Free Fire Girl by Matt Ralphs

‘Hard to believe he was capable of such a thing, isn’t it? I’m afraid you’ve met him when he’s rather past his prime.’
    Titus twitched, muttered and rolled on to the floor. There was a moment’s silence and then he began snoring again.
    ‘See what I mean?’ David said. ‘The book you need is called
Demonology
by Theodore Dreisler. It’s the big black one with the gold foil, next to
Le Dragon
Rouge
. That’s the one.’ Hazel pulled it off the shelf and nearly fell backwards under the weight. ‘Careful, it’s heavy. Come on through the hatch and sit next to me.
Bring the book.’
    Hazel glanced at Titus. ‘What about . . . ?’
    ‘Oh, don’t worry about him. He’ll be asleep for hours yet.’
    Hazel handed the book to David, gave Samson a goodbye scratch behind the ear, then clambered through the hatch and sat down on the driver’s seat. Her breath misted in the air. Bramley
curled up at the nape of her neck, radiating heat. She pulled an apple out from her bag and offered it to David.
    ‘Hey,’ Bramley squeaked. ‘That’s
mine
!’
    ‘No, thank you. I can take or leave apples,’ David said. ‘Now, if what you saw really was a demon—’
    ‘I’ve told you – it was.’
    ‘Then perhaps you’d like to look through
Demonology
and see if you can identify it?’
    Hazel laid the book on her lap. The smell of foxed paper wafted out as she opened the front cover. A piece of parchment framed with gold had been stuck to the front page:
    To Captain Titus White,
    England’s Greatest Witch Finder and true Knight of the Road
    With thanks from His Royal Highness
    King Charles
    Charles R.
    Patron of the College of Witch Finders
    Hazel hoisted the book up and pointed to the page. ‘Titus met the King?’
    ‘He
worked
for the King. Titus was one of his closest courtiers,’ David said. ‘But that was before the Witch War and the King’s execution.’
    Hazel didn’t want her ignorance of what was probably common knowledge to arouse David’s suspicion, so she dropped the subject and read on. The title page was printed in a bold gothic
font:

    Intrigued, Hazel turned the page and saw a picture of a hideous creature, carefully outlined in black and coloured with delicate ink washes.
    ‘Beautiful penmanship, isn’t it?’ David said. ‘Dreisler was a genius. The way he made such ugly creatures look so luminous. Marvellous.’
    Hazel didn’t think the frog-like creature with the bloated throat looked luminous; she thought it looked terrifying.
    The heading on the page –
Shabriri – daemon-minimus –
was followed by some introductory text:
Shabriri are mischievous toad-like demons that wait near uncovered
water. They strike blind and eat those that drink of the water.
    She turned the page. A beast with crooked horns and a scorpion’s tail grinned at her.
Azazal. Daemon-mediocritas. An insidious demon that invades the hearts of the virtuous, turning
their will to its own ends.
    Fascinating, frightening, but not the demon she was looking for. ‘Where are we going?’ she asked as she leafed through one page of horrors after another.
    ‘We need to pick up the demon’s trail as soon as we can. Can you direct us to where the abduction took place?’
    ‘No, you can’t,’ Bramley whispered. ‘That horrible hedge is in the way, remember?’
    He’s right
, Hazel thought.
Besides, how can I explain that I spent all my life until yesterday living in a magical Glade protected by an enchanted hedge?
    After a moment’s thought, she said, ‘I’m not sure I can. I got lost in the forest and I don’t think I can find my way back.’
    ‘Pity,’ David said with a frown.
    ‘Ma never let me go far alone because of Boggarts and wolves and suchlike. So I don’t really know my way around.’
    ‘Never mind, I’m here to help now,’ David said with an indulgent smile. ‘If you can identify the demon, we can try to work out where he’s most likely to be hiding.
Keep looking.’
    Flushed with