As Amber gets ready for bed, Lumin falls straight to sleep, curled up on her side and facing Amber. She looks so young and so vulnerable when she sleeps, all that fierceness gone. Amber wishes she could sleep as soundly. But as she listens to the sound of the soft snow against the window, the whip of the wind against the hills, she thinks of Jasper, and of Katy. All those times she watched them sleep too, especially Katy. What would Katy look like now? She had the Caulfield red hair, of course. But what else? Would she be tall and slim like Jasper? Or all curves and softness like Amber?

Eventually, Amber falls asleep to the rhythm of Lumin’s breath and with the memories of Katy swirling in her mind like the snow outside: of the feel of her as she held her in her arms, that first giggle and smile.

But then a scream pierces her slumber, the memories scattering.

Amber quickly shrugs sleep off and opens her eyes to see Lumin sitting up in bed, breathing heavily, a look of terror on her face in the moonlight.

Amber quickly jumps out of bed and rushes over to her. ‘Did you have a nightmare?’

Lumin nods, blinking. Tears are falling down her cheeks. ‘I’m under the water. I – I can’t breathe. And it’s so cold! I’m trying to get out but the ice cracks and – and …’ She shudders.

Amber strokes her hair. ‘It’s just a nightmare,’ she soothes, just as she had soothed Katy before. ‘You’re safe.’

Lumin turns to Amber, eyes wide with alarm. ‘There was a man. He was just watching and he didn’t do anything to help me.’

‘The man with the beard?’

Lumin shakes her head. ‘I don’t know. Maybe. He had the same dark hair but no beard. And the lodge I drew was behind him, mountains too. And he was smiling. He was smiling as he watched me drown!’

Chapter Twelve

Gwyneth

Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon, Iceland

6 January 1991

When the grey seal pup is fully weaned at three to four weeks, its mother will leave it alone as she seeks new mates and food. The pup survives off its blubber reserves but it must rely on luck to fight off predators.

I stepped onto the beach, my boots sinking into frosty black sand. Above me, an iceberg stood curved and iridescent blue against white skies. Other icebergs like it littered the beach, a contrast with the black grains of sand.