Cat loved her desk. Her mam had bought it for her from a charity shop last year and together they gave it a fresh coat of paint. Cat was allowed to choose the colour and she picked a rich lilac that reminded her of the field beyond the estate in early spring when it was carpeted with bluebells. Her desk was where she kept all of her drawing supplies and every available surface was covered with scraps of paper, worn-down crayons, and half-empty pots of paint. On the wall above the desk she had pinned a drawing of Medusa she had copied from a book of Greek mythology. She was particularly proud of how realistic her writhing hair of snakes looked.

The main reason Cat loved her desk was because it contained a secret drawer. Even her mam didn’t know it was there. She had only found it herself by accident a few months back when she dragged the desk closer to the window to take advantage of the light. Her knee had banged against the drawer causing it to pop open with a soft click. Cat was so excited by her discovery she completely forgot about the pain in her knee. Ever since then she had kept a few special items in the drawer for safekeeping – the necklace from her dad, her granddad’s favourite pipe, a weird old coin she found in the field which she suspected came from a pirate’s treasure hoard, and a single copybook.

The copybook was a little battered around the edges and Cat had decorated the front cover with elaborate symbols she’d found in a book about witches. She called it her ‘Book of Secrets’, because it contained all of the knowledge Granny had ever given her about the Sight and the Otherworld. She had started the book a year ago, just after her granddad died and she had seen the Banshee. At first, it was something to keep her mind occupied, but over the last few months it had become her sanctuary. It was the most precious thing she owned, a connection between herself and Granny. Something that proved she was special.

She opened the copybook to the very first page where she had detailed her encounter with the Banshee. ‘Granny says that if you’re born in the dead of night, between twelve and one, you’ll always see ghosts and fairies. She said that’s why we have the Sight since Donnelly women are always born at the witching hour …’ Cat frowned at the accompanying picture. Looking at it now, she wasn’t sure she had accurately captured the shape of the Banshee’s mouth as it screamed. She flipped on past lists of folk remedies, local ghost stories, and tales about fairies, pausing now and again to read over passages. ‘Today Granny told me the story of how she met a Clurichaun. I had to look up the spelling, but it’s pronounced Cloor-A-Cawn. She said he’s a funny little creature, but he might be useful to fix a few things around the house for her …’