Nine o'clock.
Ten o'clock.
Eleven o'clock... Twelve o'clock...
The morning drained away slowly, hour by hour. Eventually, even Adam was up and about. Yet Jack hadn't yet emerged from his bedroom.
The time crawled from morning to afternoon.
"He must be exhausted," remarked Grandma, looking at the clock as we ate our lunch. "I thought he liked to be up early."
"He does normally," replied Rosie. "But he's been sleeping in lately."
Time continued to dwindle away.
We debated waking him up, but Grandma decided that it would be better to leave him be. He was obviously tired. Maybe he hadn't slept well that night. And, after all, it was the summer holidays.
By that evening, Adam was sent upstairs to wake him, with strict instructions not to be violent. He came downstairs alone and exasperated.
"He just won't wake up!"
"He was breathing, wasn't he?" Rosie looked nervous.
"Course he was breathing, you muppet. He's asleep."
"I hope he's not feeling ill," said Grandma Connie fretfully. "Maybe I should check his temperature."
But before she could move, a figure appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Look who's finally up!" I laughed. "Did you sleep ok?"
Jack didn't answer. He started to climb down the stairs, moving slowly. His breathing was deep and rhythmic.
"Jack?" Rosie said, chewing her lip. "Are you-"
Jack reached the bottom of the stairs. His face was blank and his eyes were wide, glassy and unblinking. He didn't seem to see us, or even be aware that we were there.
"He's sleepwalking," said Grandma softly.
Jack drifted past us, into the living room. We followed. Grandma Connie took his arm gently and guided him onto the sofa.
"Watch him for a minute," she whispered, and left the room. I sat uneasily next to Jack on the sofa. He gazed straight ahead, looking without seeing. His wide eyes gleamed blue.
I gasped.
"Erin?" Rosie frowned at me. "What's up?"
I was too busy staring at Jack's fingers to reply. Or rather, the ring shining on them.
Adam swore loudly, following my gaze.
"But..." Rosie looked fearfully at the ring. "But we... we saw Adam..."
I acted instinctively, too shocked to think. Without hesitating, I wrenched the ring from Jack's finger.
His eyes closed for a moment, then opened again. Once again, they were green.
"Guys?" He blinked at us, then at the room. "What happened?"
"You've been asleep all day..." Rosie spoke quietly, her large blue eyes searching Jack's face anxiously. "And, just now, you were sleepwalking..."
"And you were wearing this," Adam grimly tapped the ring in my hand.
Jack's eyes widened, but it was more from fear than shock.
"I told you!" he whispered. "Every time I get rid of it, it just comes back!"
"It's not the same ring," answered Adam, firmly. I stare at him.
"You think it's a different ring?"
"It's the only thing that makes sense!" Adam looked as though he was trying not to shout. "We smashed that ring! We all saw it! And then we chucked it out of the window! It can't have just come back and fixed itself! When Jack was sleepwalking, he must've gone into Nikki's room, gone into her jewellery box and got hold of some junky old ring that belonged to her great great grandma or something!"
Jack looked closely at the ring I was holding out. "With exactly the same crack in the stone? And exactly the same dent in the side?"
Adam's certainty faded slightly, but then he tilted his chin stubbornly. "It's a different ring."
Further debate, and possibly an argument would have ensued if Grandma hadn't returned at that second.
"You're awake! How are you feeling?"
"Ok, I guess. Tired."
"You're tired after all that?" exclaimed Adam, kicking me discreetly. I couldn't imagine why, and was about to retaliate when I realised that I was still holding out the ring.
"That's a lovely ring, Erin," said Grandma distractedly. "Well, Jack, do you feel like going to bed? You were sleepwalking, darling. You can't have had a good sleep. Are you sure you're feeling all right?"
"Yeah," Jack nodded. I slipped the ring into my pocket and elbowed Adam in the ribs. I know he'd had a reason to kick me, but revenge was still necessary. It'd really hurt.
"Maybe we should all go to bed," suggested Rosie. "I mean, we haven't done anything much today, but doing nothing always makes me tired. I don't know why."
"Yes, I'm sure we can all use an early night," Grandma gave Adam and me a sharp look, and we immediately stopped trying to hurt each other and trudged upstairs to bed.

I slept peacefully at the beginning of that night. As soon as my head touched the pillow, I was dreaming. So when I opened my eyes, I wasn't actually sure what had woken me up. Until I heard the creak of footsteps outside my door.