I watch Por Por as she lays a damp cloth on Ting Ting’s forehead. Then I turn and stare out the window. The sun is setting and the canal looks crimson, like a vein of dark red blood flowing through the town.

‘I can’t bring her temperature down,’ Por Por calls out to me. ‘I’m going to have to take her to the hospital.’

‘Why don’t you call an ambulan–’ I begin to say, then remember that cars can’t fit through these narrow alleys.

‘I’ll be fine, Por,’ Ting Ting says, weakly. ‘I don’t need to go to the hospital.’

I can see Ting Ting is not fine. She can hardly walk and she’s so pale. ‘Do you want me to come with you, Por Por?’ I say.

‘No, stay home. I’ll be back as soon as I can.’ Por Por holds Ting Ting around the waist and they walk slowly to the front door. ‘There are some baozi in the refrigerator if you get hungry,’ she says. Then they are gone.

I try and write a letter to Robbie. My pen hovers over the paper for ages, then I write Dear Robbie and the date at the top of the page. But I can’t write any more. There are so many things going on in my mind, so many feelings running through my body. I feel them clogging up inside me. The thing I would like more than anything is to feel Mama’s hair tickling my neck and her hand rubbing my back. I want her to tell me everything is going to be all right, that I didn’t do anything wrong. But it will never happen.

I’ve made such a mess of everything.

‘It’s no use running away, Little Cloud,’ I hear Mama’s voice echo inside me. ‘Your mistakes will only catch up with you sooner or later.’

‘But what can I do, Mama?’

Suddenly I sit up. That’s it! I know the answer.

I try the door to the weapons cupboard but it’s locked. Por Por keeps the key either in her handbag or tied around her wrist on a piece of red string, so it’s no use looking in the house. But I’m safe as long as it’s daylight. Ghosts like Shen Da Pai only come out at night.

I grab a pair of pink kitchen gloves from under the sink to protect my hands in case I have to sort through broken glass. Then I catch a water taxi to Bao Mansion. I’m still haunted by the terror of the other night, but I push all my fear aside.

When I arrive, I look up at Por Por’s old bedroom, hoping the sight of it will make me brave. But the little girl doesn’t appear like she did the other day. Instead, dark shadows seem to be lurking behind the carved wooden window. Or is it just the wind shaking the panes of glass?

The gate stands ajar and I walk in. The front door is wide open. There are splinters of glass everywhere and the pile of furniture that once sat in the corner under the sheet is now in pieces all over the reception room. How am I going to find the talisman necklace in this mess? Ting Ting said she met Shen Da Pai here, so at least I know I only have to search this one room.

I put on the gloves I brought with me and start looking – the way police do in the TV dramas where a whole line of them search the ground centimetre by centimetre. Except, of course, there’s only one of me. I move across the room, carefully lifting or pushing aside the shards of glass and bits of wood. I’m hoping that I’ll be drawn to the talisman necklace in some magical way, or that it will glow when I am near it, like in books or the movies. But it doesn’t happen.

It takes me hours to search the whole room, and by the end of it my eyes feel as if they’re going to drop out of my head. I lean against the wall and close them for a moment.

This can only mean one thing – that I’m too late and Shen Da Pai has the necklace already.

How I wish I could just snap my fingers and be back in Australia, sitting with Papa and Robbie in the back room, listening to the sound of rain on the corrugated-iron roof. I wish I had never come to the Isle of Clouds.

‘Wishing won’t do any good.’ My mother’s voice is so clear it’s as if she’s standing beside me. ‘Feel with your heart, Little Cloud.’

I follow Mama’s advice and relax. Then I remember! Ting Ting said something about a strongbox! Shen Da Pai would keep a treasure like this in a place he thinks is safe and secure.

But where would the strongbox be hidden? When Por Por was taking us around the house she showed us her father’s office. There might be a safe in the wall or something.

I rush into the office. It gives me the shivers because this is where we had our first battle with Shen Da Pai. I run my hands over the freshly painted plaster, feeling for something unusual – a secret panel, a hidden button, a sliding wall, anything.

I drop to my knees and inspect the floor. There seems to be a space between the wooden floorboards in the middle of the room. I try to prise them up with my fingers. They’re loose but I will need something to use as a lever. I rush out to the reception room and find a large splinter of wood.

As I lift the first loose board, a draught of cold air hits my face. Quickly I lift more boards until there’s a space I can fit my body through. The smell that wafts up to meet me is of damp and mildew.

I lie on my stomach on the floor, my head dangling into the darkness. My mouth feels dry and I’m terrified, but I force myself to go on.

There’s no ladder, but the ground doesn’t look too far away. I lower myself through the hole, then drop. Dust puffs up under my feet.

The hidden room isn’t big, about the size of a small bathroom. There are metal plumbing pipes running along one wall and shelves stacked with old papers and bottles along another. Then I see something, half hidden in shadow – a large wooden box.

I go over to it and lift the lid. The smell that rises from inside is horrible, full of sadness and despair. There are several small compartments. A black feather sits in one, a cloth purse filled with seeds in another. There are teeth that look human, a tangle of matted grey hair, the skull of a bird, a row of claws on a long thread of red cotton.

My stomach heaves and I want to vomit. I take deep breaths. It looks like there might be another compartment underneath this one. I lift the top layer out carefully and put it on the shelf beside me. Ting Ting’s talisman necklace is lying on the bottom of the strongbox. My heart sings with relief as I scoop it up and squeeze it between my fingers. Underneath the necklace is a piece of folded paper with an official red seal stamped on it. It looks important. I pick it up quickly and slide it in my pocket.

That’s when I hear something – a dragging, shuffling noise in the room above my head. I look up. Night is closing in fast. I want to stay down here to hide from whatever is up there. But I know I will be trapped if I don’t get out now.

As quietly as I can, I stack three boxes, one on top of the other.

My heart is pounding in my chest as I climb out of the hole and into the darkened room. Through the lattice windows I see the black outline of branches, and between the branches the dark grey sky of night.

I slowly make my way out into the hall. I try and walk as quietly as I can, but it’s no use, my feet crunch and crackle over broken bits of glass. The air in the house is so cold that mist is coming out of my mouth with each breath.

Then I see a shadow coming towards me. It’s Shen Da Pai! My heart leaps into my throat and my fingers close around Ting Ting’s talisman necklace, praying it will give me strength.

The only weapon I have is my voice, so I begin to hum. The notes are soft and trembling at first, but then they grow louder and sharper until my eerie song fills the room. The notes slice the air, spinning so fast that if anything got in the way it would be cut to pieces. Shen Da Pai backs away. Don’t show your fear, I say over and over in my head as I walk past him.

Once I’m outside in the front garden, I quickly cross the wooden plank and slip through the main gate. But I don’t stop there, and I don’t stop singing. Even though I can feel Shen Da Pai’s icy breath weakening its hold on me, I run for my life towards the canal and catch a water taxi straight home.

Por Por’s house is in darkness as I go inside and lock the door behind me. They must still be at the hospital. I sit on Por Por’s bed, drawing my knees to my chest. It’s the only place in the Isle of Clouds I feel safe now.

I open my hand and let the talisman necklace drop onto Por Por’s pillow. Then I lie down, cover myself with the doona and fall asleep.