I waited until the Sidhe started to leave. He was more careful this time and took his time stepping onto the gangplank. While the sailors watched him, no doubt keeping their fingers crossed that he would slip and fall, I took advantage of their distraction to fly out from behind the container and duck into the doorway.

This was no pretty wooden boat like the Clan Haig tugboat. It was a working ship, not a pleasure boat, and I was surrounded by steel plates and rusting rivets. That meant I’d have to be careful to keep quiet. Metal conducted sound almost as well as it conducted heat.

Oddly, the strong tang of salt from the sea seemed stronger inside the hold than outside. I tiptoed gingerly down the corridor, ignoring the girly pin-ups from old magazines which had been fixed haphazardly to the walls. Half-naked merwomen just didn’t do it for me.

I sneaked past several rooms, ranging from a galley kitchen to an officers’ mess. I might not know much about ships but I was betting that the cargo the Carnegie Sidhe was so concerned about would be kept down in the bowels of the ship.

The further in I went, the more the vessel seemed to be alive. It creaked and groaned like an old man getting out of bed. I skirted to my right, avoiding the murmur of voices from the other direction, and let out a sigh of relief when I spotted some narrow stairs leading downwards. Bracing my hands on either side of the walls, I crept down, aware of every sound around me – not least the tiny, yet very audible, clank of my footsteps.

The area below was well lit with fluorescent lights hanging from the steel ceiling which gave off a harsh glow. It was also surprisingly tidy. I glanced at the first huge pallet; I couldn’t tell exactly what was inside but it looked like sections of black, smoky plate glass. Certainly it contained nothing worth stealing – or nothing worth a Sidhe getting their knickers in a twist about. I shrugged and kept going, passing crate after crate filled with similar material. It was only when I heard the rattle from ahead that I paused. That was … interesting.

More wary now, I pushed on. The rattle sounded again. I rounded another pallet, spotted a large cage and halted immediately. Was there an animal inside? Or something worse?

I strained my eyes to make out what was in there. The cage seemed empty but it was in a prominent position, with a clear space around it. That signified its importance; this was more than just an empty cage ‒ and it was also worryingly large.

Just as I was about to take another step, there was a cough behind me. ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ said a dry voice.

I whirled round. It was a rare day when someone managed to sneak up on me. Deciding to brazen it out, I shook out my hair and tilted up my chin. ‘Why not?’