He knew what they said about him but he didn’t care. He didn’t like engaging in conversation but it didn’t mean he was weird. They didn’t get how your body could feel like it was on fire every time someone stared down at you and asked you a question. And that if you opened your mouth to answer all the words would dry up.

But he’d seen the way Tess had looked at him in the cave. He’d counted the seconds of silence before she’d let out a piercing scream.

It wasn’t how she’d made it seem.

Bonnie was fuming. With gritted teeth, she climbed the steps to the top of the cliff, her legs shaking. The entire evening had been a write-off.

Behind her Iona was chatting away to Tess, who by all accounts seemed to have got over the whole incident in the cave pretty quickly. Bonnie stopped suddenly on the step, which forced Iona to crash into her.

‘Hey!’ Iona cried. ‘Everything alright, Bon?’

‘Fine,’ she muttered. ‘I thought I saw something in front of me.’

‘Like what?’ Tess called out.

Bonnie closed her eyes and bit her lip. Like what? she mimicked in her head. Iona had told Tess she would take her home, which meant their evening together was over. Tess could walk home on her own; she only lived in the bloody house at the end of the cliff path. Why did Iona have to be so damned nice?

Bonnie started climbing again.

‘Bon!’ Iona said, laughing. ‘Didn’t you hear Tess? She asked what you’d seen.’

‘Sorry, I didn’t,’ she called back breezily. ‘I don’t know, Tess, maybe a slow-worm.’

‘Eughh,’ the girl said and Bonnie rolled her eyes. She knew she was being unreasonable but she couldn’t help herself. Iona was her best friend, and because of Tess’s dramatics she was being taken away from her.

‘I’ll come back with you and we can drop Tess home then go and do something else, shall we?’ Bonnie called back.

‘Don’t you think you should check on your brother and sister?’ Iona said. She’d already commented that Stella shouldn’t have been running home on her own. ‘Anyway, there’s no need, I’ll go in with Tess and probably stay for a bit.’

They reached the top of the steps and Bonnie was glad for the lack of light, which meant they couldn’t see how cross she was. ‘Fine, I’ll see you in the morning,’ she snapped and barely turned back. She had no idea why Iona was so keen to drop into the Carltons’, but she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing she was upset.

Maria glanced up as David walked into the kitchen. She ushered Stella away and told him what had happened. She could see the pain on her husband’s face; it matched that in her heart.