“I did see a counsellor after Mum died,” Johnny said. “He was great but I just don’t... The time isn’t right yet.”

“Well, you’re the one who can judge that best,” Lizzie said.

Johnny smiled at her, vivid and warm. “You’re quite something, Lizzie Kingdom, you know that?”

“Thanks.” Lizzie almost blushed. “At the risk of ruining my credibility,” she added, “have you told your family where you are now? Only I bumped into Arthur last night when he was looking for you and I got the impression he’d just like to know you’re safe.”

“Yeah.” Johnny nodded vigorously. “I’m sorry I took off like that yesterday. I needed time to think. I thought Arthur would be mad at me but actually—” his grin was wicked, surprising her “—he didn’t seem to mind that much, which was all to do with meeting you again, I think.”

Lizzie raised her brows. “Arthur’s hardly my greatest fan,” she said.

“Arthur,” Johnny said, “doesn’t know what to think of you and that’s quite unusual, I can tell you. I love seeing Arthur confused. Normally he’s really together. Then you did your weird mind meld thing on him—”

“Hold on a minute,” Lizzie said involuntarily. “My what?”

“Mind meld,” Johnny said. “Like Spock in Star Trek,” he added helpfully. “You touch someone and read their thoughts. It’s very cool.”

“Did Arthur tell you about that?” Lizzie asked.

Johnny shook his head. “Arthur doesn’t talk much about the supernatural stuff. He’s not like Millie and me. We were both totally cool with it but Arthur always was the down-to-earth one.” He took another shortcake biscuit. “No, Arthur didn’t say anything, but I saw the two of you together the other day. I was watching through the taxi window when he came back to speak to you. You touched his arm and he looked at you, and I could tell you were reading his thoughts.” He looked at her. “Have you always been psychic?”

Lizzie opened her mouth to deny that she was and then shut it again. “I’m not sure I am psychic really,” she said slowly. “I’ve never done that before—read people’s thoughts, I mean. Sometimes I read objects. It started with possessions that belonged to people I loved, people like my mum and my gran. Maybe I wanted to feel a sense of connection with them. I don’t know. But it kind of went on from there.”

Johnny nodded. “I can understand why your family link might trigger that,” he said, “but your gift is bigger than just psychometry. It must be if you can read Arthur’s mind as well. It’s really cool you have these gifts,” he added. “You shouldn’t be afraid of them.” He paused, wiping some stray chocolate from his chin. “Can you travel in time as well?”

“What?” Lizzie stared at him. “Now come on, that’s a whole different thing. I mean...” She gulped. “No. Stop. That’s not possible.”

Johnny shrugged, grinning. He didn’t seem remotely fazed. “Psychometry and telepathy are possible but time travel is impossible? OK.”