Grandma potters about the kitchen. She spoons tea leaves into the teapot and pours in hot water from the kettle on the stove. She is making herself busy, preparing to speak. She knows the house well from the years she used to live here when Grandpa was alive. Back then she was the assistant lighthouse keeper.

Soon the tea is ready. Grandma pours out two cups of tea from the pot, then sits beside me and clears her throat. I place my hands around my tea cup, letting the warm feel of it comfort me while I wait warily for the news.

“Your mother’s had the baby,” Grandma says. “It’s a little boy. But there were complications. And your brother, he’s not very well.”

I don’t really know what that means. It sounds scary.

“Have you seen him?” I ask, my heart beating a bit too fast.

Grandma doesn’t answer at first. Then she says, “I don’t want to worry you, Deryn. Everything’s going to be fine, I’m sure.”

“But where are they?” I ask.

“Safely tucked away at my house,” Grandma says. “The midwife’s keeping an eye on them. Your dad’s staying too. He asked me to sail over here and look in on you. I can stay for as long as you need me.”

“Thank you,” I say, and put my hand in the pocket of my cardigan to stroke Tan’s soft feathers. Somehow the warm feel of them soothes the worry away. Maybe if I can look after Tan and make her well again that will mean the midwife can help my baby brother.

“What have you got there?” Grandma asks. She has seen me fidgeting.

“A little bird that crashed into the lighthouse,” I say, opening my pocket to show her. “I named her Tan. I’m looking after her until she’s better.”

“How nice.” Grandma smiles. “I used to tell your father when he was small: ‘A lighthouse keeper is not just here to tend the light and save ships. We’re here to take care of the birds and beasts of the island too.’ You’re doing a fine job at that, Deryn.”

*

The rest of the morning, Grandma and I clean the lighthouse together. Grandma says it’s to get it ready for my parents’ return, but I think it’s because she feels it’s got a bit scruffy since she lived here.

“When you’re worried and waiting,” Grandma says, “it’s best to find things to take your mind off your troubles. Like your bird, Deryn, and tidying the lighthouse. It will be nice for your parents to come back and find everything here spick and span and shipshape!”

While we work, Grandma tells me stories about when she and Grandpa used to live at the lighthouse with Dad. “Your dad was such a naughty boy,” she says. “He was always chasing Gertrude into the kitchen.”