He had told me that I couldn’t rid myself of him and that, like a bad penny, he’d always turn up again. I had the sneaking suspicion that this would be all over for both Jamie and me by the time that happened. I cursed, just as there was another tug round my waist. The stoor worm had apparently decided I was the tastier one and was pulling me towards its mouth.

I stared down the thing’s throat. Dark saliva glistened from within. I swallowed my fear and tried to reach the light fitting again. This time I was too far away.

The dim recesses of my brain registered how stupid all this was. Who got eaten by a sea monster when they were up a mountain? It’d go down in history. I wondered if the person who’d used magic to bring the damn thing here knew about the Foinse. They had to. But didn’t they realise that by killing me they were damning everyone else too?

The stoor worm whined, then made several clicks. It was probably telling me that I was going to make a bloody tasty snack. Wait a minute…

‘How good is your psychometry?’ My words came out garbled but I think Jamie got the gist.

‘I’m one of the best.’

‘Can you use to it learn the language? To communicate?’ The tentacle round my waist tightened and I winced in pain.

‘And say what? Please don’t eat us?’

‘No. Say there’s a river. The River Tay’s near here, right? It leads to the sea. Use your psychometry to glean enough words to tell this thing that it can get back home. We didn’t bring it here but we can help it escape.’

For what seemed like an eternity there was absolute silence, not just from Jamie but from the stoor worm as well. It pulled its tentacle towards its horror of a mouth again. Now my toes were only inches away from those teeth.

Jamie screeched then he clicked. The stoor worm’s jaws opened wider and I knew it was about to bite. I squeezed my eyes shut while Jamie whined. My life should have been flashing in front of my eyes right about now but all I could think about was how pointless all this was. I held my breath. Hopefully death would come quickly.