It took Cat a moment to recover from the sight of her. The room was small and taken up almost entirely by a hospital bed. Granny was propped up, so she was almost sitting upright; she was lying motionless, surrounded by machines that bleeped and flashed at Cat through the glass. She had an oxygen mask over her mouth and her skin was so pale it was almost translucent.

For a split second Cat wanted to turn back, head straight for the waiting room and try her best to scrub the image of Granny looking so sick and helpless from her mind. Her face flushed with shame. This was Granny – one of the people Cat loved the most in the whole entire world and she needed Cat to be strong. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder and realised that none of the medical staff were looking her way. If she was going to try to speak to Granny, she wasn’t likely to get a better chance than this. She took a breath and reached for the door handle, but just as she was about to turn it, she froze. It seemed Granny wasn’t alone after all. There was someone else on the far side of the room.

The person was so short it was no wonder Cat hadn’t spotted him right away. It was a man, a little over three feet tall with a soft red cap perched upon his head. He had a bulbous nose and bloodshot eyes. As Cat watched, he whipped the hat off his head revealing a shiny bald scalp. He laid a hand on top of Granny’s and began to mutter something. It almost looked as though he was paying his respects. Suddenly, the little man looked up and met Cat’s stare. His eyes widened in surprise and then, without so much as a flash or a puff of smoke, he disappeared.

Cat’s heart began to hammer in her chest. He was one of them. A fairy. He had to be. She ripped opened the door and ran to where the little man had stood just seconds before. The room was empty save for the bed and the machines. There was nowhere for him to hide and yet there was no sign of him. He really was gone. She rushed over to check on Granny and spotted something lying on the floor beside her bed. It was the fairy’s soft felt cap. She just had time to bend over and scoop the hat up before the door to Granny’s room was flung open and a young nurse bustled in.

‘Oh dear,’ she said, looking down at Cat in disapproval. ‘Who let you in here? You should be out in the waiting room like everyone else.’

‘But I–’

‘No buts! Run along and give this poor woman some space. She needs her rest. Go on now, you can visit her properly in a while.’

Before she could utter another word of protest, the nurse ushered her out the door and back to the waiting room, tutting all the while. She hadn’t even allowed Cat to say goodbye.