The noise Binah made was halfway between a squeak and a splutter. ‘Of course,’ she breathed. ‘That’s why everything started happening when he arrived … And the way he looks at Jamie … Oh dear, oh dear.’

Lottie nodded, shuddering at the thought that Haru was looking at Jamie in any sort of way. ‘He blackmailed me on Monday.’ She swallowed hard, shaking off the last traces of the treacherous phantom hands on her shoulders. ‘He gave me a list of rules I have to follow if I want to keep everyone safe, and by telling you I’ve already broken one.’

Binah was perfectly still, and Lottie thought of an old grandfather clock, the cogs all working away under her calm demeanour, putting everything into place.

‘He gave me this letter, it’s, uh …’ Lottie hesitated again, still feeling gross. ‘It’s from Claude.’

‘Oh me, oh my,’ Binah said simply, her eyes somehow even wider.

‘Yeah. I have to write a response. It seems like some kind of riddle or puzzle.’

Binah lifted her head, glasses glinting, and for a second it looked as if she were drooling. She licked her lips. ‘A puzzle, you say?’

It was such a completely ridiculous and yet entirely normal response for Binah that Lottie couldn’t stop the bubble of laughter that spilled out of her mouth, and once it started it wouldn’t stop, each hiccup making her feel lighter.

‘Hey, it’s not my fault I’m an enigmaholic.’ Binah’s voice cracked with laughter.

‘Is that even a word?’

‘No, but it should be.’

Lottie wiped her eyes, trying to hold back more giggles, until she finally let out a long sigh, opening up the book again to find the cursed ‘gift’ from Claude.

‘We’re having a secret meeting tomorrow – Ellie, Saskia, Anastacia and me – but they have no idea of this terrible bomb I’m going to have to drop on them. You should come. I could use some help figuring out how to tell them about Haru’s rules.’

‘Hmm,’ Binah mused, not hiding any of her doubt. ‘You need to tell them about this letter from Claude eventually too, especially Ellie. You know that, right?’

Waving off the question, Lottie located the card. ‘What I need to do is write a reply.’

‘We’ll do it together,’ Binah said.

When Lottie looked down at the black card, she saw it had got scuffed from being roughly hidden away, leaving it looking less regal and more feeble. It looked defeatable.

‘Yeah, OK,’ she said. ‘Just us two.’

10