The shadows are clustered tight between the trunks of the trees, and they cling to the brittle branches up high, and they crawl through the undergrowth with a sound like the crack of fire. They are shadow imps and shadow cats and shadow wolves, stalking between the giants of shadow men. Yanny takes a breath and strides through as if they don’t exist, pulling his faelight from his school bag. Zara follows. And Teacake winds about my ankles. I pick her up and kiss her nose.

‘Wait here, if you like,’ I say. ‘And pull me out, if I get stuck on the way back?’

She puts her face into my neck and purrs, deep and tight, sending waves of warmth through me.

‘Thank you,’ I say, putting her down.

She walks away a few feet, and then turns back and sits watching us, licking a paw, and I follow the others in, trying not to see the eyes that follow, or to hear the wail of their shadow voices. But the further I go, the closer they get, until my feet have lost the path, and my eyes cannot see past the mist of their forms to my friends. The acorn at my throat is uncomfortably warm, and when I put my fingers to it, there’s a snap of static that makes me wince.

‘Zara!’ I manage.

She is there in an instant, and her warm hand pulls me through, Yanny on the other side. We walk in a chain – Zara in the middle, unseeing, but all too aware of the tension in the air, the warp of the darkness in here.

‘No wonder they say it’s haunted,’ she whispers. ‘I’ve got goosebumps all over!’

‘Just . . . keep walking,’ says Yanny with an effort.

His faelight is starting to pulse erratically, and I hope he knows where he’s going, because I certainly don’t. We skirt an enormous yew tree, its twisting roots thick upon the broken ground, and then there’s a thunderous echo in the air and a centauride stands before us. She is taller than any man I’ve ever seen, and her brown hair twists and spirals down her shoulders. Her human torso is painted in the colours of the forest, and her hindquarters are the blue-grey of starless night.

‘What are you doing?’ she hisses, bending down to Yanny, as Zara and I stare.

‘Going home,’ Yanny says in a tight voice. ‘These are my friends. We’re fine.’

‘You have the whole of the realm of shadows about you, and the Stag draws near – you are not fine!’ she bursts, stamping her hooves. ‘You should be more careful, Yanny – your family has lost enough already. Go now, and quickly. I’ll divert these creatures.’

She stares at me, her dark eyes blazing. ‘I don’t know what you are, but you draw the shadows like darkness itself. You are not welcome here. See him home, and be gone, before you stir the rest of the kingdom to rage.’ With that, she draws her golden bow and charges into the swathe of shadows, her battle cry sending them spiralling off into the darkness.