Maybe Rav was right, I think, as the baby starts to feed. Maybe it was just a bird, or a small animal, perhaps. Maybe I was seeing things. I am tired, more exhausted than I remember feeling with Mina. Perhaps it was just the storm making me feel unsettled; don’t people say the weather can have a huge effect on emotions? Goosebumps rise on my arms as I think of the way the white flash moved through the trees and I shake the image away, telling myself again that Rav was right, that it is nothing out of the ordinary, nothing sinister, just a bird. My mind wanders back to the keys, the way they were tied to the stone, the feather carefully attached. I don’t think it is some form of old keyring, despite what Rav says. There was something about them that feels different, odd. As if sensing the tension that floods through me, the baby unlatches with a tiny sigh and I gently place him back in the cot, laying one hand lightly on his stomach as he fusses for a moment before dropping off to sleep.

‘Such a good baby,’ I whisper, and my eyes fill inexplicably with tears.

‘You OK this morning?’ Rav asks over the breakfast table. He gulps from his coffee, slams his cup down. ‘I thought I heard you wandering around last night, but Leo was in the cot.’

‘Just a bit restless.’ I smile, handing Mina some toast and a plastic beaker of orange juice. ‘The storm woke me, and I couldn’t get back to sleep.’ I don’t tell him that once I put the baby back in the cot, I stood at the landing window, letting the cold draught there chill me until I could barely feel my fingers, watching over the woods just in case. Just to make certain.

‘Are you sure?’ He runs his eyes over my face, and I feel as if I am under a microscope. I don’t blink, waiting for him to look away first.

‘I’m fine. I’ll sleep later while Mina is at school.’

‘I’m not going to school,’ Mina announces cheerily.

‘Yes, you are,’ I say, ‘how else will you learn all the exciting things you’re going to come home and tell me about?’

‘Avó said she didn’t used to go to school.’ Mina’s face screws up, her mouth scrunched into a pout, and I glance at Rav and raise my eyebrows.