Most of the huge feature windows had been reduced to glittering rubble, but Casey was still filming, his teeth gritted in what was either a snarl or a happy grin as he swung the lens to and fro. I couldn’t help but notice that a very few of our guests had a hungry, eager look about them, as if whatever appetite had brought them to this alternate had been insufficiently satisfied.

The rig technician made one final adjustment before joining the rest of us inside the circle of field-pillars. The wind had become much stronger, howling down Philly’s broad avenues. I saw a deckchair go tumbling past a window as the air around us twisted.

I still had a clear view between two neighbouring buildings of the great black wall rushing towards us from over the horizon. In the very last moment before transition, I saw a distant tower shiver into dust just before it was swallowed up by the maelstrom. And then we were back in the hangar, back on Easter Island.

Someone laughed with clear relief, and I resisted the urge to fall to my knees and hug the floor of the stage.

‘Did you see that?’ I heard a woman’s voice say, excited and urgent. ‘When I saw that thing rushing towards us . . . ! I thought we were goners for sure!’

I followed the rest of the Pathfinders down the ramp. None of us said anything at first.

‘That,’ Winifred said finally, as we stepped outside the hangar, ‘was fucking nightmare fuel.’

‘It’s reassuring to hear you feel the same way,’ I said.

‘It wasn’t meant to be reassuring,’ she said, and I watched her stalk off into the sunshine.

FOURTEEN

Somehow, the idea of reading my predecessor’s last diary hardly seemed such a big deal any more, after everything I had just witnessed. So I followed the other Pathfinders to the Hotel du Mauna Loa for what I now understood to be a constant ritual: a drink to success and, most importantly, to survival. There was a toast to Nadia, and discussions concerning a much-delayed memorial service of some kind. Before long, a date was settled on, although all agreed to consult on the matter with Rozalia in case she had her own ideas.

I got home later that afternoon, tired and feeling less rattled after a few beers and something to eat. I slept for nearly twelve hours, into the next day, dreaming I was running away from an explosion that pulled me up off the ground and threw me high above the clouds, until I floated among the stars and the air froze in my lungs.

When I woke, I knew I could delay no longer. I picked up my predecessor’s final diary and turned to the first entries, a cup of coffee by my side.