I glanced back at the table and noticed that Charlie was missing. He must have slipped away 74unnoticed and gone outside. I breathed a sigh of relief. Still … the memory of what I’d just seen at the window was imprinted on the inside of my eyelids. There was nothing outright horrifying about the hands, especially now that I knew they must belong to Charlie, but somehow the image was unsettling, and I could still feel my skin prickling with unease.

“I’m fine,” I said in response to Dad’s question. “I just saw someone at the window. I think Charlie must be out there.”

Kate sighed. “I wish he wouldn’t sneak off like that.”

I hadn’t really meant to dob him in, but it didn’t seem all that safe for him to be outside by himself in the dark.

“Well, I’m finished with dinner too, so is it all right if I go?” I asked.

“Sure,” Dad replied.

It had been a long and disappointing day, and I ached to be by myself for a bit. I went upstairs and rummaged through my bag for my binoculars. As I buttoned up my coat, I heard Charlie’s piping voice from next door.

“But I wasn’t outside, Mummy! And I don’t want 75any more food!”

I shook my head. I didn’t really care that he was lying about being outside. The important thing was that he was back in the lighthouse, meaning I could stargaze in peace. I went downstairs and headed for the door.

“Make sure to lock it behind you when you come in,” Dad called. “I don’t want Charlie sleepwalking outside.”

“OK,” I replied.

As soon as I stepped outside, I could feel salt settling on my skin and tasted it on my lips again. It made me feel like I permanently needed a shower. I sat on the remnants of a brick wall in the keeper’s garden and waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Here, finally, was the one good thing about being on Bird Rock – the stars were amazing. And as always, their bright white lights helped calm me, made my problems seem small and insignificant. The bird smell was still horrendously bad, but at least the gannets were quieter at night, and so were the flies. The main thing I could hear was the sea, a muffled, hungry roar at the base of the cliffs below. 76

But then I saw a constellation that shouldn’t have been there. My eyes found several stars that together, reated a humanoid shape in the black sky. Only this particular part of the sky wasn’t black at all: it was blue, in contrast to the dark all around.

Some people believe it was cursed by the Blue Men of the Minch.

Strange blue men who … cause storms and try to drown people.