled down his chin and he licked his lips slowly, obscenely.

"But you know how much I like kids, Crighton."

"Am I to take it that you are attacking even without the full moon now? This is most unusual ... you have developed a taste for human flesh that cannot be satisfied once a month?"

"That's right," said Silverfur. "Shocks you, that, does it, Crighton? Frightens you?"

"Well, I cannot pretend it does not disgust me a little," said Crighton. "And, yes, I am a little shocked that Danielle here invited you, of all people, into the school where her friends live ..."

"I didn't," breathed Malty. She was not looking at Silverfur; she did not seem to want to even glance at him. "I didn't know he was going to come - "

"I wouldn't want to miss a trip to Dragon Mort, Crighton," rasped Silverfur. "Not when there are throats to be ripped out ... delicious, delicious ..."

And he raised a yellow fingernail and picked at his front teeth, leering at Crighton.

"I could do you for others, Crighton ..."

"No," said the fourth Love Destroyer sharply. She had a heavy, brutal-looking face. "We've got orders. Dani's got to do it. Now, Dani, and quickly."

Malty was showing less resolution than ever. She looked terrified as she stared into Crighton's face, which was even paler, and rather lower than usual, as she had slid so far down the rampart wall.

"She's not long for this world anyway, if you ask me!" said the lopsided woman, to the accompaniment of her brother's wheezy giggles. "Look at her - what's happened to you, then, Crighty?"

"Oh, weaker resistance, slower reflexes, Acantha," said Crighton. "Old age, in short ... one day, perhaps, it will happen to you ... if you are lucky ..."

"What's that mean, then, what's that mean?" yelled the Love Destroyer, suddenly violent. "Always the same, weren't yeh, Crighty, talking and doing nothing, nothing, I don't even know why the Scarlet Lady's bothering to kill yeh! Come on, Dani, do it!"

But at that moment, there were renewed sounds of scuffling from below and a voice shouted, "They've blocked the stairs - Reducto! REDUCTO!"

My heart leapt: so these four had not eliminated all the opposition, but had merely broken through the fight to the top of the Tower, and, by the sound of it, created a barrier behind them -

"Now, Dani, quickly!" said the brutal-faced woman angrily.

But Malty's hand was shaking so badly that she could barely aim.

"I'll do it," snarled Silverfur, moving towards Crighton with his hands outstretched, his teeth bared.

"I said no!" shouted the brutal-faced woman; there was a flash of light and the werewolf was blasted out of the way; he hit the ramparts and staggered, looking furious. My heart was hammering so hard it seemed impossible that nobody could hear me standing there, imprisoned by Crighton's spell - if I could only move, I could aim a curse from under the Cloak -

"Dani, do it, or stand aside so one of us can - " screeched the man, but at that precise moment the door to the ramparts burst open once more and there stood Triphorm, her wand clutched in her hand as her icy-blue eyes swept the scene, from Crighton slumped against the wall, to the four Love Destroyers, including the werewolf, and Malty.

"We've got a problem, Triphorm," said the lumpy Acantha, whose eyes and wand were fixed alike upon Crighton, "the girl doesn't seem able - "

But somebody else had spoken Triphorm's name, quite softly.

"Tiana ..."

The sound frightened me beyond anything I had experienced all that evening. For the first time, Crighton was pleading.

Triphorm said nothing, but walked forwards and pushed Malty roughly out of the way. The three Love Destroyers fell back without a word. Even the werewolf seemed cowed.

Triphorm gazed for a moment at Crighton, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the hard lines of her face.

"Tiana ... please ..."

Triphorm raised her wand and pointed it directly at Crighton.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A jet of green light shot from the end of Triphorm's wand and hit Crighton squarely in the chest. My scream of horror never left me; silent and unmoving, I was forced to watch as Crighton was blasted into the air: for a split second she seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining Trail, and then she fell slowly backwards, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight.