‘Troy, are you all right?’ asked Jarvis.

‘I will be when I talk to my mum,’ I said.

‘I sense you’re not entirely convinced about me. You two can trust me. Look at this face.’ Jarvis briefly twisted round to us before turning back to the road. ‘These are trustworthy eyebrows.’

Was this man for real? Libby and I exchanged another look.

‘Thanks for rescuing us,’ I said.

‘You’re welcome, but don’t just thank me – thank your sister and Liberty’s dad,’ said Jarvis, his eyes still on me in the rear-view mirror. ‘They’ve been moving heaven and earth to bring you home safely.’

Well, that was good to know.

‘How long d’you reckon we’ll have to stay at your house?’ asked Libby.

‘Not long,’ Jarvis replied. ‘A few hours, a day at most. This time tomorrow you’ll be back in your own beds.’

I sat back, holding on to that hope with everything I had. Without warning, a well-known song from a couple of years ago sounded on the car radio. Jarvis turned up the volume, but then came a sound that had me sitting forward, alarmed – an ominous clunk as he locked the car doors.

‘Childproof locks. Just a precaution. I wouldn’t want either of you to fall out of the car,’ Jarvis said, chuckling. ‘Tobey and Callie would kill me!’

‘How old d’you think we are?’ asked Libby with disdain.

Even though he’d engaged the childproof lock, I pulled at the door handle anyway. Nothing. Is that what turning up the radio had been about? To mask the sound of the locks being engaged?

‘Troy, are your ears ornamental?’ Jarvis asked me, not missing what I’d done. ‘Sit back and relax. Like I said, I’m taking you where you’ll be safe.’

An alarm bell inside my head began to jingle softly. Something was definitely up with this guy and this situation.

Libby leaned towards me, her lips almost against my ear, her breath warm. ‘Troy, what’s wrong?’

I shook my head, finding it hard to put my concerns into words.

‘Don’t you believe him?’ asked Libby.

‘Not sure,’ I replied softly. ‘Something about this whole thing is … off.’

‘He seems OK,’ Libby said. ‘Maybe we were in the cellar too long. We can’t treat everyone like the enemy.’

Which was the same thing I’d just told myself and yet … ‘That’s not why I’m not buying his story,’ I replied.

‘Then why?’

But that was the trouble: I didn’t know why. Jarvis was chatty, smiley and very friendly. Yet he struck me as trying too hard to be all those things.

‘What do we do?’ whispered Libby.

‘There’s nothing we can do but watch and wait,’ I said quietly. ‘When he stops the car, if you see or hear anything at all that rings warning bells, run. Run and don’t look back.’