His eyes filled with tears as he stared at me, and I felt like the absolute worst person in the world. One of those hands reaching through the glass had belonged to my half-brother, but I had forgotten him, and now he was still there, trapped inside the fog. And it was my fault.

I thought about going to the captain of the boat, seeing if I could persuade him to turn the vessel round right now and take us back to Bird Rock, but even as the thought occurred to me, I started to feel a weird tingly ache at the front of my head, one that seemed to burrow deep into my brain and make queasiness churn in my stomach. I was going to forget Rory again – forget our entire conversation. So I’ve set it all down here for my future self to find.

There were five of us in that lighthouse, not four.

We left someone behind.

And so one day, whatever it takes, we’ve got to get back to Bird Rock.

339

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the following people:

My agent, Thérèse Coen, and the Hardman and Swainson Literary Agency.

Katie Jennings, Ella Whiddett, Mattie Whitehead and Lauren Ace for editorial input. Jane Tait for copyediting and Susila Baybars for proofreading. Pip Johnson for the amazing cover. Dannie Price and Summer Lanchester for marketing and publicity. Demet Hoffmeyer for production, George Hanratty for sales, and Nicola O’Connell for managing rights. And to everyone else at Stripes for all their hard work on this book.

Finally, thank you to my family, for their continuous support.

340

About the Author

Alex Bell is the best-selling author of Frozen Charlotte, Charlotte Says and The Haunting in Stripes’ YA horror series, RED EYE. Alex lives in Hampshire and also writes middle-grade fantasy books, including The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club.

Frozen Charlotte Extract

Dunvegan School for Girls has been closed for many years. Converted into a family home, the teachers and students are long gone. But they left something behind…

Sophie arrives at the old schoolhouse to spend the summer with her cousins. Brooding Cameron with his scarred hand, strange Lilias with her fear of bones and Piper, who seems just a bit too good to be true. And then there’s her other cousin.

The girl with a room full of antique dolls. The girl that shouldn’t be there. The girl that died.

342

343

Isle of Skye – 1910

The girls were playing with the Frozen Charlotte dolls again.

The schoolmistress had given them some scraps of fabric and ribbon from the sewing room to take out to the garden. They were to practise their embroidery skills by making little dresses and bonnets for the naked porcelain dolls. “They’ll catch their death of cold otherwise,” the teacher had said.