Meggy stared at her. ‘I’m twelve,’ she said, shaking off the heavy conversation. ‘We need to find out what’s down there. Come on.’ She lay on her stomach, head flat on the floor turned to the side, then reached her hand in, grimacing. ‘I can feel some wires. There’s a big beam running crossways, and it has some metal bits on it.’ She shifted over to get more of her arm in the cavity. ‘It’s disgusting in here, loads of dust and spiderwebs. Hold on. I’ve got something. It’s loose. Maybe we can use it to get the other boards up. It feels quite long, but it’s stuck on something else.’ She rolled over, pushing her shoulder into the gap to give herself room to manoeuvre. ‘Hold on … it’s moving. I’ve got it,’ she cried, shifting her body backwards again and turning her wrist to allow her to pull the object from the hole.

She brought it out into the half-light and threw it in Elspeth’s direction. It hit the bare floorboards with a dull thump. Elspeth put her head to one side, frowned, drew nearer to get a better look, then clambered backwards, her hands and feet dragging awkwardly along the floor as she went.

‘What—’

‘Don’t look at it,’ Elspeth said.

The girl picked it up again.

‘Meggy, put that down right now. Just throw it back in there.’

‘Is that …?’ She dropped it and stood up, brushing her hands on her leggings. ‘It’s not real. Why would it be down there?’

‘I think it is real,’ Elspeth said. ‘We should just block this hole back up, right now. Come on, help me clear up.’ She grabbed the far edge of the rolled-back carpet and began pulling it towards the first corner they’d uncovered.

‘Is it from a human? It’s long. What bone is it? How come it’s there? Do you think someone had an accident and died in there?’

‘You really are twelve,’ Elspeth muttered. ‘Oh, God, I’m sorry. Meggy, listen to me right now. This was a mistake. We were never supposed to see in here. Help me put it all back.’

‘No. I need to know. I want to see.’ She threw herself back onto her stomach and let her upper body down into the hole. ‘There’s something there. It’s just a bit too far back. Hold on.’

There was a moment of silence, Meggy puffing hard, then a dragging sound, something heavy moving closer to the edge of the hole. ‘I don’t understand what this …’

Meggy screamed and the room echoed with the violence of the noise.

‘Quiet!’ Elspeth shouted, throwing herself to the ground beside the girl and wrapping a strong hand over Meggy’s mouth.

Meggy pulled her head from the hole and thrust her face into Elspeth’s shoulder, sobbing, shaking her head to and fro.