I flinch in horror at the thought of him wringing the crow’s neck and I know he’d do it. He’s not a bleeding heart like me. He’s pragmatic. And maybe he’s right. Maybe I should just let the bird die, let nature take its course. If we hadn’t found her in the castle, she would be dead already, no doubt. And there’s no certainty that my splint will even do the job. The wing could heal messily; the bird might end up crippled and then it would be kinder to let her die. But still, the thought of Liam killing her is too much. I can’t let him.

‘Please,’ I beg. ‘I can’t take her outside. What if that man’s out there? Let me put her under the stairs. She’ll be out of the way there.’

Grudgingly, he agrees. ‘Fine. But I swear to god if it causes any more trouble, I’m going to wring its neck myself. I should have done that in the first place.’

I hurry the bird into the box and under the stairs, refilling the food and water saucers, noticing how much my hands are shaking as I do. My heart is still pumping as hard as it was when we were sprinting away from the castle. Liam is barricading the front and back doors with furniture. I try not to think about the man with the gun chasing us back here and I glance at the windows. Are we safe?

After I close the bird under the stairs I turn and find Liam in the kitchen unfurling a map of the island.

‘What are you doing?’ I ask. ‘What is all this?’ Then I realise. ‘It’s his stuff! You took it. Why did you do that? It will only provoke him even more.’

Liam looks at me, his expression so furious I take a step back. ‘Are you blaming me?’

I shake my head. ‘No, of course not. I’m just saying … we don’t want to make him angry. He has a gun. And he warned us to stay out.’

The muscle in Liam’s jaw pulses.

‘I’m scared, that’s all,’ I tell him.

He softens, seeing the fear on my face. ‘I know.’ He indicates a map. ‘But look, this map is different to the one we have. And there’s a boathouse that wasn’t on ours,’ Liam says, stabbing his finger down on the map. ‘We must have missed it when we walked inland along the stream the other day.’

‘You think maybe he’s got a boat?’ I ask.

‘How else did he get here?’ Liam says. ‘I keep wondering about it. It makes sense that he has his own boat.’

‘He might have had someone drop him here.’

Liam shakes his head. ‘Unlikely, if he’s trying to stay off the radar. He’s trespassing, remember.’