I’m in the back seat so they can’t see as I roll up my trouser leg to check my wounded leg, which is almost completely healed.

Chapter 85

Dr Nisha is back on duty. She comes in while we’re all gathered round Seb’s bed, and we stand aside while she does things like shine a light in his eyes and tap things on an iPad. When she’s done, she tells us that Seb will be kept in hospital a little longer ‘for observation’.

‘All of Sebastian’s functions appear to be normal, ‘she says with a puzzled smile. ‘The injuries on his wrists and face have almost completely disappeared, which everybody here is saying is remarkable, and I have to agree. I have never seen anything like it. Are you feeling all right, Sebastian?’

He grins his gappy grin in reply and holds both of his thumbs up. ‘Pretty awethome!’

Dr Nisha sighs. ‘I warn you now: it may be that we never know exactly what happened. I can tell you, though, this was a close-run thing.’ She picks up a clipboard and flips a couple of pages. ‘His heart rate, for example, went crazy very early this morning. The duty nurse reported “very disturbed sleep, twitching, thrashing, excessive REM” – that is—’

‘Rapid eye movement,’ I chip in, just because I’m feeling smart.

‘Yes. It seems like he was having an extremely vivid dream.’

I say nothing, of course. But all of the adults – Mam, Dad, Uncle Pete, Mormor – exchange looks and I just know they are thinking about the incident yesterday with the deconstructed Dreaminators. Mam’s gaze eventually settles on me and, when our eyes meet, I know this won’t be the last I hear of it.

Dr Nisha looks at her notes again. ‘At six twenty-six, we thought we had lost him. Sebastian’s heart and brain activity stopped for twenty-two seconds.’

I do a quick metal calculation. That would have been the time Seb and I took our big leap off the cliff, and for a moment – just a second, really – my stomach turns over with the memory.

The fear, the sun in my eyes, the people chasing us, the fog below …

‘You okay, Malky?’ says Dr Nisha. ‘I know this is upsetting. It’s odd – at the precise moment his heart rate was most extreme, he said something, didn’t you, Seb?’ She smiles at him. ‘He opened his eyes, and said, “Let’s go, Malky!”’

I say, ‘It was, “Let yourself go, Malky!”’

Dr Nisha gives me a funny look. ‘Actually, you’re right! How did you know that?’