Pa was up in the lantern room when I got back. I put the groceries away and took the newspaper up to him, along with a cup of tea. The lantern room was filled with a strange, metallic light. It had started to rain again, and the grey skies filled every window, wrapped around us like a band of iron. Should I say anything about seeing the police detective in the village? It was probably better not to.

‘I heard the German guns today,’ I said instead.

Pa nodded grimly. ‘Me too.’

I put his cup of tea down on a ledge and handed him the newspaper.

‘Much appreciated, First Mate,’ he said, and gave me one of his cheerful salutes, but it wasn’t convincing.

‘Edie at the bakery gave us the newspaper, so we’ve saved a penny there,’ I said, passing him a handful of change. ‘She said there’s nothing much in it today anyway.’

Pa smiled a little. ‘Did she, indeed? What – no half-price hat vouchers or free tickets to the pictures?’ He shook the newspaper out and scanned the front page. Then his smile died completely.

‘What is it, Pa?’

He didn’t say anything. He swallowed and frowned, reading very intensely. The paper buckled beneath the grip of his fingers.

‘Pa?’

I stepped around him, putting my hand on his shoulder. I tried to find the headline that had caught his attention. And saw it straight away.

TRAITORS TO BE HANGED
SWIFT PROSECUTION AND DEATH PENALTY FOR
THOSE FOUND TO BE AIDING ENEMY – LORD
BARTON COMMENTS ON NEW TREACHERY ACT

Chapter 22

22

My nightmare about the Wyrm that night was worse than ever. I was in the water, swimming frantically, and the jaws of the sea dragon were right behind me. I dragged myself up on to the beach and it followed, squirming out of the sea. It somehow knew the way through the gaps in the barbed wire, and it clawed its way across the sand, up the cliff, into the cottage and up into the lantern room of the lighthouse where I was hiding. What was especially horrible about the dream this time was that I just gave up. I heard the hiss of its breath getting closer and closer, but I didn’t try to run anywhere or fight: I just accepted that this was how my life would end – as a sacrifice in the foul jaws of the Wyrm. I was so frightened, so broken, that I was ready to welcome the darkness. I woke up to the sound of arguing and the low burble of news on the wireless. The blackout blinds were down so I had no idea what time it was, and the horror of my dream still pulsed through me like poison. I lay still, trying to steady my breath.

‘I’m going to go, Pa,’ Mags shouted. ‘You can’t stop me!’

What was she shouting about? Go where?

‘For the last time, Magda – I said NO.’