“Hello, Conall,” I said quietly. “I’m Jess. I’m so sorry for what happened to you.”

He slowly turned to face me, and it took all my 302willpower not to scream. His face was a mess. A great chunk of flesh had been bitten off by the eel, and I could see right through to his cheekbone beneath.

“Where’s Charlie?” he asked. Part of his lower lip had been bitten off, which made him sound as if he was slobbering when he spoke.

“He’s gone,” I said. “He had to go home.”

“He’s afraid of me,” Conall said in that wet, slobbering voice. “Everyone is, even Papa. Just because I killed that man.”

“What happened in the workhouse wasn’t your fault,” I began. “It was—”

“No, not him,” Conall said dully. “The other one. The keeper.”

I paused. “Keeper?”

“Papa didn’t like it when I killed the keeper.” He looked at me with raw pleading in his eyes. “I didn’t want to do it either, not really. The lighthouse got me all mixed up and made me think it was a good idea. Will you tell Charlie I’m sorry, and that I won’t ever do it again? Perhaps then he’ll come back.”

I glanced at Will but he looked as confused as I felt. 303

“Are you talking about Niall Abernathy?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s him. He was… Oh, if I try to tell you, I’ll get it wrong – I always get it wrong – and then you’ll be cross with me too. But it really wasn’t my fault – it wasn’t. Look.”

Before I could say anything, he reached out and gripped my hand. His palm felt damp, and I barely had time to realize that one of his fingers had been chewed away entirely. But then Conall, the lighthouse and the storm vanished, and I was suddenly in the kitchen of the keeper’s cottage on another day and time altogether.

Sun streamed through the windows, and a bearded man in a keeper’s uniform sat across from me.

“Do you understand what I’m saying, Conall?” he said. “There’s another keeper being stationed here, and we’ve got to keep you hidden from him. There’s no other way. It won’t be pleasant, and I’m truly sorry for that, but if he knew about you then he’d turn us into the police, and both our necks would be on the line. It won’t be forever. Just until I finish my service at the lighthouse. When it’s time 304to leave Bird Rock, everything will have died down back home – no one will be looking for us any more. I’ll smuggle you out, and we’ll make a new life for ourselves somewhere.”