I groaned and suddenly felt a ferocious pang of longing to be back home, soaking in my own bath, listening to my favourite playlist on my phone, with Rosie hammering on the door, demanding to know how much longer I was going to be. The thought of 236Rosie and normality was too painful, and I quickly pushed it away. I couldn’t think about my sister and our home right now. If I did, then I’d break down completely. So I just poured a generous glug of the bubble bath I’d brought into the tub and went back to my bedroom while it filled up.

When I came back a few minutes later, the bath was almost full, with a great frothy pile of bubbles floating on top and the familiar scent of orange blossom filling the air. I quickly stripped off my clothes and sank into the tub. There were so many bubbles that I couldn’t even see the water, but it felt amazing to soak in the clean, scented warmth.

I scooted further down so that the water lapped against my shoulders, then leaned my head back and closed my eyes. My head was a whirl of gannets and ghosts, and I longed to rest my buzzing brain for a moment and think of nothing at all.

I’d only been in the bath for moments when something cold, smooth and leathery brushed against my leg.

237

Chapter Nineteen

I jerked upright, my hands sloshing water over the side as I gripped the edge of the bath. In the first confused moments, I thought a flannel or piece of soap must have fallen in, but then I felt the thing brush against my waist, and something thick and heavy glided straight over my stomach. There was something in the water with me. Something alive.

I let out a yell of horror, splashing water everywhere in my desperate attempt to get out, but when I went to stand up my foot slipped on something solid and muscled, causing me to fall backwards, plunging into the water, which closed right over the top of my head. A drowning person getting sucked into a stormy ocean could hardly have felt more panic than I did in that moment, especially as my tumble 238seemed to send whatever was in the water with me into a frenzy.

There must have been dozens of the things because I could feel their cold, smooth little bodies all over my hands, feet and legs, coiling and curling around me. Then I felt the ripping bite of sharp teeth tearing into the flesh of my thigh, an excruciating pain that made me scream, even though I was still underwater.