She’d thought that Crows’ castle had been a ruin when she’d first arrived. It hadn’t: it had been sprouting, new growth despite the appearance of age. There’d been no piles of stones, no ragged beams, no mounds of cracked roofing slates to see. Those were the signs of a dying building, not one rising from the ground. She had so much to learn, and she’d do it, assuming she lived long enough.

Dalip climbed the rocks against the wall, which all but reached the top. He felt his way up, and peered over the edge, out towards the lake. Doing so exposed him to the full fury of the storm, and he ducked down almost immediately. Above them the clouds boiled and the sky flickered, the thunder an almost continuous barrage.

‘Come back,’ she shouted. ‘He won’t be out there.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Because he’s after people, right?’

Dalip scrambled back down. ‘But there’s only us left, I think. The others are either all dead or they’ve run away.’

‘Then where is he?’

They stood against each other, waiting for the lightning, trying to see through the darkness.

‘There.’ She pointed. A shambling figure was briefly outlined on the bridge from the pit to the tower, only vaguely human shaped. Too many limbs, too many of the wrong sort.

The light failed, and when it came back, he was gone.

They ran, the storm behind them, scourging them with hail. Then they were inside, gasping and panting.

‘Should have barred the door again.’ Dalip swallowed hard. ‘Stanislav? Stanislav! Don’t do it.’

He led the way this time, the spiral staircase proper dark now, and though Mary was close behind, it was Dalip who’d come up against Stanislav first.

He stopped suddenly, bracing his outstretched arms against the walls. Mary ran into his back, but the boy was like a rock. He wasn’t going any further.

‘Is that you, Stanislav? It’s me, Dalip.’

There was something ahead and above. She couldn’t see it, but she could hear it. A rasping breath, slow and deep, a wet burbling that was almost a voice. They needed light, but she was secretly glad that they didn’t have any, because the one thing they needed more than light was to keep their sanity.

‘We need to talk, Stanislav. We need to talk about what you’re doing. Why don’t you come with us and we can sit down and see if we can help you?’ Dalip’s voice was trembling. When Mary put her hand on Dalip’s arm, he was, too.

‘Stanislav? It’s Mary. Something’s happened to you, something that Down caused. Do you understand that this isn’t your fault? Come downstairs, and I’ll tell you about it, because it happened to me, too.’