Eve’s head is thumping. She checks the little clock on her bedside table. Three a.m. ‘You’re going to be a beautiful girl for ever and ever,’ she whispers into her daughter’s hair. ‘Let’s all go to sleep now.’ She kisses Sorrel’s warm cheek, touches a silky curl. Sorrel shuts her eyes. Eve hovers between waking and sleeping as she holds her daughter close and listens to her breathing gradually slow. Sorrel stopped wetting the bed years ago. Izzy was being truthful but she must ask her to be careful, Sorrel is easily scared. She strokes Sorrel’s hair and slips into sleep again.

A fresh squall of rain hits the window; a door bangs from somewhere in the house. Eve wakes with a gasp from a nightmare that slides away before she can hold it. Her mouth has the sour taste of metal. Sorrel has disappeared, she must have gone back to her bed.