‘Nothing, I don’t know. I was just trying to remember a dream I had last night, but…’ He trailed off again, but this time Tom forced himself not to interrupt. If there was one thing he’d learned from sitting next to Matt in maths, it was that his friend always got to the answer in the end, but only if he had time to think.

‘I think I may have woken up at one point last night,’ Matt said carefully. He looked around at Tom, still biting his lip. ‘I’m not sure if it was part of a dream or not, though.’

‘What happened?’

‘I… Well, I think I heard someone scream. But it might have been part of the dream I was having. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but I think it was a nightmare. I might have woken up for a few seconds at one point – I sort of remember opening my eyes in the tent, although I’m not sure – and then I guess I went back to sleep again. But I heard this high-pitched sound, like a scream. I think I thought it was an animal.’

Tom nodded slowly. He suddenly felt very cold all over, and he wished he’d put on his coat before stepping out of his tent. In fact, a small part of him was starting to wish he hadn’t stepped out of the tent at all.

‘I think I dreamed something like that, too,’ he muttered. ‘Something about being in the dark, and hearing someone scream in the distance.’

He glanced around the empty campsite again, then looked down at Matt.

‘So are you sure all his stuff’s gone?’

Matt turned and disappeared back into the tent, then reappeared a few seconds later. He looked pale.

‘Absolutely everything’s gone,’ he said. ‘Come and have a look if you want.’

Tom shook his head and stood up straight. He turned in a full circle, scanning the horizon. He could only see a short way in one direction down the valley before the curve of the tor obscured his view, but in the other direction he could see quite far. There was nothing over there but grass that petered out into purple heather.

Tom glanced back up the tor they’d come down yesterday evening to make camp; he could see the footpath they’d followed winding up the side of the tor into the distance, but there was no sign of any movement on it.

Finally he looked the other way, craning his head to the top of the tor they would be climbing later that morning. His eye travelled from the top down, eventually finding a windy brown footpath halfway up. Tom traced this path down the side of the tor, all the way to where it eventually ended in the little copse of trees he’d spotted earlier.