Ten minutes later, and nails screeched against wood. The floorboard flew upwards. The three of them sat back and looked at the much larger hole. As one, they bent their heads to see inside.

A door slammed, and they jerked backwards, Xavier cracking his head against Elspeth’s. Meggy raced into the hallway and pressed her ear to the front door.

No one breathed.

‘Is he coming?’ Elspeth panted.

‘Shh,’ Meggy said.

Sweat trickled down Xavier’s forehead. Elspeth shook. Meggy gritted her teeth and made fists of her hands as she focused on what lay beyond their prison.

Another slammed door, then silence again. No footsteps on the stairs.

‘I don’t think he’s coming up,’ Meggy said.

‘We should clear up anyway. Put all this away. It’s too risky,’ Elspeth said.

‘I think it’s too risky not to carry on,’ Xavier said. ‘We should keep going.’

They looked at Meggy. ‘I’m twelve,’ she shrugged. ‘I can’t decide.’

‘Look, we’re nearly through. Meggy can get down in the gap now. She’s small enough to get between the rafters. Is there anything here we can use to bash in the ceiling below? It needs to be strong enough to smash through the plasterboard.’

‘If we had something like that, we’d have hit Fergus over the head with it,’ Meggy said. ‘Everything useful in here is fixed to the floor or the wall.’

‘She’s right,’ Elspeth said. ‘We don’t have anything that’s substantial enough to do any real damage. He’s been careful. But then I guess he’s done this before.’ She picked up a small bone and snapped it in two. ‘Nothing wrong with his learning curve.’

‘Then we’ll have to do it manually. Meggy, you ready?’ Xavier asked.

She looked at Elspeth, who held her arms open. Meggy walked across the room and accepted the hug.

‘You sure you want to do this? No one will blame you if you’re too freaked out,’ Elspeth said.

‘I’m sure,’ Meggy said. ‘What is it you need me to do?’