They were passing the graveyard, and Ben stole a peek at it through the trees. He hadn’t even had a chance to go back and slide the slab he’d dislodged into place again, meaning the staircase down to the crypt would be visible to anyone who came within a few metres of it. To his relief, the clearing was empty, and he had a feeling that it would have been all over the school by now if someone else had stumbled on the entranceway. His secret was safe – for the time being, at least.

‘Ben?’ Callum said, glancing his way.

‘What? Oh, I … I felt bad for Father Steiner, I guess. He’s only ever been nice to me, and I … I wondered if the rumours about him could really be true.’

In fact, it had dawned on Ben that the only rumours he’d ever heard about the man were the ones Callum and the others had told him. Which in turn had added weight to the real reason Ben had changed his mind: his growing certainty that Callum and the others were using him. But he couldn’t tell Callum that.

‘Fair enough, I suppose,’ Callum said, and not for the first time Ben wondered why he wasn’t angrier. And where was he leading them, anyway? They were already deep enough into the woods that they could burn the photographs without anyone seeing, and there’d been none of the figuring out Callum had mentioned. The conversation, such as it was, had so far felt more like idle small talk, of the kind Callum always claimed he detested.

‘So are we quits?’ said Ben, feeling suddenly nervous. ‘I mean, I’ll understand if you don’t want to be friends any more. And I swear I won’t tell anyone if you guys decide to go ahead with the plan without me.’

‘I know you won’t tell, Ben,’ said Callum. ‘I’m not worried about that.’

They’d reached the lake. The shoreline appeared through the trees, and when they stepped from beneath the canopy on to the bank, Ben realised it had started raining without him having noticed. The lake appeared to be gently bubbling, as though a million little creatures were breathing just below the surface.

‘Although you do realise,’ Callum said, ‘that the entire plan revolves around you? What you said just now about us going ahead without you – you understand we can’t do that, don’t you?’

Callum stopped at the edge of the water. The lake was only small, but signs had been posted around the shore giving warning that it was deeper than it looked. Ben had only visited it once before, and then only by accident. He didn’t like it this far into the woods. Most of the trees appeared to be dead or dying, and the water itself appeared dark and gloopy – all the more so under the blackening sky.