Mola and Kenneth face each other warily for what seems like ages. Mola speaks first.

‘So it is you then? You what got them into all this kerfuffling, huh? Your fault, eh?’

‘Madam, you could not be more wrong. Malcolm and Sebastian got themselves into all this, ahh … kerfuffling with no more help from me than the development of the infernal Dreaminator, which Malcolm here stole.’ He looks at me with a wry smile. ‘Sorry, laddie.’

‘How did … you know?’ I wheeze.

‘I didn’t, actually. Well, not until you admitted it just now. But Dreamworld or not, the truth will out, as your Wullie Shakespeare said.’

I’m still too breathless to speak properly, but I’d be unable to say anything, anyway, I am so stunned.

Mola does not look as though Kenneth’s explanation has satisfied her. She shakes her head, angrily, and says, ‘For centuries, people have contemplated the inner workings of the mind, our whole existence. Through meditation, through prayer, and then you come along with your toy and look what happens!’

Kenneth seems a bit embarrassed. ‘Madam, you may be right. But you are mistaking me for someone who is alive and has the power to change things. That power, alas, is no longer mine owing to my essential, well … deadness, I suppose. By the way, I’ve not been in this dream before, but I don’t like the lean an’ hungry look of yon fella coming up behind you.’

Mola and I turn and with a lurch in my stomach I see Cuthbert crawling over the lip of the canyon and he’s looking straight at me with his huge yellow eyes.

I groan out loud.

Chapter 76

Cuthbert heaves himself over the lip of the canyon and takes a couple of scuttling steps towards me before stopping to lick his lips.

‘What do I do?’ I ask.

‘Ye’ll ken when ye ken is all I ken,’ says Kenneth and I have no idea what he means, but I don’t have time to work it out. All I can think of is running away.

‘Follow me!’ I say, and I scramble back down the canyon, leaving Cuthbert at the top, struggling to turn round so that he can pursue us. Kenneth comes after me, digging his shoes into the smooth, steep canyon wall, which is about the height of a house and even has windows … and a familiar front door with cracked black paint …

As he descends, he grunts something at me, and I hear it in snatches.

‘If he’s been with you a while, then you don’t want to run away, Malcolm … your greatest fear will always chase you until you confront it.’