This was how it had all started, slipping down the servants’ stairs at night to meet Sebastian in secret. It was right that it should end like this too. As I made my way slowly down the back steps, all the stolen hours with Sebastian rushed back to me: times of love and laughter and discovery. I heard his voice; I felt the spell of his blue eyes and the caress of his intense gaze. You looked like a water nymph saying her prayers…. I want to know everything about you…. Please see me again…. I want this perfect moment together, just the two of us…. I never want to hurt you…. I love you, girl from the sea….

I sneaked along the musty passageway and out into the stable yard. I was not going to ride, as I couldn’t risk being heard or take the chance of tumbling off. Instead, I would walk, and I was prepared with thick clothes and shoes, a map, and a flashlight. I had even hidden the silver dagger in my pocket, though I wasn’t sure what I would do with it. But it had once belonged to Sebastian, and it seemed to offer some kind of protection against any other wanderers in the night. So practical. So sensible. Sane, sensible Evie. I thought I had left her behind forever.

Hurrying out of the grounds, I kept in the shadows, trying to stop myself from breaking into an eager run. The sky was veiled by a drift of sluggish clouds. I can last until the new moon, Sebastian had told me. Tomorrow night the new moon would rise and Miss Raglan would take control of the coven and swoop down to attack me. Let them come, I thought. I no longer had what they wanted. I couldn’t give them the Talisman now.

But I didn’t want to waste a moment thinking about the coven. I wouldn’t let them be part of this night, when Sebastian and I said good-bye. As I strode across the rough tussocks of the sloping moor, the familiar paths glimmered in the starlight, wild and lonely and free. I should have been afraid, out on the moors, alone in the night, but I wasn’t. I was part of this place now. I no longer feared or hated these bleak hills where Agnes and Effie and Martha had once walked. Now, in some deep way, Wyldcliffe was my home, and Sebastian was the end of my journey.

Suddenly, a high, inhuman scream tore across the air from the direction of the village, the desperate squeal of an animal in pain. I ducked down instinctively, my heart pounding. What had it been? A fox caught in a trap, or a baby rabbit snatched by an owl? Or something more sinister? A ritual killing: blood and fur and bone torn apart and scattered in the night?

Now I was afraid. I waited, crouching painfully for what seemed an eternity, but the only sound I could hear was the wind in the grass. The sky seemed endless above me, and as I waited the earth seemed to turn under my feet and the wind sang its song of endless yearning.

I couldn’t wait forever.

I had to go on.

There were eyes watching me in the dark, someone behind me, tracking me across the moors…. I began to run, stumbling on and on until my breath turned to knives in my lungs and my legs were shaking. On and on I raced, until I saw the stately trees that surrounded the hall. I had made it; I was there at last. I passed by the granite monument to Sebastian, half-buried in the hillside above his home. I didn’t stop to look. I didn’t want to read those words again: In memory of a beloved son…God rest his soul.

I paused to take deep breaths of cold air and tried to calm down. I forced myself to look behind me. No, there was no one else there. I was alone, ready to face this final task. A low wall separated the grounds from the surrounding slopes. It was easy to scramble over it, then skirt around the lake to reach the back of the house, where the old kitchens and domestic offices had once been. Gritting my teeth, I picked up a stone and smashed a pane in one of the low windows, then forced the casement open and scrambled inside. I turned the flashlight on and groped forward, finding my way to the silent hallway. As I crept up the carpeted staircase, the dusty portraits stared down disapprovingly. I was a thief, an intruder, a stranger, but my heart belonged here. I stumbled farther in the dark and at last I reached the foot of the secret steps that led to Sebastian’s hiding place.

“Sebastian?” I called softly. “Sebastian, it’s me, Evie.”

The silence was as deep and cold as a well. I began to climb, shining the light ahead of me, until I reached the top. The tiny attic room was full of the same confusion of drapes and furniture and broken equipment, but the low couch was empty and the air was stale. I swept the beam of light over to the corner. Sebastian wasn’t there. A heap of papers lay on the desk. Snatching them up, I saw that there were pages and pages of them, all addressed to me: beautiful, broken love letters, the diary of his torment. I scanned them eagerly.

I read them eagerly, greedily, then turned to the last page. The writing was badly formed and jagged, as though it had been painful for Sebastian even to hold the pen;

As my eyes devoured the words, my heart seemed to split in two.

I was too late, after all.