“I’m sure it was only a dream,” Will replied slowly. “But Jess? If you have any more like that, don’t try to approach the bean nighe again, OK? Even in a dream, it’s—”

But that was as far as he got before the gannets descended upon us in a furious storm. As one, they spread their two-metre wingspan and dived into our midst at that unbelievable sixty miles an hour speed. It didn’t look natural to see birds move that fast, and their beaks gleamed like pale grey blades. Their shrieks were even shriller and louder than usual as 276they flew at the hunters in a frenzy. It was hard to tell what was happening amid the cloud of white wings, but I saw blood spray out through the air, along with human hair. Everyone was running and yelling, making their way towards the shelter of the stone bothies.

I raised my arms to protect my head from a gannet racing past, felt the brush of feathers against my skin. Will was shouting something about getting to a bothy. But then it happened. One of the hunters was only a few paces away – it was the man who’d introduced himself as Lenny when he’d bandaged my arm the day before. We saw the bird dive directly at him, but there was nothing we could do to help. The bird hit the side of his head, beak first. We heard the crack of bone, and Lenny went down as if he’d been shot. The gannet fell limp and lifeless beside him, and we realized that the impact had killed it.

Will and I raced over, dropping down next to him at the same time as Cailean crouched on his other side. A small piece of Lenny’s skull had been punched straight through into his brain. His eyes were open and glassy, and there were just a couple of spots of blood on the collar of his blue boiler suit. 277But he was certainly dead.

I looked up, and my eyes locked with Will’s. I saw raw fear in them as my own words came back to me:

I had a horrible dream about the bean nighe last night…

She was washing a guga hunter’s boiler suit…

As if this was the moment they’d all been waiting for, the birds took off, returning to their clifftop perches with their gory human trophies. I didn’t want to look at Lenny’s body and turned away, only to see my dad hurrying towards me over the rocks and calling my name. He said he’d come to see if I was at the camp when he realized I wasn’t in the lighthouse and had arrived in time to witness the bird attack.

“Are you all right?” he asked, gripping my arms tightly. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you about the birds before.”