Promise me, Leon. Promise you won’t say anything. It was an accident.

The wind settles for a moment, whispering through the trees, as though planning an assault. Leon loses himself in thought, unaware he’s being pushed forward by the wind.

A gust, like a shove from invisible hands, pounces, takes Leon’s body and thrusts him forward. He topples, slips over the crumbling edge. His phone falls from his grip, bounces, smashes against the cliffs.

Heart pounding, he hangs, suspended for some moments. His fingers ache as he clings to the wire fence that stretches and creaks. Rocks and chunks of soil roll down the cliff, tumbling into the sea.

He takes a deep breath, and hauls himself back onto the grass. His eyes dart around the area, stare into the watchful darkness. There’s nobody about that he can see.

Panting, he sits on the damp grass, trying to catch his breath, rubbing wet hands on his jacket. Suddenly, a string of lights break free from the patio, one end spiralling in the wind, casting light across the trees – the other end still attached to the building. A flash of yellow streaks through the air; carried fifteen feet off the ground, towards the cliff edge. It twists and turns, floating like a phantom. Leon rises to his feet, his heart thumping as he takes off back towards the house, the wind buffeting him from every side. He’s never felt so scared.

Alice

For the last ten minutes, Christine has waffled and bungled her way through the tour, but apart from Lori, who, complaining of a headache, went to her room almost immediately, everyone, even Mitch, has been far too polite to leave the struggling woman, whose short hair now stands on end due to constant run-throughs with her anxious fingers.

As they make their way along an upper floor, an area narrower than the floor below, Alice’s legs weaken. She stops, leans against the wall, a heavy feeling of foreboding pressing down on her.

Faith darts back. ‘Are you OK?’

‘I’m fine, just a bit dizzy.’ But it’s far from true. A feeling of claustrophobia as they got higher and higher into the house has consumed her, taken her breath away.

Christine and Mitch turn the corner at the end of the hallway, seeming oblivious to her wobble, but Faith stays, concern in her eyes. ‘Take my arm,’ she says.

Alice pulls away from the safety of the wall, and links her arm through Faith’s. They carry on, following Christine, despite her father’s voice inside Alice’s head shouting for her to turn back.

‘I think this must be a photo of Felix’s children,’ Christine is saying when Alice and Faith catch up.