‘Cadaver breath.’ Jesse turned his head to look down at me. His chest was rising and falling. ‘Do you realize that’s what you called me? That hurt, you know, querida. It really hurt.’

‘I told you—’ Something heavy was buffeting against the door. I could feel it knocking against my spine. It didn’t take a genius to guess it was the founder of a certain mission’s head. ‘—not to call me that.’

‘Well, I would appreciate if you didn’t make disparaging remarks about my—’

‘Look,’ I said. ‘This door isn’t going to hold up forever.’

‘No,’ he agreed, just as the metal head managed to smash its way partly through a spot it had weakened in the wood. ‘May I make a suggestion?’

I was staring, horrified, down at the head, which had turned, halfway in and halfway out of the door, to look up at me with cold, bronze eyes. It’s crazy, but I could have sworn it was smiling at me. ‘Sure,’ I said.

‘Run.’

I wasted no time in taking his advice. I ran for the window sill, and, heedless of the shards of broken glass, swung myself up on to it. It only took a few seconds to open the window again, but that was long enough for Jesse, still pushing against what had begun to sound like a hurricane with all the banging and wailing, to say, ‘Uh, hurry, please?’

I jumped down into the parking lot. It was kind of funny how, outside the thick adobe walls of the Mission, you couldn’t tell at all that there was a severe paranormal disturbance going on inside. The parking lot was still empty, and still quiet, except for the gentle, rhythmic sound of ocean waves. It’s just amazing what can be going on beneath people’s noses, and they have no idea . . . no idea at all.

‘Jesse!’ I hissed, through the window. ‘Come on!’ I had no idea if Heather might decide to take out her rage with me on an innocent party – or, if she did, whether Jesse had any cool tricks, like the one she’d pulled with the statue’s head, of his own. All I knew was that the sooner the both of us got out of her range, the better.

OK, let me state right now that I am not a coward. I’m really not. But I’m not a fool, either. I think if you recognize that you are up against a force greater than your own, it is perfectly OK to run.

It’s not OK to leave others behind, though.

‘Jesse!’ I screamed, through the window.

‘I thought I told you,’ said a very irritated voice from behind me, ‘to run.’

I gasped and spun around. Jesse stood there on the asphalt of the parking lot, the moon at his back, casting his face into shadow.

‘Oh my God.’ My heart was beating so fast, I thought it was going to explode. I had never been so scared in all my life. Never.