But we don’t wait to talk any more, and soon the wind has swallowed up Mrs Fossil’s words.

WARSHIP

IT’S ONLY WHEN we splash into water that we stop.

“Herbie, we really need to use the torches,” says Vi, leaning in close again to make herself heard. “What if we walk right out to sea?”

But I hold up a nearly invisible hand.

“Wait a mo,” I say. “Look up at the clouds.”

A patch of light in the northern sky, which I’ve had my eye on for a while now, finally opens – the clouds ripped apart by the wind – and the moon shines down in a rush of silver.

The wreck is shockingly close. Its jagged outline towers up just a few dozen paces ahead of us. Water swirls around it, crashing in waves against its far side before surging round each end and sweeping over the beach towards us, covering the sand – and our feet – in icy cold sea.

“I thought the tide was going out!” Vi shouts in my ear.

“It is!” I shout back. “I checked at Reception. It’ll be out completely at 10.13 p.m.” And I pull back my sleeve to waggle the glowing dial of my watch – borrowed from lost property, of course – at Violet. “That’s in twenty-seven minutes.”

“So we just stand here till then?” Vi says, between chattering teeth.

I shrug. I haven’t actually thought this far ahead in detail. Deciding to stop Eels from getting the egg is one thing. Actually doing it? Well, that’s something else, isn’t it? And we’re already frozen through.

“What’s that?” Vi points back up the beach. The town is just a mass of misty lights, twinkling in the distance. But down at shore level is another light – a small speck, sharper than the others, that is swinging from side to side. And getting closer.

“Maybe it’s Mrs Fossil,” I say. “Coming back to insist on those scones.”

I’m starting to wish we’d gone with her after all.

“I don’t think so,” says Vi. “Herbie, what if it’s Eels?”

“If it is, he’ll see us,” I say. “Now the moon’s out.”

“Then let’s go,” Vi replies. “Let’s get to the wreck before he does.”