His heart rate dropped.

He swallowed.

Something had happened to him back at the tower. Something he didn’t understand. It had knocked him for six, and now he had to control his fears.

‘Better?’ said Victor, walking over.

‘Yes,’ said James. ‘I’m fine.’

Victor pointed down to where the land met the sea.

‘What do you think?’ he said, and James saw the villa properly for the first time. It was built in the shape of a great white octopus. The large central living room was the body, and the various corridors leading off it made up the eight tentacles.

‘I like it,’ said James. ‘I think all houses should look like that.’

‘Poliponi wanted me to paint it red,’ said Victor with a chuckle. ‘We fought over it like two dogs, but in the end I won. It was my money, after all, that was paying for it. White is better, it keeps the heat away. It can get very hot here. What your English schoolteacher is doing organizing a field trip to the Nuraghic monuments at this time of year, I do not know. He will lose half his students to heatstroke. Why did he not come in the spring or autumn when most sensible people visit the island?’

‘I have no idea,’ said James.

‘So,’ said Victor as they started back down, ‘should I ask Mauro to take you sailing this afternoon?’

‘I’m not sure he likes me,’ said James.

‘Oh, that is just his way,’ said Victor. ‘He is very protective of me, and suspicious of outsiders – even if they are family. And, of course, at heart he is a bandit.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘He is from the Supramonte Mountains,’ said Victor. ‘The Barbagia region.’

‘Oh, yes,’ said James. ‘I’ve heard about the villages hidden away up in the hills, to avoid attacks from the sea.’

‘That is right,’ said Victor. ‘You have seen how beautiful the island is, and its coastline is the most beautiful part, but it is largely uninhabited and the people are not great seamen, because the true Sardinians live inland. They are fierce tough people up there. There are still whole villages of bandits, and they are always fighting. Mauro’s father was killed in a feud with another family.’

‘Really?’ said James.

‘Yes,’ said Victor. ‘When Mauro was old enough he left home to find work so that he could send money home to his mother and sister. I have tamed him a little. I have tried to educate him and teach him to read and write, but he will always be a bandit at heart. I hope you two can become friends, because it is not a good idea to become his enemy. Horst is meant to protect me and the villa. He is a big young man covered all over with muscles, but I would rather have Mauro by my side in a fight.’