I nodded but his apology was useless. If he didn’t believe me about Rosie, then he couldn’t be any help.

At least no one else had suffered serious injuries. Lenny’s body was covered with a tarpaulin, but I couldn’t get the image of it out of my mind. After seeing the bean nighe, I felt responsible, as if I should have been able to do something to prevent his death. I should have taken the nightmare more seriously. It 278was hard to believe that it was a mere coincidence. I glanced over at Will, and the thought of the same thing happening to him made me feel sick. I could only hope that the scrap of jacket I’d managed to take would be enough to change his fate.

Any animosity between Dad and the guga hunters had now vanished. No one had ever seen the gannets, or any bird, behave like this before, and so having an ornithologist on the island was suddenly a good thing. Dad used his walkie-talkie to let Kate know what had happened and told her not to go outside or let Charlie near the windows.

Not knowing if the birds would come back, we all retreated to the bothies. We had to split up to fit inside, and Will and I went with my dad and Cailean. The wind was even stronger now, and we could hear it howling around the bothy like a lost creature. I could tell Dad didn’t know what to make of the bird attack. His best guess seemed to be that the birds were suffering from some temporary madness as the result of eating something poisonous.

“When it works its way out of their system, then hopefully they’ll return to normal,” he said. “If it doesn’t kill them first.” 279

Will and I exchanged a glance. I wanted to tell Dad that it wasn’t something the birds had eaten, it was the lighthouse, but I knew he wouldn’t believe me, and neither would Cailean.

“For now, I don’t think there’s much we can do other than hunker down and barricade ourselves against them,” Cailean said.

There was some talk of everyone returning to the lighthouse, but as it was on the other side of the island the adults agreed it was too risky, and that the best thing was to stay put. Cailean radioed the mainland to explain what had happened and ask how soon a boat could be sent. I was gutted that getting rid of Dad’s radio hadn’t made any difference, but at least the people on the mainland replied that no boat could leave just now. The storm blowing in was due to hit Bird Rock this evening and would hopefully have blown itself out by the morning. As soon as possible after that, rescue boats would be on their way.