Yanny is already sitting at the table, and his father is shooing the younger kids into their bedroom. When he turns back from the door, his face is as fierce and fae as hers. The room settles into an amber glow that matches the fire in Yanny’s parents’ eyes, and Zara and I take seats on the bench by the window, shuffling together.

‘This cannot be,’ says Elowen. ‘Yanny, you are permitted to go to school, and to come home again to us. We do not forbid you friends, but we do forbid you to bring them into danger. And you found danger for yourself when you went out fighting shadows last night without permission. Look at you now. You are lucky Rory was on the prowl.’

‘I know,’ he says. ‘But, Ma—’

‘But nothing, son,’ she hisses, and her teeth are wolf-sharp, her eyes aflame. ‘We will not have this. You take too much upon your shoulders, and it is not wise. What do you think will become of us, should we lose another of you? Do you think we would survive that, Yanny?’

Yanny flinches, but he doesn’t say anything.

‘You are not to patrol,’ Fen says then. ‘And you are not to fight, Yanny. That is not your task. It is mine, and your mother’s. You may hate to see what it costs us, but that is what you must bear. We all are doing things we would rather not be doing, seeing things we wish we could unsee. This time will pass. There will be brighter days. You will have a future. That is all we ask for you.’

‘I want my future here, in the forest,’ Yanny says.

‘And we hope for that too,’ Elowen says. ‘Still, you must go to school. And you must avoid the shadows.’

Fen sighs. ‘I’ll make us a hot drink.’ He looks across at Zara and me. ‘And then we’ll see about getting your friends home.’

‘Stella – and this is Zara, if I’m not mistaken?’ asks Elowen.

Zara can do no more than nod.

‘We just wanted to make sure he was safe,’ I start. ‘I didn’t mean to cause trouble . . .’

‘Perhaps you didn’t,’ says Elowen. ‘And I am glad my boy has friends, truly. Glad that he is home safe.’ She gives us a bleak, pointed smile. ‘But if Rory tells you that you draw the shadows, Stella, then she does not lie. You should stay away, for now. And so should Zara.’

‘What could the shadows do, though?’ Zara asks. ‘Won’t they just . . . go away?’

‘Sadly not.’ Elowen sighs. ‘I’ll leave you to explain the dangers of the shadows, Yanny. Your father and I must get ready for patrol. We will see your friends out on our way.’

‘What’s going on?’ Zara asks later, after Fen has brought steaming mugs to the table and left to get ready. ‘Yanny? What is it that you’ve lost? What’s going on here? What is so dangerous about the shadows?’