Before I could say a word, Kate exploded at him in anger. She was absolutely furious and lectured him for ages about how someone could have been hurt, and she wouldn’t put up with any violent outbursts. Dad looked terrified beneath the force of her wrath, immediately returning to his usual mild-mannered self as he apologized to us both with a pained look of shame. But all I could think was that it hadn’t been him – not really. Dad never behaved like that. I’d never seen him lose his temper once in my whole life. It was the lighthouse affecting him somehow. Hadn’t other keepers mentioned similar things in their journals?

I felt a cold chill of fear touch my blood. Was history repeating itself? First Dad had been emptying out the cupboards, looking for something he couldn’t 243name, and now this. Would he be jumping from the top of the lighthouse next? Or hurting one of us?

After what seemed like ages, everyone had finally calmed down a bit, but I didn’t mention the hands I’d seen in the mirror again. What was the point when I knew full well that no one would believe me? It was agreed that we would all wash using the basin or shower from now on, and of course all our drinking water came from bottles anyway.

I thought I would never have a bath again for as long as I lived, and certainly not one with bubbles in it. Even once I was out, it felt as if the eel was still there, sliding and slithering over my skin, and I kept thinking I could feel its long body in my sleeves or the legs of my jeans. Luckily, the bite to my thigh wasn’t as bad as it had looked to begin with, but it still stung like anything and I was in a miserably bad mood by the time the four of us sat down to dinner.

I felt Rosie’s absence like a physical wound and kept glancing at the chair where she ought to have been. It was even worse because no one else knew she was even missing. The only person who looked as wretched as I felt was Charlie, who once again refused to touch his food. Perhaps feeling the tension 244of the evening herself, Kate finally lost her patience with him and ordered him to eat the microwaved pie on his plate.

“I can’t eat in here, Mummy,” Charlie replied in barely more than a whisper. “There’s something bad coming up through the floor. It makes me feel weird.”

“Charlie, we can’t go on like this. You haven’t had a proper meal since we arrived at Bird Rock. You must be starving. You’re not leaving this table until you’ve had your dinner – I mean it.”