Believe her, Liam, she'd been right there with you just a few moments ago. But now she had a strange guy in her bed and a talking mouse asking about parade routes and Verity wanted an Irish coffee, heavy on the Irish.

"Okay, yes, invoking the rite of privacy," she hissed. "We don't know him so just stay out of the way until I figure out what to do with him."

Oh god, how much had she babbled to him last night? Even as a little kid she knew better!

"But the parade, Priestess!"

"You have a whole room," Verity pointed out. "You can do a couple of laps of your room, okay?"

The mouse sniffed, whiskers quivering with disapproval, but nodded and bowed. "As you say, Priestess."