“That’s what you said last night, and the night before,” Kate said. “I can’t think what’s got into you – normally you have the appetite of a small horse!” She peered at him. “You don’t feel poorly, do you?”

Charlie shook his head. “I don’t like this room,” he said. “It’s sticky. And it smells like fishes. Can I go to 72my bedroom to see my snails?”

“Afterwards, darling,” Kate said in a firm voice. “But first you’ll eat at the table with everyone else.”

Charlie seemed to give up and began to spoon food into his mouth. In between swallowing, he kept leaning down to peer under the table. When Kate finally asked what he was doing, he looked guilty and said, “I thought there was someone down there. I heard them scratching.”

“There’s no one under the table, Charlie,” Kate replied with endless patience. “Concentrate on your food, please.”

“Did you manage to take some photos this afternoon?” Dad asked Rosie.

She nodded but didn’t get the chance to say anything before Charlie piped up again. “Rosie took a photo of the lighthouse, and Will says that it’s cursed.”

I silently groaned.

“What’s this?” Dad said, sounding exasperated. “Did you talk to that boy again?”

“We just ran into him—” I began.

“Well, if that happens again, then walk away at once, please,” Dad said, frowning at me. “He’s 73obviously out to make trouble, and I don’t want him filling your heads with a lot of stupid nonsense about the lighthouse.”

I was a bit annoyed by Dad’s tone. It felt like I was being scolded for something that wasn’t my fault.

The conversation around the table was stilted until Dad tried to lighten the mood by asking me if I’d brought my binoculars for stargazing. I was about to reply when my eyes fell on the window, and the words lodged in my throat.

There was a pair of white hands pressed flat against the glass.

Someone was out there, standing on the other side of the window, yet I couldn’t make out anything of the person themselves. Just their hands. Unlike the cloudy image in the bathroom mirror, these hands looked startlingly clear and pale against the darkness of the night – too white to belong to any living person. I took a sharp intake of breath, my heart suddenly racing. But before I could say anything, the hands vanished.

“Jess?” Dad said. “Are you OK?”