‘I can’t tell Father any of that part,’ she said. ‘What happened down there, I mean. I can’t tell anyone but you, Mistress Blackthorn. What could those folk have meant about a lie? I don’t understand.’

‘Nor do I, Cara.’ Blackthorn had a different look in her eye now, as if she were trying to work something out. ‘I wish I did.’

‘Father did explain some things. About the men doing the building and why I can’t stay there. It made sense while he was saying it, sort of. Him wanting to keep me safe, and not liking me to be up there while the builders are working. He said he’d promised my mother he’d never let anything bad happen to me.’

‘Mm-hm. He told me that too.’

‘Only I’ve been thinking about it. He’s got Gormán there. Gormán’s big and strong and Father knows he’d protect me against anything. And now there’s Grim too. Even bigger and stronger. What sort of builders is he getting, trolls or giants?’

Blackthorn grinned. Cara felt like smiling back, only her mouth wasn’t quite ready to do it yet. ‘I was wondering,’ she said, ‘if that wild man is one of them.’

Blackthorn didn’t answer straight away. She seemed to be thinking. Then she said, ‘What wild man, Cara?’

‘I told you. Didn’t I? The day before Father sent me away the first time, I saw a wild man looking at the heartwood house. And then looking at me. Gormán made me go straight back to the house, the big house, I mean. I wondered if that had something to do with Father not wanting me at Wolf Glen. If that man stayed, if he was working for Father . . . I don’t know. I’m just guessing. Did Grim say anything about who was doing the building?’

‘Not much,’ Blackthorn said. ‘Your father put some rules on what could be said and what couldn’t. Unusually strict rules.’

‘Mistress Blackthorn?’

‘Mm?’

‘Those were Otherworld beings, weren’t they? Those voices down the bottom of the hole?’

‘I don’t see what else they could have been, since I doubt very much that the whole thing existed only in your mind. Though you’re right; if you told most folk this tale that is exactly the explanation they would offer. Not because they don’t believe in the uncanny, but because they are afraid of it. As it seems your father is.’

‘No, he isn’t! Father’s not afraid of anything!’

‘Stop and think for a moment, Cara. Why else is he so determined to build the heartwood house? Why is it so very important to him that it be finished quickly and completely? Why would he –’ Blackthorn stopped herself. ‘Never mind that.’

‘Why would he what?’

‘It doesn’t matter.’