They left Madeleine, Charlotte and Kate huddled around the woodburner. Madeleine had fallen asleep, Kate’s arm was giving her pain and taking care of them took Charlotte’s mind off her own losses.

What they were doing now, Ellie guessed, was much the same for Milly. If Noel had been caught outside by the creatures, there’d be no trace of him, no way of knowing how he’d died, or even if – for all they knew, the creatures’ victims were dragged away to torment at leisure. Although having seen what they’d done to Madeleine, Ellie doubted anyone would survive their attentions long.

A couple of burned-out houses still smouldered, among them Riggott’s Folly, whose unusual construction hadn’t spared it from the blaze. The skies, for now, had cleared to a bright duck-egg blue discoloured by smuts of smoke from the remains of fires. And perhaps from some new ones, too. Ellie hoped so: it would mean others had survived.

Milly’s Audi lay overturned at the alley entrance, lights and windows shattered, panels battered and crumpled. The car had been almost flattened, the creatures wreaking their full fury on it. There was a sharp smell of petrol.

Other wrecked cars dotted the road or pavement. The unburnt houses on Hollybeck Row looked as empty as the rest, the symbol Madeleine had called gīml charcoaled over each empty doorway. “Hello?” called Ellie. “Anyone there? Hello?”

No answer. Nonetheless they went door to door to make sure, checking the houses in pairs. When they reached Halliwell Way, every house in sight was the same: broken doors and windows, that mark above the lintels. A light wind blew; Ellie hardly felt the chill, but it rattled bits of debris in the street – broken glass, pieces of metal or plastic. The detritus. What remained. The noise was the most desolate thing she’d ever heard, and something teetered in Ellie, as if she was on the edge of a pit. Might as well give up. What can you do? Everyone’s gone. They’re all dead. The world’s empty. You’re all that’s left, and that’s only till tonight, when those things come back.

She shook her head.

Milly touched her arm. “Ell?”

Ellie squeezed her friend’s hand. “I’m all right, hun. Just...” She gestured around. Milly nodded. She understood: of course she did.

A deep breath. Easy to give in, but Ellie wouldn’t. Step back from the pit’s edge. Continue. Work. A job to do. “Okay. First step, find out who’s left.”

The wind rattled the creatures’ leavings, like the shaking of dry dead bones. A kind of mockery. This is all you’ll find.

“Where do we even start?” Phil sounded small and hopeless, almost childlike.