‘The heart worked!’ Viola cried out. Her faith in this was still strong. Peter Cedars had died because of them! If they could only harness this power, control it… But the girls were looking at their feet, not willing to agree. So, Viola spoke cruelly, only to be kind. ‘Mr Hailey isn’t going to take you with him on the August ship.’

Britta sighed. ‘He said you would do this.’

‘I bet he did,’ said Viola. She laughed; that got their attention.

‘Go on,’ said Jade-Marie.

‘He can’t take you with him on the August ship because he’s leaving on the April one! Friday the thirteenth. He’s got Leah Cedars pregnant and they don’t want to have the baby here.’ Viola watched their faces fall, drain of colour. ‘They’re probably worried about what will happen if it turns out to be a girl.’

Britta’s jaw was working, building up to a refusal. Viola got in first. ‘I heard them, Britta! Saul Cooper did too. Out here in the woods. Ask Mr Hailey yourself. Ask Miss Cedars. Though I’m not sure they’d tell you the truth.’

The girls looked at one another, eyes widening. The sea swilled and churned somewhere beneath them. The wind chased furrows through the long grass at their feet.

‘Shit!’ This was Anna. ‘Fuck! Shit! Fuck! Shit! Fuck!’ She alternated the only bad words she knew, looking for a release and getting none, angry tears drenching her face. ‘Oh, god!’ she cried. ‘Oh, god! Bethany Reid had the right idea!’ She directed this viciously at the others. ‘That’s the only way out of this fucking place!’ Then she turned, in a great swirl of white nightdress, and stamped away, out of the circle.

It was Jade-Marie who realised it first, that Anna wasn’t heading back through the woods; she was making towards the cliff edge.

‘Anna, no!’

They sprinted after her, yelling for her to stop, telling her she didn’t mean it, but her stride was certain, fast.

Jade-Marie snatched hold of her friend, trying to halt her with the restraint of a hug, but Anna broke free, she carried on; she howled: ‘I’m doing this for all of you!’

‘It won’t do us any good to have you gone!’ Britta pleaded, moving with her, the wind clipping her words as they drew nearer to where the edge was, or where it might be; the gloom made it impossible to see. Each step could be their last.

The sea crashed louder, closer, it warned them; they were on the brink. The group staggered to a halt. Anna’s teeth were chattering. Britta and Jade-Marie clung to a hand each, the wind making sails of their nightdresses.