The rain lashed the coast for hours. Freddy and Clementine played Old Maid in the kitchen. Mrs Dent cooked dinner while she and Uncle Digby chatted about their childhoods. Aunt Violet and Lady Clarissa read in the sitting room. Della stayed in her room. She didn’t come down for dinner either. Mrs Dent took her a tray. She returned saying that the child was utterly miserable with her sunburn.

‘Will the storm be gone by tomorrow?’ Clementine asked Mrs Dent.

‘It should be. Storms like this usually come in a fury and leave just as quickly.’

But Mrs Dent was wrong. The next morning, Clementine looked out her bedroom window and discovered a grey, dreary day.

‘No beach today,’ she sighed and turned to her mother, who was lying in bed.

‘No, darling. But there are plenty of things you can do inside.’

Freddy and Clementine spent the morning playing board games in the sitting room with Uncle Digby and Lady Clarissa. Even Aunt Violet joined in for a round of Snakes and Ladders. Della stayed upstairs, ringing a bell constantly for her grandmother, until Mrs Dent stumped upstairs for the fifth time and brought the bell back down with her.

After lunch, Freddy and Clementine decided to do some drawing at the kitchen table. Clementine started drawing a picture of a seal, with great big brown eyes and little flippers.

‘I think the ears are cute,’ she said to Freddy. He was drawing an octopus strangling a crab. ‘What do you think, Lavender?’ Clementine held up her picture. The little pig looked up and grunted.

The kitchen door flew open and Della stalked into the room. ‘Where’s Granny?’

‘I don’t know,’ Freddy said with a shrug.

‘I want something to eat.’ Della yanked open the refrigerator door and peered inside.

A huge fish stared up at her from a platter.

‘Pooh! I hate fish.’

She slammed the door and went to the biscuit tin, where she found two chocolate brownies.

‘Are you feeling better?’ Clementine asked. The girl’s face was bright red.

‘Sort of,’ Della said. She walked back to the table and stood beside Clementine, looking at the child’s drawing.

‘It’s a seal,’ Clementine said.

‘I know that,’ Della replied. She wasn’t about to say so, but she thought it was a good picture for a five-year-old.

‘I saw a seal at the beach,’ Della bragged, before taking a big bite of brownie.

‘When?’ asked Freddy.

‘You weren’t there,’ Della said.

‘I don’t believe you,’ Freddy retorted. ‘You’ve never seen a seal. But we have.’ He clamped his hands over his mouth but it was too late. The words had already escaped.

Clementine looked at Freddy.

‘When?’ Della asked, narrowing her eyes.

Freddy ignored her and kept drawing.

‘Now who’s telling lies?’ Della said smartly.

Clementine couldn’t stay quiet any longer. ‘He’s not lying. We saw a seal in a cave yesterday, after you went home.’

‘Really? Show me,’ Della demanded.

‘It probably won’t be there any more,’ Clementine said. ‘But it was so sweet.’

‘I want to see the seal,’ Della said, stamping her foot.

Clementine looked out the kitchen window at the steely sky. ‘It’s raining.’

Della rolled her eyes. ‘We’ve got raincoats. Come on.’

‘I don’t think Mummy will let me go out,’ said Clementine. ‘She’s upstairs having a rest.’

‘You’re such a baby,’ Della scoffed.

‘She is not,’ Freddy said, his eyebrows knitting together fiercely.

‘You’re both babies,’ Della spat. ‘I’m going to see this seal whether you come or not.’

‘You won’t even find it,’ Freddy said, as his sister stormed out of the kitchen.

Clementine stared at Freddy. ‘Are you going to tell your granny?’

Freddy shook his head. ‘I don’t care if she goes. She won’t see anything. She didn’t even take a torch.’

Both children went back to drawing. A few minutes later, Clementine glanced around the room. ‘Where’s Lavender?’

Freddy peered around the room too. ‘I don’t know. She was here before.’

Clementine slipped down from her chair and walked around the kitchen, searching beside the stove and under the table.

‘She’s not here,’ Clementine said, frowning. She went into the hallway and glanced towards the front door. ‘Freddy! Come quick!’

Freddy flew out of his seat and into the hall. The front door was wide open.

‘Della!’ he called and raced onto the porch.

The front gate was open too.

Clementine stared at the boy, her blue eyes wide. ‘Come on. We’ve got to find Lavender.’

‘Wait a minute.’ Freddy ran back to the kitchen and grabbed his torch off the bench.