With that she began to tug me after her again. I didn't resist and soon we were running up the steps again at full pelt. We halted on a gloomy landing. Before us stood a doorway and darkness beyond.
'You go inside,' Mab said. 'Your mam's waiting there to talk to you. She told me to wait outside. She wants to see you alone.'
I didn't want to go in, but I held out my hand for the lantern. Mab shook her head. 'Doesn't want you to see her yet. Not like this. She's changing. Just halfway there, she is. Not nice to look at . . .'
I didn't like the way she said that about Mam and I felt like striking her with my staff. Was Mam changing into her full Lamia shape?
'Go on!' Mab snapped.
I scowled at her, and clutching my staff and bag, went forward into the darkness of that forbidding chamber and waited for my eyes to adjust. But even before I was able to make out the shape in the corner, I could hear laboured breathing. Was that Mam? She sounded as if she was hurt.
'Mam! Mam! Is it you?' I cried.
'Yes, son, it's me!' a voice replied. It sounded hoarse and somewhat deeper than I remembered. And weary and full of pain. But without doubt it was Mam.
'Are you all right, Mam? Are you hurt?'
'There is some pain, son, but it's only to be expected.
I'm changing. I can choose my shape and I'm taking on one that might just give me a chance against the Ordeen. But it's been harder than I thought. Much harder. I still need a little time to ready myself. You must delay her.'
'Delay her? How?' I demanded.
'Firstly with words. You'll be an enigma to her, a puzzle that she'll be desperate to solve. That's your first defence. Later, your chain and staff might buy us further time. Are you still wearing the blade, Tom? And have you used the wish?'
My heart sank right down into my boots at her words. I suddenly realized that Mam had wanted me to use the Grimalkin's gifts against the Ordeen. But I had to tell her the truth.
'I still have the blade, but I used the dark wish to save Alice. Aferal lamia had her in its jaws. She'd have died otherwise.'
I heard Mam sigh wearily. 'Combining the wish and the blade might have given you a real chance against the Ordeen. But if you survive this, son, you made the right decision. You'll need Alice by your side. As a last resort use the blade anyway.'
'What did you mean by me being "a puzzle" to the Ordeen?' I asked. 'I don't understand. Why will I be that?'
'Don't you remember what I told you? The reason we gave her your blood? She will know you and not know you. You will seem like kin. Someone she should know but does not. You'll be able to hold her attention and allow me to ready myself and strike first. She drank your blood, taking it into her own body in order to gain new life. It's changed her. It makes you close. Already that's weakened her. That's why you were able to pass through the barrier. That's why I was able to enter this place too. We share the same blood, Tom.'
Her voice was changing now. Becoming less human. Once again, I had my doubts. I'd been tricked so many times before and was wary.
'Is it you, Mam? Is it really you?' I demanded.
'Of course it is, Tom. Who else? But I don't blame you for doubting me. I've changed and continue to change. I've taken on many forms in my long lifetime and now I'll take my final one. The process is accelerating even as we speak. I'm no longer the woman I was. I remember being your mother. I remember being a wife to your father. But I'm already something different now. Don't be sad, Tom. All things change eventually. Nothing lasts for ever. All we can do now is make our final moments together worthwhile.
'For much of my long life I've planned the destruction of the Ordeen. And now it's almost within my grasp. You gave your blood to her – gave it bravely. That was why I brought you to my homeland. But there is one more thing you can do that might make a difference. Delay her. Buy me time. Mab will guide you to the place where she will shortly awaken. Soon I'll use the last of my strength against her. I will hold her in a death-grip. But if I succeed in doing that, you must flee the Ord immediately. Will you do that? Do you promise, Tom?'
'Leave you, Mam? How could I do that?'
'You must do it, son. You must escape. Your destiny is to destroy the Fiend. That's what I've worked so long to achieve. If you die here with me, it will all have been for nothing. I'll bind the Ordeen fast until her strength fails. Once that happens, the Ord will collapse back through the portal. It will be destroyed, and if she can't get free, it will be the end of her too!'
'But you'll be destroyed as well! Is that what you're saying, Mam?'
'Yes, it'll be the end of me too, but the sacrifice will be worth it. I will have achieved what I set out to do so long ago. So do you promise? Please! Let me hear you say it . . .'
I felt shocked and full of grief. Mam was going to die here. But how could I refuse her when it would be the last thing she'd ever ask of me?
'I promise, Mam. I'm going to miss you so much. But I'll make you proud.'
At that moment a shaft of moonlight came through the window to illuminate Mam's head. It was still just recognizable, but her cheekbones were higher and sharper than ever, the eyes more cruel. I could just make out the shape of her body and a little of the substance. She was crouching close to the ground. There were scales, sharp claws, folded wings . . . Even as I watched, she was becoming less and less human, transforming before my eyes into her final Lamia shape.
'Don't look at me, Tom! Don't look at me! Turn away now!' Mam cried out, her voice full of pain and sorrow.
I had seen something similar to this before – and heard Mam utter those words. The Bane that had lived in the labyrinth beneath Priestown Cathedral had once afforded me a terrible vision, showing me Mam in this shape. And I remembered his exact words:
The moon shows the truth of things, boy. You know that already. All you have seen is true and will come to pass. All it takes is time.
The Bane had been right: I was now in a waking nightmare. It had come to pass all right.
I hesitated and Mam cried out again, 'Go and do what I ask! Don't let me down now! Remember who you are and that I love you!'
So I turned my back and fled the chamber, filled with an anguish of my own.
Outside, Mab gave me a triumphant little smile. 'Told you she wasn't nice to look at,' she said. 'Now I'll take you to the Ordeen . . .'