I could tell it was meant to be the Strangers’ Room because the mirror was curved and had a large frame, with a ship perched on top of it. He’d also drawn the window behind her, complete with the word JUMP! Seeing it inside a child’s drawing made me shiver, but worse than that was the girl 156herself. In the room, she had a smile on her face, but her reflection had a big frown, and there was something weird and chilling about the difference. I flipped the drawing over to see if there was another letter there, and sure enough the same neat writing was printed along the back.

Dear Mama,

It has been several days but Papa says that the birds are still dangerous and savage. They’ve been attacking the keepers whenever they step outside the lighthouse, diving at them really fast, faster than you would believe unless you saw it for yourself. Their beaks are sharp and they can rip a chunk of hair straight from your head or tear a long strip of flesh off your face. The birds have a bloodlust, Papa said, and it’s a nasty one. Bloodlust means they want to hurt things.

And Papa says he finally knows what’s causing it. It’s not an illness like we first thought – it’s the lighthouse. The birds that get inside the building go mad. Papa found a whole load of them in the Strangers’ Room the other day, and he said they were all just standing on the floor, staring up into the mirror, and they must have been there for hours. It was like they’d been staring into the mirror for so long that they’d forgotten they were birds at all… 157

Papa says it’s unnatural and unholy, a judgement from God. I pray every night that it will get better soon, and I will see you again. It’s so lonely here. Even more than the workhouse.

Your loving son,

C

I frowned at the letter, remembering Rosie’s words from before: You know that thing where you stare in the mirror for so long that you almost don’t recognize yourself any more? Well, something similar just happened to me… For a second, I actually… I couldn’t remember who I was.

I climbed the spiral staircase after her. When I got to the Strangers’ Room, there was no sign of Rosie, but the window was open and I saw a single gannet perched on the windowsill, cocking its head this way and that, staring at me with beady eyes. I felt a strong tug of unease, both about the bird and the window. I’d never seen it open before, and something about this felt wrong. The word JUMP! suddenly seemed clearer and darker, as if the letters had been burned into the wall rather than merely painted there.