Even the hunters’ camp was quiet when I skirted around it, and I arrived at the bothy without coming across another living thing. I swung the bag from my back, took out the radio and paused. I could try hiding it – but this wasn’t a large island, and I was afraid Dad would find it. His words from the day we’d arrived came back to me:

It’s literally our lifeline to the outside world…

If I got rid of it, then we wouldn’t be able to call for help in an emergency. But who was I kidding? What help could anyone give us out here on Bird Rock anyway? It would take hours for a boat to get here, and even then no one would believe a word about haunted lighthouses and forgotten sisters. There was no aid I could expect from the outside world, so I drew back my arm and threw the radio as hard as I could over the side of the cliff. It sailed down into the dark sea and was immediately swallowed up by the night and the hungry waves.

For better or worse, it was done. I glanced up into the night sky and, just for a moment, thought I saw that pale blue man outlined by stars once again, only from this angle it looked as if he had one greedy 267hand stretched out towards the lighthouse… I blinked hard, and the constellation vanished. I knew the stars and the night sky for this part of the world at this time of year, and there was no such figure. Yet the idea of there being murderous blue men hidden in the ocean below no longer seemed as preposterous to me as it had before. Perhaps Will was right, and they had cursed the lighthouse after all. Perhaps that was why this place was so messed up.

Suddenly I couldn’t face the long trek back to the lighthouse, and it had started to rain anyway, so I crawled into the bothy instead. If I was back early, then no one need know I’d been gone. I did my best to make myself comfortable by using my bag as a pillow. The ground was cold and hard, but I was exhausted and fell asleep within seconds.

It was still dark when I jerked upright, trying to work out where I was and what had woken me. Then I heard the humming.

The sound chilled my blood, just as it had the first time out in the fog. So haunting and other-worldly and sad. It sounded as if it was coming from right 268outside the bothy. I turned towards the entrance, only to freeze. The stone archway was full of gannets. They were packed in shoulder to shoulder, like sardines, all completely silent and motionless, all staring in at me with their shiny, beady eyes. My breath caught in my throat at the sight of so many behaving so unnaturally.