pocket, ready to take out the gun he’d kept from the attack on the ship, if needed. They could see through the windows that the fires were lit; somebody was inside. Mike gestured to follow him. In silence, they walked round the back of the house where they spotted a little red Punto.
Through an upstairs window, Niall made out the shape of an old lady with a duster in her hand, and beside her, a little blonde girl. He took Mike’s arm and pointed upwards. “Someone is clearly here. What do we do?” muttered Niall.
Mike surveyed the space around them with his eyes. He spotted a few outhouses, ivy-covered and – most likely – locked.
“We wait until Sean comes in or out,” whispered Mike, pointing to the outhouse closest to them.
“And if he doesn’t? If this isn’t the right place?”
“We need to start walking again,” Mike replied darkly, making his way towards the small stony buildings. They walked across a small stretch of what used to be a garden but was now growing wild, stepping over some gorse bushes and jumping over mossy tree stumps. They tucked themselves behind an ivy-covered wall that protected them from the worst of the wind, and sat with their backs against the stones, hugging their knees for warmth. Time stretches when you haven’t slept properly for days, the cold seeps in your bones, and shelter is only a few yards away and yet unreachable.
“I’m so hungry I’m going to pass out,” Niall complained.
Mike didn’t reply. He had fallen asleep. Niall closed his eyes and let himself nod off too, wondering if that was really Midnight Hall, who were the old woman and the blonde girl? Finally sleep caught up with him too, and he nodded off. They slept huddled together, lullabied by the sound of the sea a few hundred yards away.
“Niall! Niall! Wake up. Somebody is here!” Mike shook Niall out of his slumber. They could hear car doors slamming, and voices.
The world spun around Niall as he got up and followed Mike out of their hiding place. An unkindness of ravens was settling in front of the house, their heads jerking left and right, as if examining their surroundings. That’s a lot of birds, thought Niall, rubbing his frozen hands together.
“They’re going inside. Oh my God, that girl!” Mike yanked on Niall’s rucksack. “That’s the Heron! That’s Sarah!” he cried, pointing to the slender young woman with the waterfall of black hair. “It is! Come on!”
They scurried on, clambering over the tree trunks and scrambling to avoid the gorse bushes. Eventually they found themselves at the foot of the steps, with the ravens eyeing them warily. Niall barely had time to exhale in relief – It’s them, we found them – when something slight and blonde blew out of the house as if carried by the wind, threw him onto the ground, and sat on him. Neither he nor Mike had the time or the energy to scream.
Flat on his back, Niall was frozen, and then with a flip of his left leg he was on top of the girl. It was her turn, now, to be lying on the gravel with someone sitting on her chest. She flailed for a moment then pushed her hair out of her face and glared at him. Chocolate eyes, rosebud lips, lovely long blonde hair. She was like a princess in a fairy tale. He blinked. She’s perfect.
He looked at her face for a little longer than he should have and the blonde girl took advantage of it at once. She lifted herself up and took his face in her hands. Too late, Niall saw that her lips had turned blue. She blew gently in his mouth, and instantly he was out cold.
When Niall woke up, the first thing he saw was a high ceiling, crisscrossed by wooden beams. The second thing he saw was Mike sitting on a rigid sofa beside him. And then, he spotted his deadly fairy-tale princess kneeling beside a lit fire. The smell of peat filled Niall’s nostrils and made him think of home for the first time in a long while.
“Oh, there you are, man,” smiled Mike. “Welcome back.”
Niall tried to sit up, but everything twirled and danced around him, and he had to lie back down.
“What did you do to me?” he managed to ask the blonde girl.
“Poisonous breath.” She had a slight accent, but Niall couldn’t quite place it.
“Don’t worry, she’s one of us. Elodie Midnight,” said