My head was buzzing so much I thought it might split open. I pushed past Dad and went up to our bedroom, intending to grab Rosie’s phone, or her camera, or her crystal collection, but her things were gone – every single one of them. There was no trace of her left. Even the card Charlie had drawn was now addressed only to me, and the little stick figure of Rosie had vanished from the front so that it was now just the four of us. I thrust my hand into my pocket but the crystals I’d taken from the Strangers’ Room earlier were gone as well. 181

Dad and Kate had followed me and were asking questions, but I ignored them and switched on my phone. I had masses of photos of Rosie on there – selfies of us both, of Rosie pulling a face for the camera or grinning beside a pool on holiday, a dollop of ice cream on her nose. But the photos had vanished too. I scrolled desperately but there wasn’t a single trace of Rosie on my phone at all. Nothing. It was like I’d never had a sister.

“But this … this is ridiculous!” I said, whirling round to face Dad and Kate. “You can’t have just forgotten her. That’s absurd!”

Dad sighed. “Is this a cry for attention? Have you been feeling jealous of Charlie, or—”

“DAD!” I was shouting now. “I don’t want attention – I want my sister! You can’t have forgotten her, you just can’t! Why do you think you went to the guga hunters’ camp earlier today? You were cross because Will showed her a video on his phone.”

“No, I was cross because he showed a video to you.”

I shook my head, despairing. “I never saw any video. Rosie was ill a few years ago, remember? I know you don’t see much of us, but you came to visit 182her in hospital—”

“Jess, that’s enough,” Dad said, looking as if he was torn between concern and irritation. “You were the one who was ill. It’s you I came to see in hospital. But all that’s behind us now.”

I’m not sure how long we argued about it. I know I tore through the house like I was possessed, desperately seeking evidence of Rosie that simply wasn’t there. Of course it inevitably came out that the trapdoor was unchained, and Dad and Kate were gobsmacked by the discovery, following behind me as I rushed through the rooms up in the tower.

At one point, I lost it and grabbed Charlie by the shoulders, shaking him, trying to get him to admit that he remembered Rosie. Dad started to get properly angry with me then, but I didn’t care. My life was unravelling, so what did it matter if he was angry? I was angry too. And absolutely terrified.