“The magic showed me something,” Violet agrees, looking down. “But how do I know if that’s what really happened? How would I know if the magic was just showing me what I wanted to see? Something to give me hope that I might see my parents again someday.”

I shrug. There’s really nothing I can say to that. Except…

“You brought it back, Vi.” I lower my voice for this. “The malamander. When you had the egg that last time. Eels had killed it, but you wished it back to life! You remade the monster! Why, when you could have had anything you wanted?”

“Is it really a monster?” says Vi. “I mean, yes, OK, it’s a monster, but that doesn’t mean it’s evil. As my dad said, the malamander lays its egg for someone else, not for us. No one should be allowed to just take it, Herbie. The magic is far too dangerous for people to use.”

“But what if it bites someone again?” I say, thinking of Mrs Fossil’s hand. “The malamander is dangerous too.”

“It just needs space,” says Vi. “It’s a wild animal, after all, and, like any wild animal, it just wants to be left alone.”

“We can warn people to keep away from the wreck,” says Dr Thalassi, coming back over with the others. “It will only add to the legend.”

“And apparently, the creature hibernates for half the year anyway,” says Mrs Fossil. “All summer long.”

“Technically, it’s only hibernation if it sleeps in the winter,” Violet corrects her. “The word you’re looking for is aestivation.”

Dr Thalassi blinks at her. “How do you know that?”

“My mum told me,” Violet replies.

“Well, well, well,” says Mrs Fossil, slightly breathlessly. “A new word for me, eh? All very interesting, very…”

“Is there something wrong, Wendy?” Jenny asks Mrs Fossil. “You look flustered.”

Mrs Fossil gives a twitchy grin, and swings her hands from side to side like she doesn’t know what to do with them.

I look back at Vi and then we both look at Mrs Fossil.

“Wait,” I say. “Mrs Fossil, your first name is Wendy? I never knew that.”

Wendy Fossil turns to Violet. “And I only knew your first name,” she says, her agitation beginning to overflow. “Herbie said you were called Violet, and I didn’t make the connection. Otherwise I would have said something, I promise. I didn’t know you were Violet Parma until Herbie used your full name on the beach last night. And now I know that it’s all my fault!”

And she sits down heavily in a chair, spilling a small cascade of beach pebbles and shells from her jacket pocket as she does so.

“My mum and dad left you looking after me,” says Vi, slowly, “the night they disappeared?”