Fen lurched to the edge of the cliff, falling to her knees. She dug her fingertips into the dusty earth as she stared over the edge.
A dark swathe of unbroken night.
She glared through empty space, which fell away towards the dark lip of the sea.
There was nothing there, only water, air.
Blood roared in her ears. The drag of her own breath.
At her shoulder, Robyn was deathly still. Her legs glowed white in the moonlight. Her face was wiped clean of any expression she could recognise. Winded by shock, Robyn stared back at Fen, eyes wide with terror.
And then she began to scream.
‘Bella!’ Robyn yelled, her voice fierce and heavy, as if she could yank Bella to the surface with a rope of sound.
Her name echoed off the cliff face, lonely and desolate, without an answer.
‘Bella! Bella!’ Robyn screamed, the sounds streaking together, knotted and broken. ‘I can’t see her! I can’t fucking see her! Bella!’
Her hands were moving, fast gestures cutting through the night, feet pacing on the spot, thoughts firing into words. ‘We need to get to her! How high are we? Eighty feet? More? Is it deep? God. Oh, God. We need help. To get help! The police! The coastguard! My phone – it’s in the villa.’
Fen couldn’t process the rush of words. She kept staring into the black water below, desperate to see something. Hear something. She forced herself to take a breath. ‘Run to the villa. Call the police. Then take out the rowing boat. There’s a torch in the lounge cupboard.’
Robyn nodded rapidly.
‘I’ll try and get down to Bella.’
‘How?’
‘That path to the hidden cove – it’s a couple of minutes away. I’ll climb down, swim out.’
‘It’s too dangerous! Even in daylight we—’
‘Go, Robyn! Now!’ Fen yelled, before turning on her heel and sprinting along the cliff edge, dirt loosening beneath her feet.