Leon fetched his spotlight and switched it on, shooting the beam up the trunk. There was the nest: a convoluted tangle of sticks and twigs, high on a branch.

‘Not exactly artists, are they?’ Geraldine said.

‘It’s been there more than two years, and it hasn’t blown down,’ Miki said. ‘I think that’s clever. The wind gets really strong up here.’

In the glow of the spotlight, the white arms of the trees stood out like bones, and silvered leaves shivered. Leon wondered if the eagles were around. He probed the canopy with the light to see if they were roosting nearby, but there was no sign of them.

‘Maybe they’ve been scared off,’ Miki said, her face doleful in the dark.

Her passion for eagles was unusual, Leon thought. Most birdwatchers were nature freaks, like him, or twitchers from ornithologist groups. But there was something off-beat about Miki. She was young but old at the same time, shy but direct, surprisingly observant. She’d been home-schooled—perhaps that was why she was a bit odd. Maybe she’d spent time watching birds because she hadn’t had other children to play with. He tried to imagine her life in the shop with Kurt. It was clear she’d been afraid to come out tonight, like on the night they’d trapped devils. Leon suspected Kurt wasn’t always kind to her. It was hard to tell from the outside, but Leon sensed she needed a friend—someone to talk to. ‘Sorry I can’t find your eagles,’ he said. ‘They must be camouflaged among all those leaves.’

Miki was disappointed. ‘Maybe they’re sleeping.’

‘They’re endangered, aren’t they?’ Geraldine said. ‘Why are there so few of them left?’

‘Farmers think they kill sheep,’ Leon explained, ‘so they shoot or poison them. And sometimes they fly into powerlines.’

‘How awful! How many are left?’

‘About three hundred pairs.’

Geraldine shook her head. ‘They’re so big you think they’re invincible, but nobody is.’

Miki said, ‘While we’re here, can I show you another tree? It’s further along the track. We’ll have to take the four-wheel drive and then walk.’

They packed themselves back into the Toyota and drove on. The track narrowed and became overgrown, shrubs scraping the sides of the car. Leon hoped he could find somewhere to turn round when it was time to go back; it seemed no one came here except Miki and Kurt.

Miki showed him where to park near a thicket of beech trees turning golden. They got out and she led the way along the track, walking slowly so Geraldine could keep up.

The tall tree loomed out of the darkness: the most enormous swamp gum Leon had ever seen. He stood with the others at its buttressed base in awed silence, gazing up the trunk to the shadowy crown that seemed to graze the star-dusted sky.