Chapter 9

Finian Relish was only aware he was still screaming minutes later when his father came thundering down the stairs, in nothing but a hastily shoved-on pyjama bottom and a thick iron driver.

'What is it? What happened?' The man came to a stop in front of him, bloodshot eyes wide and darting with fear. He tested his weight from foot to foot, gripping and twisting the club in his hands as though examining the apposability of his thumbs on it.

The boy stopped screaming to look up at his towering father. The gulps of air he inhaled into his tired throat were dry and made his lungs burn. And the fear that still gripped him crippled his muscles and shook them like a leafling in a morning wind.

'Finian?' Mr Relish frowned hard and squatted to the boy's level. His panting, hot breath fanned the child's face with a sour air. "Look at me, what is it?"

His brain finally caught up with himself and he remembered the apparition he had seen. His galloping heart picked up pace once again and he yelped