I was at The Cliff House. Eleanor Davenport was on the roof, crouched with her toes curled over the guttering. There was a cry that sounded like a seagull, but when I looked it was Edie and Jago who were trapped in a cage on the table. Why were they in it together? They should be in separate cages. The cage was too small for two. It was then I noticed the water from the pool. It was rising, bubbling up, spilling over the edges and onto the terrace like black lava. Jago shouted. Edie shook the bars of the cage. I had to free them. My fingers searched the cage for a catch, anything that might open it, but there was nothing. They started to scream and the sound stabbed my head. I rammed my hands over my ears and looked down. There was a padlock. Where’s the key? I cried. Then there was another noise. A screech. It came from Eleanor on the roof. Six or seven ravens were huddled around her. I looked at her feet in horror. Not feet at all. Black talons. Clutched in one was an old-fashioned key.

That’s it! cried Edie.

Grab it! cried Jago.

But as I reached for it Eleanor snatched it away.

I want something in return.

What? What did she want? I had nothing to give.

But then I realised what it was. I knew. I walked back to the cage and stood in front of Edie. I reached out and pushed my hand through the bars. Then corkscrewed into her chest until my fingers found her heart. Edie’s face twisted in fear. Her eyes bulged. Her mouth dropped open.

Don’t be scared. It’s okay. Your mother wants it.

My fingers clamped around her heart and I pulled back. Her chest tore open. Then I turned to Eleanor and presented the heart, pink and pulsing, on my outstretched palm. One of the ravens swooped down from the roof and clasped hold of the heart. He carried it up to Eleanor and she grabbed it. As she did, she dropped the key which fell through the air. I caught it but then the heart began to change. It grew darker and darker, shrivelling as its moisture was drawn out of it. Eleanor’s face contorted in rage. I spun around and desperately tried to push the key into the lock before she came for me.

I’ll get you out. I promise. I will.

But the key vanished into thin air. Eleanor had gone. The ravens too. All that was left was the dried-up husk of heart which lay twitching on the terrace.

I woke sharply from the nightmare. Fright wriggled inside me like a thousand burrowing worms. I was sweaty and hot. My bedclothes were twisted around me. A clamp around my lungs had expelled the air like a wrung-out cloth.