Suddenly I was angry with myself, and my hand tightened around my phone. I must be losing my mind. There was no such thing as ghosts. If there was someone on the path up ahead of me, then they were real, and perhaps they’d seen Rosie and could point me in her direction. There must be a woman in the guga hunters’ party – perhaps I was near their camp?

“Hello?” I called, taking a step closer.

The woman didn’t turn round, didn’t acknowledge having heard me at all, yet there was no way she could have failed to do so.

“I’m lost,” I tried, walking closer. “Can you tell me 168the way to the lighthouse?”

At the word lighthouse, the woman stiffened, but still she didn’t move. I could feel anger and fear mixing together in my stomach as I finally reached her.

“Hey!” I said. “Didn’t you hear—?”

She spun round and I leaped back, longing to scream, but my throat had closed up and I couldn’t make a single sound. The woman had no face, just a mass of sharp, pointed beaks where it should have been. As I stared, sickened, the beaks exploded and the woman seemed to break apart in a swarm of screeching gannets, all swooping and diving at me as if determined to run me right off the island.

I fled. The birds followed me in a flurry of beating wings for a few moments before scattering. I no longer cared about the fog or the cliff edge, and thoughts of finding Rosie vanished for the moment too – all I cared about was getting back to the shelter of the lighthouse. I ran and ran without finding it, but I saw more people around me in the fog. There was a tall, slim man wearing the same uniform as the first figure and an ancient-looking man in a waterproof coat. There was even a little boy and girl wearing old-fashioned clothes and holding hands. 169

They all stood completely motionless, staring straight ahead with their backs to me. I couldn’t seem to avoid them. When I changed direction, another loomed up in my path, and I could just make out the silhouettes of others further away as well. Sobbing, I spun round yet again and staggered through a clearing, only to crash straight into someone. I went sprawling backwards, landed on the ground with a grunt, and instinctively raised my hands to my face, not wanting to see any more beaks bursting through people’s faces.

But then a voice I recognized said, “Jess?”

I looked up to see Will staring down at me, an expression of shock on his face. And beyond him were flickering campfires and the hunched stone silhouettes of the ancient black houses.

I had found the guga hunters’ camp.

170

Chapter Fourteen

A sob of relief burst from my throat as Will reached out a hand and hauled me to my feet.