We emerged into the small clearing and skidded to an abrupt halt.

To the right, there was a sign indicating a steep path winding down to the gorge below. Directly in front were two olive trees, perhaps fifteen feet apart, the tattered remains of an orange plastic mesh fence hanging limply from each trunk. Between the two olive trees was a dusty outcrop jutting into empty air, a shelf of rock that led to nothing but a vertical drop straight down into the gorge below.

Jake had his back to us.

He was standing right on the edge.

‘Jake!’ Jennifer shouted. ‘Stay still!’

Her shrill voice sent birds scattering from the canopy of branches above us.

Ethan sat cross-legged a few feet from the edge, mobile held up, snapping pictures of his older brother.

I looked wildly about me for Lucy, heart leaping against my ribcage.

There. She was sitting on a large flat rock to the side of the gorge, barely seeming to notice Jake posing for the camera. I perched on the rock next to her.

‘Everything all right?’

‘Of course,’ she said, without looking at me. ‘Why wouldn’t it be?’

I gestured wordlessly towards Jake, and we watched as Jennifer walked slowly towards him, hands out, as if she was approaching a skittish animal.

‘Jake,’ she said, a wobble of panic in her voice, ‘just take a step back from the edge, darling.’

In response, Jake struck a new pose, holding his arms out to each side, raising them to shoulder height like a diver getting ready to leap. He tilted his head back and looked at the sky.

‘If you look up,’ he said to no one in particular, ‘it feels like you’re flying.’

‘Jake, please.’ Jennifer’s voice cracked. ‘Please come away from the edge.’

The breeze ruffled Jake’s red T-shirt, the tips of his flip-flops sticking out into open air.

‘You know, I thought this place was going to be really dull but this,’ he indicated the drop into the gorge at his feet, ‘is properly cool.’

‘Listen to me, Jake, I just need you to take two steps back, OK? Two steps towards me.’

He turned slightly to look at his mother, seeming to lose his footing a little, arms flailing to keep his balance.

‘Whoa!’ he said with a laugh. ‘That was close.’

Jennifer took another step towards him, her face a mask of terror. ‘Jake, I’m begging you. Just one step back.’

He held out his hand and let a smooth, round stone fall from his palm. There was no sound, no impact, for what seemed like forever. Then a sharp echoing crack as it struck the rocks below.

‘Sick,’ he said.

Jennifer moved another step closer to her son. ‘Didn’t you hear me shouting for you, Jakey? I was looking for you.’

He leaned forward slightly, peering down into the gorge.

‘There are some rock pools down there, Ethan. We should check them out.’