I came to a stop as Byron looked over Kirsty’s head. He didn’t seem surprised to see me. ‘I might have known you’d catch up,’ he grinned.

My stomach did an odd twist as Tipsania rolled her eyes. ‘Honestly. Integrity is obviously trying to hurt her competition and take us out one by one. Look at the Kincaid girl,’ she snapped.

‘Help me!’ Kirsty moaned.

Exasperation overtook me. ‘Oh for goodness’ sake, I’m not trying to hurt you! I helped you. Use your damned Gift to find out.’

Kirsty twisted round, her back firmly against Byron’s chest. She took a deep breath as she tried to compose herself. She really was terrified.

‘It’s alright, Kirsty,’ Byron murmured, with a questioning glance at me.

‘Are you going to hurt me?’ she demanded.

I tilted up my chin. ‘No.’

Kirsty’s legs seemed to give way; if Byron hadn’t been holding her, she’d have sunk down to the ground. ‘It’s gone,’ she whispered.

Byron frowned. ‘What’s gone?’

A trickle of dread ran down my spine.

‘The girl is hysterical. Leave her be,’ Tipsania interrupted.

‘My Gift,’ Kirsty whispered. ‘It’s completely vanished. I can’t feel it any more.’ She raised her eyes to mine. ‘What did you do to me?’

‘She couldn’t have done anything,’ Byron said. ‘Your Gift won’t have gone anywhere.’ Something dark crossed his face. ‘It’ll just be the stress or something.’

Or something indeed. Had I really taken it all from her? I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek.

‘It’s gone,’ Kirsty repeated. ‘It’s really gone.’ And then she smiled.

I did a double-take. She was happy?

‘I can’t believe it,’ she said, shaking her head in awed disbelief.

Byron’s expression turned grimmer. ‘What happened?’ he asked me. ‘Why are you two together?’

I drew in a breath. ‘She was waiting in the trees for me. She tried to attack me then she, er, collapsed.’ It was sort of what had happened, I’d just omitted a few significant details.

‘I wanted answers,’ Kirsty mumbled. She was still beaming from ear to ear.

‘Are you sure your Gift has disappeared?’ I asked cautiously.

She nodded. ‘I think so.’ She pulled away from Byron and twirled round in the snow. ‘This is fantastic!’

‘You don’t seem upset.’

Kirsty continued to dance. ‘Do you have any idea how tiring it is to know when people are lying?’ she said in between spins. ‘It’s a shitty Gift.’

Tipsania folded her arms. ‘Whatever do you mean?’

‘When my mother told me she didn’t have a favourite child, I knew she was lying. When my fiancé told me he loved me, I knew he was lying. Ignorance is bliss.’ Kirsty looked at Byron. ‘Do you remember the Christmas ball? When you told me I looked pretty?’ Her mouth flattened. ‘I knew you were lying.’

Byron winced. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘It’s not your fault. You were just trying to be nice. And I was wearing a rather garish form of pink.’ I frowned. Garish pink was the best kind.