“They came and told me,” her mother said. “I had to hear this from Fergus and Beryl.”

“We didn’t think we had a choice,” Beryl trilled. “Stephanie’s almost like a daughter to us.”

“I got a lift from him,” Stephanie said. “So what?”

Her mother looked down. “Don’t lie to me, Steph,” she said quietly.

“I’m not lying.”

“Don’t lie to me!” She shouted it this time, her voice filling the hallway.

Stephanie could feel the anger building – not at her mother, but at Fergus and Beryl and their interfering. The only reason they were here was to get back at Stephanie for inheriting Gordon’s Estate, she was sure of it.

“Mum…” she started, but once again Fergus cut her off.

“What are you doing with him anyway?” he asked.

“It’s none of your business,” she snapped.

“We’re just looking out for you, dear,” Beryl said in that simpering voice of hers.

“Why were you in his car?” her mother asked. “Where did you go this evening? If I don’t get answers from you, I’m going straight to Mr Pleasant. I’m going to him anyway, but if you at least try to make me understand…”

“Mum, this isn’t a big deal.”

Beryl clucked her tongue sadly. “A poor innocent girl, falling in with the wrong crowd…”

Stephanie made a face. “Wrong crowd?”

“You don’t want to be associated with people like that, dear,” Beryl said.

“People like what?”

Beryl had a look of utter distaste as she almost spat the word. “Weirdos.”

“This is ridiculous,” Stephanie said, her jaw clenching.

“Then how come you won’t tell your mother where you’ve been?” asked Fergus.

“Because it’s none of anyone’s business!”

Her mother looked at her sternly. “Oh, I think this qualifies as my business. We don’t know anything about this Mr Pleasant. We don’t know what kind of a man he is.”

“And why doesn’t he show his face?” Beryl asked, her meddlesome curiosity betraying her serene ambivalence.

“Does he have something wrong with it?” Fergus persisted. “Is it deformed?”

Beryl shivered at the very mention of the word, and Fergus licked his lips in eagerness. Stephanie wanted to shout at them, to scream at them, but instead she closed herself off and said nothing. She looked at her mother and her mother looked at her.

“Go to your room,” her mother said, and Stephanie did so gladly. She didn’t even glance at Fergus and Beryl as she climbed the stairs, but when she got to her door she heard Beryl’s weed-thin voice saying “It’s not her fault, you know. It’s the music they listen to…”

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN, PART 2:

(The following scene takes place after Stephanie has been poisoned, and so has been unconscious for over a day.)

Stephanie’s eyes suddenly widened. “What time is it?”

“A little past one,” Skulduggery said.