With a large gulp, she finished the flagon of beer that she had been sipping intermittently throughout the evening. She regretted eating so much, as the contents of her stomach were threatening to reappear. She rushed up the stairs to her room, determined to hide herself from the other guests of the inn, so that they couldn’t see quite how much Lorenna’s story had affected her.

Who was this Brotherhood she spoke of? Perhaps it was their help she should try and gain before marching headlong towards the lighthouse. But … she had already wasted so much time. She couldn’t bear the thought of wasting any more searching for another mysterious, creepy-sounding group. No, she would stay alone. She was more inconspicuous that way.

As she entered her room, Lily remembered the heavy book her uncle had given her just before she left the apothecary. He had instructed her to read it when she was alone and, sitting in her silent room, she decided that now was the time to gather whatever wisdom she could from within its dusty pages. She retrieved it from her carpet bag, turned to the page he had recommended, and read aloud in whispered tones:

‘Sisters of Shadow: A Tale of Witches.’

There it was again, another reference to the light-hearted, harmless nickname Alice had given the pair of them years ago. She read on:

‘Once upon a time, in a land just like ours, there was a girl who discovered she had magical powers…’

Frowning, Lily skim-read the next few paragraphs. This story was exactly the same one that Lorenna had told downstairs.

She felt as though she was dangling on the edge of a precipice, and the only way to discover the root of all this horror, all of these stories and tales and fears, was to let go and fall into a world far more terrifying than she ever imagined could exist.

She now had two sources that pointed to the lighthouse in Kelseth Bay, even if nothing else made sense. If her best friend was with these people, and these people were at the lighthouse, then to the lighthouse she would go.

She couldn’t stand the thought of Alice – her dear, kind, vulnerable friend – being indoctrinated by murderers and witches. A day ago, she hadn’t even known witches were real. Did she even believe it now?

It didn’t matter what she believed, she realised, not really.

Tomorrow she would meet with the Sisters of Shadow.

Tomorrow she would rescue Alice.

Or she would die trying.

Chapter Eleven

Alice came round to consciousness slowly, like a cloud passing across a starry sky. Trying to decipher reality from dream, she racked her brains to work out where she was, and who could have kidnapped her.

She could still feel the gentle, damp pressure on her head of the girl who was keeping her cool, refusing to let her fall back into a dangerous fever. Human contact made Alice feel prickly at the best of times; she wasn’t used to anyone she didn’t know being within three strides of her. And here she was, allowing a total stranger to nurse her, to care for her.