“Er … maybe later,” I said. “Dad thought you might like to come for a walk with us this afternoon. Perhaps you could show us the island?”

I’d barely finished the sentence before he’d snatched up his binoculars and was zooming off to get his shoes. Rosie and I followed him down to the front door and then made our way along the cliff path. There were loads of gannets – swarming in the air above us, poking about at the edge of the paths, perched upon the stone cairns and diving towards the ocean with that unsettling speed we’d 62seen from the boat.

I didn’t usually have a problem with birds, but I found the sight of these ones a bit unnerving. There were just so many. Thousands and thousands. I’d never seen such a large number in one place before. But Dad was an ornithologist after all, so I told myself that he would know if they were dangerous. The smell was disgusting, and flies crawled thickly over every rock. Their constant droning was giving me a headache.

“I’ve never seen so many flies!” I exclaimed, batting my hand through a cloud of them.

“They come for the bird poo,” Charlie said. “Gannets eat loads of fish and squid, and Mummy says that what goes in must come out, and that’s why it stinks so much.”

We were a short distance from the lighthouse when Charlie paused to raise his binoculars to his eyes and peer out at the horizon.

“I’m looking for sea monsters,” he informed us. “There have been hundreds and hundreds of them spotted around Scotland.”

“Well, if you keep looking, I’m sure you’ll see one,” Rosie said encouragingly. “There was an article 63about the Loch Ness monster in the magazine I subscribe to. Some cool new photos have just been published of it.”

“Some cool new fakes more like,” I muttered.

Rosie ignored me and spoke to Charlie instead. “I’ll show you when we get back, if you like?”

He looked delighted. “Awesome!”

While he searched the sea for monsters, Rosie raised her camera and pointed it back at the lighthouse. There was a sharp click as the shutter came down.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

We all jumped and turned to see Will sitting on a nearby rock with his elbows on his knees. He’d been so still in the shadows that I hadn’t noticed him.

“Do what?” Rosie asked.

“Take photos of the lighthouse,” he said, rising slowly to his feet. “It doesn’t like it.”

64

Chapter Five

“What do you mean?” Rosie asked, looking eager rather than afraid. “I’m Rosie, by the way, and that’s Charlie and Jess. So what’s wrong with the lighthouse?”