Jem.

Covered in ash, burns, and grazes, he stumbled forward and Lily rushed to help him.

When they were free of the flames, they all moved to the very edge of the beach, the waves lapping at their ankles. Jem laid the figure down on the pebbles. He was almost unrecognisable, covered in soot, blood seeping from a multitude of wounds: Glenn.

He was perfectly still, peaceful, calm. Lily looked for the rise and fall of his chest but saw only stillness.

He was dead.

Nausea washed over her at the sight of his lifeless body. Her fingertips flickered with the potential of her new powers, but she had nowhere to channel it. What could she do to make any of this better? She could never ask him why he had done this. She couldn’t fathom why she was more upset about that than the fact that he was dead. All she could see in his body was unanswered questions. And that made her angry, so deeply angry. Red hot tears rolled down her cheeks.

What would this do to Jem?

What would this do to all of them? Their home gone. Their lives ruined. And Hecate was still out there, waiting to make her next move. Now they were vulnerable, broken.

Cast adrift.

Jem clutched the limp form of his most difficult ward, the boy he’d felt sure he could have reformed, and sobbed with abandon. Lily reached out to touch his shoulder but he flinched and moved away, his arms locked around Glenn.

The waves continued to creep up the shore as the final light of day faded. With a deafening rumble, the lighthouse collapsed and fell inward, covering the courtyard in its blackened bricks.

Everything was destroyed.

The home they had spent years building, the lives Jem and Grace had salvaged at first for themselves, and then for the children who needed their shelter the most, it was all a disintegrated ruin on an abandoned island.

Alice found her way to Lily’s side, as Grace attempted to pry Jem away from Glenn. Lily’s face was sparkling with tears in the low light and Alice held her to her chest, where the tears flowed freely. They held on to each other for dear life.

They had nothing now but their love for each other, and their shared grief.

Jem finally looked up from Glenn’s body into the faces of Lily, Grace, Alice, Maeve, Brenna, Morven, and Cass. His family.

‘I’m going to find out who did this. I’m going to find out, and I’m going to kill them.’

‘You’ll be looking until I let you find me, Rafferty,’ a voice said, cutting through the darkness.

They whirled around to see the shimmering figure of Hecate Winter hovering above the black sea.

‘Glenn was far too easy to manipulate. Oh, poor little Glenn with his tragic backstory. Glenn, who never felt truly loved, who always had to fight with the others for attention. He was all too happy to know he was wanted, to know he could be useful to someone, somewhere. It was just a matter of time and manipulation.’