Shane said nothing and so she kept going.

‘She said that when he was younger, Mr Daly made an enemy of a fairy lord. He caught a group of fairies hunting rabbits on his land and since he didn’t recognise them for what they were, he decided he had a right to tell them to clear off. As punishment they cursed him to constantly forget what he was looking for whenever he goes to the shop. I suppose that’s why he’s so grumpy all the time,’ she said. ‘But to be fair, I’d probably be grumpy too if I kept forgetting to pick up milk.’

‘You really believe this stuff, don’t you?’ said Shane.

‘Yeah, why wouldn’t I?’

‘Well, look at it this way – is there any evidence fairies are real? And if they are real, wouldn’t they be everywhere? I mean, they’re supposed to be magic, right? What’s to stop them taking over the world?’

Cat blinked at him in surprise.

‘What more evidence do you need than speaking to an actual fairy fifteen minutes ago?’ she said. ‘You were right there with me – you saw the Clurichaun with your own eyes. And yes, they’re magical creatures, but I don’t think they care about the same things we do. I’m not sure our world holds much interest for them. From what Granny’s told me, it sounds like they’re more into stuff like ritual and tradition than computers and phones. Besides, I’m not sure they actually could take over the world. Not even the most powerful magicians on earth could stand up to like … nuclear weapons or whatever.’

‘So, you believe in magicians now?’

Cat rolled her eyes but said nothing. It was useless trying to convince him. Shane liked to argue for the sake of arguing.

‘If fairies are real,’ Shane continued, ‘and I’m not saying they are! But if they’re real, then why did they take Jenny and Mikey?’

‘You heard the Clurichaun,’ she said. ‘They like having humans around for their festivities.’

‘Yeah, I understand that part,’ said Shane in that know-it-all voice of his that made Cat bristle. ‘What I mean is, why take them in particular? There are loads of kids in town and plenty of them live way closer to Cullane Wood than we do. What makes Jenny and Mikey so special the fairies skipped over all the other children to take them?’

That gave Cat pause. Truth be told, she had been wondering the same thing herself. There had to be a reason the fairies were drawn to Mikey and Jenny, and she had a horrible feeling it had something to do with her. She couldn’t help but remember Granny’s parting words to her the night before. ‘You’re in more danger than most. You have the Sight and that will make you a target.’ Was this all her fault? She swallowed hard.

‘I … I don’t know,’ she said finally and once again they lapsed into silence.

Cat wanted to say something to keep the conversation going – annoying as Shane was, speaking with him helped the darkness feel less close, somehow. She was about to change the subject when the wind suddenly switched direction and carried with it a strange creaking sound. She froze in place.