‘Cat, are you listening?’ Cat looked up. Her mam had clearly been calling her name over and over, but she was so lost in her own thoughts she hadn’t noticed.

‘I said Karen just sent me a text, she’s here to pick up Mikey. She’s able to look after him tonight, thank God. I just need to drop him out to her in the car park. Will you be all right on your own for a few minutes?’

Cat nodded, relieved to be free of the changeling’s unpleasant company. She hoped he didn’t cause the childminder too much stress in the meantime. The last thing her mam needed was for Karen to quit.

Cat settled back into the squeaky chair and watched the comings and goings of hospital staff, patients, and family members. It was still early, but the whole place was buzzing with activity.

‘Halloween,’ she overheard one harassed-looking doctor mutter to another as they rushed past. ‘It’s the same every year. There’s something about this day …’

Cat’s eyes fell on the double doors that led into the ICU. The hospital staff kept them locked and visitors could only get in by pressing a buzzer. If she could somehow get in there and talk to Granny, she might be able to wake her up. Then she could tell Cat exactly what she needed to do to save Mikey. It was frustrating. Granny was so close, but with those security-locked doors between them, she might as well be a million miles away.

As she watched, a tired-looking young woman walked up and pressed the intercom.

‘Visitor for Maura Keohane,’ she said, and after a few seconds a buzzer sounded and the woman entered the ward. Cat bit her lip. She had an idea of how to get in there. She would just need to time it right. She stood up and, as casually as she could, walked toward the vending machine. She took up position in front of it and pretended to examine its contents, all the while keeping one eye on the door. She didn’t have to wait long. After a few minutes, a man and a woman arrived and pressed the intercom. Casting a quick look around her to make sure no one was watching, Cat inched closer to them.

‘Joe Ryan’s son and daughter here to visit,’ said the man. After a few seconds the buzzer sounded and the doors swung open. Cat waited until the man and woman entered then slipped through the doors after them. She found herself in a long hallway filled with beeping machines. To one side of the corridor was a bustling medical station. Dozens of people in scrubs and long white jackets were coming and going, pushing carts and flipping through charts. On the other side were the patient rooms, glass-fronted so the nurses and doctors could see inside at all times.

Cat stuck close to the man and woman, trying her best to look as though she belonged there. She peered into each room as she passed. They were all occupied, but none of them was Granny’s. The man and woman found their father in the fifth room and left Cat standing alone in the corridor feeling horribly exposed. She looked around. No one seemed to have noticed her, but with all the activity on the ward, she knew she didn’t have long. She hurried down the corridor and finally, in the second-to-last room, she spotted Granny.