Lumin sighs and sinks lower into her seat, crossing her arms as she glares out of the window. Amber imagines Katy acting the same at this age and her heart aches for her daughter. She’d loved the snow. Amber had had to suppress the fear she felt when she saw Katy out in it the first time, kicking it up with her little legs. Jasper had sensed Amber’s fear and come to her, taking her gloved hand in his. ‘She’ll be fine. We won’t let her out of our sight.’

He was always so good. He always seemed to know when Amber was scared or worried. Like when she had nightmares, ambushed by memories of losing her fingers and the sight of her bandaged hand after. The horror she felt in her little mind that they were gone for ever. She remembers her aunt crying in a corner of the hospital room, hand to her mouth. ‘Oh God, oh God.’ It had hit her hard, like she blamed herself for it, which was ridiculous. But then Viv always felt her sister’s pain so keenly.

Amber lets the memory dissipate as she looks around for somewhere to do a U-turn. The road is so narrow and the surfaces getting so icy, she doesn’t want to risk doing a three-point turn in case another car appears. The sooner they can get to the hotel, the better. It would be awful to be stuck out here in the snow with Lumin. She’d feel so guilty.

As she drives further up the main road, she notices a turning, off to their right. There’s a gate across it with a sign hanging off it reading Private Property. Amber turns into it, trying to see through the blinding snow.

‘Wait! Stop!’ Lumin says, voice breathless with excitement.

Amber puts her foot on the brake. ‘What?’

‘Look!’ Lumin points down the road. Amber follows her gaze to see a large house in the distance, its walls charred, its roof fallen though.

‘There it is,’ Amber says. ‘The house you drew.’

‘Or what remains of it,’ Lumin replies.

Chapter Eighteen

Gwyneth

Druridge Bay

2 October 1996

Polar bears are the top predators in the Arctic marine regions. But despite this, their young can be vulnerable to other predators such as arctic foxes and wolves, especially when the mother goes out to hunt, leaving the cubs behind in their den.