Whoever was holding the camera didn’t say 141a word, but I could tell they were coming closer towards us because the floorboards groaned beneath their feet, and every time the flash went off it seemed bigger and brighter. The next time the room lit up for a second, I kept my eyes open wide, trying to make out who was there, but the flash was too dazzling and made everything jerk and dance around us. I could hear Rosie’s breath coming in panicked gasps as she grabbed tightly on to my arm. My hand flailed around for my phone but I only managed to send it sliding along the floor away from me.

Click, flash!

“Charlie, is that you?” I said into the darkness. “It’s not funny. Stop it.”

Finally I found Rosie’s phone and swiped to bring up the torch. At the same moment, there was a loud thump as the camera fell to the floor. The torch beam sliced through the room, illuminating the camera lying a few paces away. I swept the light across the room, making the shadows jump around us. Our door was open but there was nobody in the room except me and Rosie.

“It must have been Charlie,” I said, my voice 142shaking slightly with adrenaline. “I guess that was his idea of a joke.”

Rosie was staring at her camera. “But … I didn’t hear him run out. And that’s the camera I left running in the Strangers’ Room,” she said.

“Charlie’s been playing up in the tower,” I replied, finally managing to yank the zip of my sleeping bag free. “He must have taken the camera, even though he promised me he wouldn’t go up there again.”

I stormed into the corridor and – sure enough – Charlie was just coming out of the bathroom. I told him off about what had just happened – maybe a little more crossly than I should have – but predictably he denied everything. It must have been him, though, since it obviously wasn’t Dad or Kate.

When I went back to our room, Rosie was flicking through the photos on the camera and I got a brief glimpse of the two of us sitting up in our sleeping bags, looking terrified.

“Could you just delete those?”

“I am,” Rosie replied. “But Jess, look. I went back through the footage from the Strangers’ Room. It was recording up there for an hour before someone switched it off.” 143

She held it up but the screen just showed an empty room.

“So what?” I asked impatiently.

“Can’t you see it?” she replied. “There’s something there. In the mirror.”

“Probably Charlie’s reflection as he steals the camera,” I said. “Look, would you put that thing away? I’m tired and I’d like to get some sleep tonight.”