‘I didn’t. Are you all right?’ He takes the book from me and opens it to the page with the feather. After reading for a moment, he smiles wryly. ‘All those times I’ve wished a girl would fall in love with me. Shame I didn’t know about demonic magic. I might’ve given it a shot.’

‘How could you say that?’

‘Come on, you’re telling me you’ve never wanted an ex back? Never had feelings for someone who didn’t feel the same way?’ I don’t answer and he pulls a face. ‘Looks like it’s just me in the loser camp then.’

I snatch the book from him and he gives me a strange look.

‘Lighten up, would you, Ivy! It was a joke.’

I gaze at an unfamiliar mark on the back of my right wrist. The wine-coloured stain looks like a burn, or a birthmark. Something like that can’t appear overnight, so how did it get there?

‘Ivy?’

I can’t keep it in any longer. I feel like I’m losing my mind. I have to tell someone what’s been happening.

‘Last night I woke up and there was someone in the house. I saw them run across the landing. It was dark and I couldn’t see properly, but …’ I pause, unsure how to tell him.

‘You saw your mum?’

‘No, at least I don’t think it was her.’

His eyes widen. ‘Who, then?’

‘There’s something I need to tell you.’

He sits on the bed opposite and I tell him my mum’s story and he listens without interrupting. When I’m finished, he rubs the back of his neck. ‘Let me get this straight. Your mum saw a group of witches around your cot the night you were born. She managed to grab you, but then they used dark magic against her. These shadow demons, or whatever they are, possessed her father and made him try to hurt you. So she took you to the mainland, but then she realised the shadows were inside her too. That’s her reason for abandoning you.’

‘Yes, she was trying to keep me safe. She had no choice.’

‘And you think what? That you saw one of these witches last night?’

‘Yes. Maybe. I don’t know.’

He stares at me round-eyed, a sceptical look on his face, but I can’t stop now. The words I’ve been holding back tumble out of me. ‘I know it’s hard to believe but I’ve seen things, Tom. Just before the woman with the trolley attacked me, I saw a swirl of dark shadow on the ground. It passed over her face and she changed; it was like she was possessed. And the guy in the anorak, he kept staring at me and …’