The scratching was getting louder. Then a small grey creature scurried out from the fireplace.

‘It’s just a mouse!’ groaned Jack.

‘Yes, but where did the mouse come from?’ asked Yori, peering into the firebox.

Jack now noticed there were no cold cinders in the grate. In fact there wasn’t anything at all. He went over and ran his finger down the brickwork of the firebox. ‘It’s been blackened to simulate smoke!’

Stepping on to the hearth and ducking beneath the mantel, he found a secret sliding bolt. He eased it open and pushed the wall at the back. It gave a little, then, with the help of another shove, it swung wide open. Jack looked back at Akiko and Yori in astonishment. ‘A false fireplace!’

39: Prisoner

The priest hole was a mirror version of the attic room, except there was a small altar for daily prayer and a wood-framed bed in the far corner. Through the one sole window – the missing fifth lattice – a shaft of moonlight illuminated a half-eaten meal on the writing table. The rest of the room was in shadow. As Jack’s eyes adjusted to the dark, he thought he spied a hunched figure on the bed. Then Yori and Akiko came into the chamber with the lamp and the darkness was chased away to reveal a young woman. She shielded her eyes from the lamp’s bright glare. Yori dimmed the flame and the girl lowered her arm.

Jack stared at the vision before him. So familiar, yet so different. So much older, yet still so young. Traces of the girl he once knew present in the growing woman. Golden hair longer than he remembered. Blue eyes darker but still full of playful mischief. The slim jawline of their mother. The strong brow of their father. The lips and button nose of his sister.

She stared back, afraid yet curious of the three intruders in her room.

‘Jess?’ said Jack, so softly in case he shattered the illusion.

The girl slowly nodded, comprehension entering her sky-blue eyes. ‘Jack?’

Needing no further confirmation, Jack rushed over and enveloped his sister in his arms. He held her tight to his chest, determined never to let her go again. Only now was he truly home. The journey he’d begun seven years earlier was at last over. He’d found his sister, against all the odds, all the obstacles and all the enemies. They were family once again.

Jess hugged him with equal delight and desperation. ‘I prayed … and prayed … and prayed for your safe return,’ she sobbed. ‘I had all but given up hope.’

‘Your prayers have been answered,’ replied Jack, kissing her forehead and glancing towards the small wooden cross above the altar. ‘As have mine.’