Thistle is having a terrible week. Her mother has been incarcerated after throwing a pickled pumpkin through a window of the War Office, and now Thistle has been sent to stay with her aunt in Lilly Gate. Mappo, Thistle’s familiar, seems distinctly unimpressed, and even making friends with a gargoyle called Mr Pepper and a scheming snark called Epona hasn’t managed to improve his temper. The Ghost Trials are looming, the war with Rumland is raging in the south, and Thistle still hasn’t managed to figure out how to charm crows. Things can probably only improve, but then again, Epona’s plans surely won’t end well. And what’s that we heard about a kraken?