Fox nodded. ‘That’s good.’ She stood up quickly, Georgie held her breath. ‘I see you’ve found my doll.’ Georgie looked down at the ravaged object in her hands. Your doll? ‘You needn’t have got so wet, though. There’s a ledge that runs around the wall. The water’s only an inch deep. You just need to know what you’re looking for.’

Her teeth were chattering but she fought through the discomfort, determined not to look weak. ‘How did you know that?’

Fox shrugged, like it hadn’t occurred to her. ‘I don’t know. Sometimes I have trouble remembering things.’

With that, Fox kicked the bucket over and water poured into the pool, as did a grey object. Georgie looked again but the water was too murky. What the hell was that? Fox had put something in the water – something that had instantly been consumed by the pool and disappeared.

Wait. Was that . . . ?

‘Have you any idea how hard it is to transport a lionfish from London to Norfolk in a rented car?’ asked Fox. ‘Let me tell you – it’s close to impossible. I totally thought it would die but I kept topping the water up with Evian and the little fella is as bright as when he was swimming around merrily in your boyfriend’s tank!’

Georgie tried to swallow but she couldn’t, her throat was bone dry. She searched the water desperately, but the fish had vanished.

‘I thought they were just pretty fish,’ Fox was saying. ‘But it turns out they’re really interesting. Did you know that? I read all about them on Wikipedia before I came up here. Their fin rays are highly venomous. Listen to this.’ Fox produced her phone and proceeded to read from the screen. ‘“In humans, Pterois venom can cause systemic effects such as extreme pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, breathing difficulties, convulsions, dizziness, redness on the affected area, headache, numbness, paresthesia, which means pins and needles, heartburn, diarrhoea, and sweating. Rarely, such stings can cause temporary paralysis of the limbs, heart failure, and even death.” How amazing is that?’

‘I . . .’ Georgie couldn’t raise her voice. Her throat was swelling up, she felt short of breath. ‘I have . . .’

Fox smiled. ‘Yes, I know.’ Georgie froze. She knew. Watch out for those bees, she had said as her parting words. ‘You’ve got anaphylaxis. So all that stuff I just read out probably isn’t applicable. You’re more likely to go into anaphylactic shock and then . . . well, we’ll have to wait and see. Maybe you’ll drown, I don’t know.’