‘Jennifer knew that if she was going to survive all the bad things that were being done to her then she had to become strong and fearless… just like Mister Snigiss.

‘Mister Snigiss had been her friend before, and Mister Snigiss had always been there for her. And now that Jennifer was in this awful situation, Mister Snigiss was there with her too, by her side, giving her strength, urging her not to give up. But Jennifer knew she wasn’t strong enough. Not like Mister Snigiss, who was brave and strong and fearless, and capable of doing things that Jennifer was unable to do. So, in that dark place, just as Jennifer had reached the very limits of her endurance, Mister Snigiss offered to take over. Mister Snigiss would become Jennifer. And so that’s what happened. Jennifer “died” and all that was left in her place was Mister Snigiss. And she’s been Mister Snigiss ever since.’

Bailey stared at her sister, hardly believing what she was hearing. Now, in the depths of those grey eyes, she detected a hint of derangement. Bailey was no psychologist, but she knew enough about trauma to understand that an internal dissociation had taken place within Jennifer in order to allow her to cope with the severity of her experiences, and this dissociation had manifested itself in the form of the Mister Snigiss persona.

As if to confirm Bailey’s thoughts, Jennifer spoke once more. ‘Looking back, I suppose it wasn’t such a hard transition really. Jennifer had always known deep down that Mister Snigiss had come from inside her, had always been a part of her. Whenever she summoned Mister Snigiss, Mister Snigiss would come.’ She paused. ‘Only this time, Mister Snigiss stayed for good.’

‘Why didn’t you come back?’ gasped Bailey. ‘You’re alive. You survived. Why didn’t you return? I thought you were dead. All these years. Mum. Dad. They—’

‘Return?’ Jennifer raised an eyebrow. ‘How could I? After what I’d been through. No. It changed me. Forever. Irrevocably. I came of age in that dark, twisted world. I was a prostitute, you know. From the age of eight until the age of twenty-eight. It was all I knew. To be sold to men, to be used by them. But I perfected my craft. Became an expert. And ultimately I graduated to something better. I set up my own business, with a whole stable of women working for me.’

‘Ophidia,’ whispered Bailey.

‘In regular parlance, you’d probably refer to me as a “madam”.’

Jennifer’s voice was cold and dispassionate, revealing not a single residual trace of the warm chirpy little girl Bailey had once known.

‘People are scared of you,’ said Bailey. ‘That car bomb. Tiffany. Did you really do all of that? Is it really true? I can’t believe it, Jennifer. Tell me it isn’t true.’

Jennifer sighed. She looked at Bailey with pity. ‘Mister Snigiss has done some very bad things. But they were necessary in order to survive, in order to prosper. It’s the way of the world… or at least it is in the world that Mister Snigiss occupies.’