Well, that changes my mood.

‘It’s her!’ says Iggy, and suddenly all my anger and shame vanishes.

I whip my head around, looking for the source of the voice.

I hear it again, louder this time, and more urgent. ‘Ee-fan! Ikk-ee!’

I swallow hard. I turn back towards the pub and take a step before I feel Iggy’s hand on my shoulder.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Back to the pub! It’s full of journalists and police. And my dad! Exactly what we need.’

He furrows his brow in puzzlement. ‘What? Because it went so well last time, you mean?’ he says, sarcastically. ‘What are you going to say, exactly?’

‘Ee-fan! Ikk-ee! Turn arount. I am ofer here!’

It’s still only three thirty, but the weak winter sun, shrouded behind thick snow-cloud, has already started fading. In the open car park it isn’t yet dark, but in the woods which come right up to the car-park fence, the shadows are longer and blacker. My heart is pounding as I peer into the dark woods beyond the handful of cars that are there. I wrap my jacket tighter around me. Is she hiding behind one of the cars? Or even in one?

Iggy detaches his bicycle light and is already striding off towards the trees. I don’t want to be left behind on my own, so I scuttle after him.

He stops at a gap in the fence and gazes into the darkness of the woods, beyond a sign announcing, Kielder Woodland Walk. I come alongside him, relieved that he has stopped, and try to will him with my mind not to go up the path and into the trees, because I don’t think I have the courage to follow him.

We wait for the voice to come again. I swallow hard and it sounds really loud.

‘How?’ I ask Iggy. ‘How did she know where we were?’

Then, from behind the biggest tree, about two metres in front of us, appears her hairy face, encircled by the hood of a dark green sailing jacket. We stand, transfixed, as she steps out of the tree’s shadow into the beam of Iggy’s bicycle light.

I look behind me to see if we’ve been followed, but we haven’t. Suddenly, the pub seems very distant at the other end of the car park.

I look back at the creature, who takes a step towards us and twitches her large nose. ‘You smell,’ she says. ‘That is how I found you.’

We both gasp. Iggy drops his light into a pile of snow and it snaps off. Suddenly we’re in semi-darkness and I’m terrified, scrabbling around in the earth and the snow to find the light.

I start back towards the pub, but Hellyann’s voice is urgent.

‘Stop! I tolt you pefore. Do not tell anyone that I am here.’

We’re disturbed by a sweep of headlights as a noisy vehicle turns into the car park and heads straight towards us.

I feel myself being dragged into a crouch behind a big grey Land Rover as Iggy grabs my coat collar and says, ‘It’s them. Get down.’

‘What?’ I say. ‘Who?’

‘Shhh,’ he hisses. ‘It’s the Geoffs. I’d recognise that car’s noise anywhere.’