Cover

ALSO BY A.M. SHINE

The Watchers

Title Page

A. M. SHINE

Copyright

First published in the UK in 2022 by Head of Zeus Ltd,
part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Copyright © A.M. Shine, 2022

The moral right of A.M. Shine to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN (HB): 9781801102179
ISBN (XTPB): 9781801102186
ISBN (E): 9781801102209

Cover design: Nina Elstad

Head of Zeus Ltd
First Floor East
5–8 Hardwick Street
London EC1R 4RG

Contents

Also by A.M. Shine

Title Page

Copyright

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Epilogue

About the Author

An Invitation from the Publisher

Prologue

‘Emergency services. What is your location and the service you need?’

Fiona knew before hearing the operator’s voice that she was beyond saving.

There was nowhere she could hide that it wouldn’t find her. It was as though the stars themselves were its all-seeing eyes and the pale moon a searchlight. By day she had fled as far as she could. But no distance would ever be enough. It would always follow her, and the dread of this realisation eclipsed all else – the life she had known, her dreams for the future, and the belief that such horrors didn’t exist.

They were just meant to be stories.

Fiona was only being kind. The man had been so agitated, slapping his hands over his mouth, staring stupefied at the dirt between his feet. His simplicity was more pronounced than the others and she’d approached him out of pity, to offer a smile when no one else cared so much as to look at him.

You see him three times. You see him three times. You see him three times.

The words were spoken so quickly, slicing through the air like a scythe. She’d waved a hand over his eyes but the man was spellbound by delusion, repeating that same line over and over, terrorised by the sound of his own voice.

‘Who do you see three times?’ she’d asked, crouching close enough to make sense of him.

He’d grabbed Fiona’s shirt, holding her down as he breathed the horror all over her.

She’d been running ever since.