I study Teddy's face, still pink with shame, gazing at me apprehensively as though expecting me to attack him. Jude is glaring at me ferociously, as though daring me to say or do anything to hurt Teddy further. Even Eclipse has placed a hand warningly on my arm. I look intently back at Teddy, my mind straining through my confusion to say something comforting.

"No," I manage at last, shaking my head to clear it. "No, listen, don't worry. This doesn't change anything... I'm just- Just really confused. I'm still taking all of this in..."

Teddy breathes out slowly, running a hand through his ginger hair and rumpling it up. He looks so relieved it surprises me. It makes me wonder why he's so scared about telling people. What made him so afraid of showing who he is?

I clear my throat, trying to bring myself back down to earth. I close my eyes, then focus again on Teddy. "What type of demon are you?" I ask him, proud of myself for asking such a sane question.

Teddy gulps, looking nervous again. "A... A Nero. They-"

"The demons of pain," I nod, remembering a chapter about them from Marks of Demons.

His eyes widen. "How did you know that?"

"Read it somewhere," I shrug. The three of them stare at me as though I've just announced that I learned French by reading a Spanish book. "What?"

"Where could you possibly have read that?" Jude narrows his eyes at me again. I shift uncomfortably.

"Just a book my... My mum bought me when I was little. We found it in a charity shop-" I pause for a second, trying to swallow the sudden lump in my throat. Luckily, Eclipse notices. She seems to be the type of girl who notices everything.

"Leave it, Jude," she says. He glares at her for a second, but doesn't say anything. I take a second to breathe, then look at Teddy again.

"Your power..." I run my fingers against the completely healed, tally-shaped scar on my arm which, just a few hours or so ago, was a criss-cross of open, bleeding cuts. "It's pretty much the opposite of Nero power. You don't create pain, you heal it. How do you do it?"

Teddy runs a nervous hand through his hair again. "It's something I learned right from when I was little. Somehow, right from the start, I was different from the rest of them. I didn't want to cause pain like the others, so my power sort of developed in the opposite direction." He smiles sadly. "I was punished for that. My parents hated it, hated that I couldn't do what I was meant to be born to do. I was lucky that the group here found me when they did. I was four years old."

"Only four?" I repeat, stunned. Four seems impossibly young, to me. Even younger than Jamie. I try not to imagine the 'punishment' that the demons of pain would have inflicted on a four-year-old.

"That was ages ago," Teddy shrugs as though trying to make it seem like less of a big deal, but his eyes are shining suspiciously. "Seriously. Neroes age a lot slower than humans. When our group saved me, it wasn't long after Eclipse came here. 1965, maybe."

I look at Jude. "When did you first come here? What happened?"

"A couple of years ago," Jude says shortly. I wait for him to elaborate, but he doesn't.

"What happened with you?" Eclipse asks me. "What happened to your brothers? What was it like before they left?"

I hesitate. The lump in my throat feels like it's choking me. I suddenly feel like crying all over again, but I push the feeling down furiously. Where do I even start? I've wanted to talk about all these pent-up feelings for so long that I don't know how to. How do I tell them about the jagged hole that's been missing from my life for four years? How do I tell them about the explosion that tore my life into little shreds, shattered it beyond repair?

In the end, I start at the beginning.

And once I begin, I can't stop. It's like I've torn down a dam that was holding back a whole ocean of hurt and pain. I talk until my voice is strained and shaking, talk until I can't hold back the tears any longer. I make sure that the others don't see them, though.

Probably for the first time since Mum died, I tell everything there is to tell. When I finish, silence hangs in the air. I hate it. It feels like their pity is pressing down on me like a blanket on a summer night; something intended to be comforting, to make me feel better, but just ends up being to hot, too thick, keeping me from breathing.

"Maya, I'm so sorry," whispers Eclipse eventually. I resist the urge to roll my eyes in case she thinks that it's aimed at her.

I become suddenly aware that, somewhere along my story, the kids had turned their attention away from the TV. Their eyes are on me, wide and gazing. I feel something pressing against me gently, and I look down to see the little hazel-eyed boy I protected before. He leans into my legs, reaching upwards timidly to take my hand. I take a deep breath, feeling the warmth of his tiny palm, and allow myself to start feeling better. I try not to think about what the tug of his hand reminds me of.

"Yeah, well," I say hoarsely. I clear my throat. "Do you think it's time to get the kids home?"

There's another little silence, as though the others are surprised that such a long discussion has come to such an abrupt end.

"Yeah," says Teddy, standing up. "I'll- I'll go and see if I can find some stuff for them. There are loads of toys lying around from the beach..."

He moves towards the door, looking at me anxiously over his shoulder and nearly walking into the wall. Blushing slightly as Jude gives a little snort of laughter, he vanishes down the corridor.

"Beach?" I ask, looking at Eclipse. She's looking worriedly at me too, but at the mention of the beach her face breaks into a grin again.

"Just you wait," she says. "It's incredible."

Jude switches off the TV and coaxes the kids up from the sofa. I smile briefly at the boy next to me, but his face is still tight with fear. He still hasn't spoken.

Teddy bursts into the room, his arms full of random cuddly toys. "Okay!" he exclaims as the rest of us stare at him (the kids in delight, me in confusion, Eclipse in amusement and Jude like he's seriously wondering if Teddy needs medical help). "I think I got enough for everybody- You guys can take these home. Just something to... Well, not remember us by, because... Well. More like something to say sorry about the monsters. How about you give them names?"

"Anyway," says Eclipse, laughing over the sound of Teddy giving out teddies. "Come on, Maya. We're going to the beach now. You'll love it."

I look out of the bay window again, feeling a tiny spark of excitement as I look out again at the blue ocean racing towards the cliff, just within our reach. According to Mum's old stories, the last time I saw the sea in person was when I was two years old, on a trip to Blackpool. Just me, Mum and Marty- Dad was long out of the picture by then, and Richie hadn't yet come along with his drinking and carelessness. So I don't remember the sea at all. I've imagined how it felt loads of times, pictured the sand and the chill of the ocean's fingers skimming your toes, drawn and painted a million abstract landscapes of beaches. It's not the same as experiencing one yourself, though.

Jamie has never been to the ocean in his life.

We pour out of the living room, down the hallway past a load of open doors between all the pictures. Some of the rooms we pass are falling apart and peeling, some are painted blindingly bright, some are patterned with warm-coloured wallpaper. Some have more pictures on the walls, some have paintings, some have modern posters. One room is completely blank, the walls and floor unpainted and colourless. Every single one of them looks warm and lived-in, as though they're used regularly, even the one with an entire wall missing, opening out into the lawn.

"Let's just go out this way," says Jude, ushering the kids (all of whom are clutching stuffed animals in different colours) towards the broken wall. "I think we've lost the key to the back door, anyway."

"Since when is there a key to the back door?" murmurs Teddy as we walk into the long grass and follow the wall of the house round to the back. The ring of forest surrounding the house cuts off near the edge of the cliff. The back of the house smiles at the sky, its numerous windows glinting orange as the sun stretches higher into the sky. The red walls are patterned with white chalk graffiti, with names and drawings written clumsily over the bricks in untidy scrawls.

"Come on!" Eclipse says again. Her face is relaxed, laughing, as she starts to race across the wide lawn towards the edge of the cliff.

"Eclipse!" I call out, alarmed, as she draws nearer to the edge. Teddy pulls at my elbow, pulling me with him as he starts to jog over too. As we get closer, I notice rough steps cut into the cliff face, sloping dangerously towards a wide stretch of sand far below.

"Is that safe?" I ask, trying to brush my fringe away from my eyes as a strong gust of wind throws it into my face.

"Probably not," says Jude. He's smiling slightly, I notice with a start. He starts picking his way down the uneven steps after Eclipse, who's already halfway down.

"Awesome," I grin, following him. Teddy stays at the back, helping the little ones down. I try to kick my trainers off as I'm walking without sending myself tumbling into the rocks. I shiver happily as my bare feet sink into the cool sand, feeling it ooze between my toes soothingly. The waves reach towards us invitingly. They seem to glitter weirdly in the sunlight, although I'm not even sure if it's part of the magic of this place or if that's what oceans are always like. There's a little rowing boat pulled out of reach of the water, and the golden sand is dotted with beautiful shells of all shapes and sizes. As the breeze sails past me, I relax into the calmness, letting my worries drift away for a second. It feels incredible.

And that's when I know I'm going to get Marty and Jamie back, somehow. We are.

Then I notice that there are loads of random objects lying in the sand, just within reach of the waves, like someone just discarded them and left them buried without care. I look at the closest object to me; a blue leather-bound notebook. Written on the cover in curling navy font is 'All The Best People are Crazy'. How appropriate. It looks absolutely perfect. I open it up and leaf through the pages, made of thick cream paper and totally blank. Why anyone would want to leave it there is beyond me.

"What's all this stuff doing here?" I ask Teddy. "Whose is it, yours?"

He smiles. He seems to have recovered a lot since before, but his green eyes are still slightly shadowed with apprehension. "This is a special ocean, Maya. It links this world, the world of the demons and the supernatural and stuff, to yours. It has power, like everything here. Whenever something in the normal world gets broken beyond repair, or so lost that nobody would ever be able to find it again, it washes up here. Completely dry and new, as though nobody had ever used them before. We've found so many awesome things here. Clothes, ornaments, toys, my ukelele. There have been about a million iPhones, but none of us had a clue how to use them until Teddy showed up. We even find furniture. Most of the stuff in our house is from the ocean. Sometimes we even find things that everyone used to own in their past lives, before we came here. It's how there are so many personal items at home, like Eclipse's picture of her Dad."

"It's like a huge charity shop," I breathe. I love the idea, as I always have, of lost items finding their way to new homes where they can be used again. It's why I love the Lost and Found shop. After Mum disappeared and I started to feel more lost than ever, it gave me hope that I could find my way back again, like all the items for sale on the shelves.

"The weird thing is," Teddy continues. "All the stuff that used to belong to us doesn't change and become brand new like the rest of it does. Jude found his old diary one time, and it was completely full up; the writing hadn't been erased like all the others diaries and notebooks we found. It's like the sea knows where we are and that it needs to bring stuff back to us that we lost, without taking away all the personal memories."

"Have you ever found anything of yours here?"

Teddy's smile saddens slightly. "Nope. I never really had any stuff to lose before I came here, let alone to find." He clears his throat and nods towards the sketchbook in my hands. "Keep it, if you like. It's a really nice one. You didn't get the chance to bring anything here, did you? You should pick some things. Clothes and other things you need. Or maybe just something nice to make you happy here until we save your brothers."

I swallow at his words. It feels wrong, somehow, to feel happy when my brothers are in trouble. I shouldn't be here, enjoying the ocean without them. Neither of them have ever really seen it in person either.

Then again, I am wearing the same clothes I was wearing when I took Jamie to the park. And I managed to lose my trainers somewhere along the cliff path.

I slip the notebook into my jean pocket.

"Are you two helping or not?" Jude shouts from a little way away. He and Eclipse are shoving the boat towards the water, the kids watching from a little way away with wide eyes.

"What are you doing?" I ask as we get nearer. Eclipse is starting to help the kids climb into the boat, squashing together on a narrow wooden bench.

"It's the way back," Eclipse explains. "This ocean links to the normal world. If you want to get back there, you sail away a little before the ocean takes you. Once it does, you're back in your old life and everything is as it was. You won't even remember anything that happened here."

Teddy grins at the kids. "Bye, guys. Are you ready to go home?"

Jude and Eclipse start to shove the boat towards the water.

"Wait!" calls a tiny voice from inside the boat. I look, startled, at the little hazel-eyed boy. He's squeezing his blue teddy bear against his chest, looking at us with huge, pleading, fearful eyes.

"Please don't make me go back," he begs. "Please don't."

The four of us stare at each other, bewildered.

"You don't want to go home?" Eclipse asks him. "What about your Mummy and Daddy? They'll miss you!"

The boy shakes his head frantically. "No, they won't. They don't like me. Please, can I stay here?"

"What do you mean, your parents don't-" Eclipse breaks off, staring from him to us.

There's a little pause. We look at each other again, trying to figure out what to do. Is he telling the truth? How can we force him to go back to parents who 'don't like him'?

He's small and thin, even for a five-year-old. His face is pale. His eyes seem to be permanently filled with fear, even here in the safety of the sunshine, away from the Feallan castle. All of these are danger signs, surely?

"We never make anyone go who wants to stay," Jude says, his voice stubborn.

"I don't understand. Don't the Feallan usually take kids who come from loving families?" I ask, remembering page 113 of The Marks of Demons.

"How did you- Never mind," says Eclipse distractedly, running her fingers through her thick, curling hair. "Usually they do, yes, but not always. They're clever. They always have a reason, for every kid they take, reasons that we hardly even know. There's still a lot we don't understand about demons... What if he's wrong? What if his parents really will be worried if he doesn't show up?"

"The world is still frozen for another month," Jude reminds her. "Unless we get Maya home before then, obviously. He has until then to change his mind, and if he still wants to stay here, the deadline will break his link to the other world so that time will start again."

"If he says his parents are cruel to him, then we have to take him seriously," Teddy says quietly.

Eclipse's face softens and she squeezes Teddy's shoulder. "Okay. Welcome to the family. What's your name?"

For the first time, the little boy's face lights up with a beaming smile. "Coby," he says as I wrap my arms around him and lift him out of the boat. He wraps his arms around me, his face shining.

"Is everybody else happy to go home?" Eclipse asks the boat, and the rest of the kids nod. the fear from the Feallan castle has been wiped away from their faces, and they're smiling, hugging their toys in anticipation. Ready to go home, back to their families. Back to their mothers and fathers. Back to their sisters and brothers, maybe.

We say goodbye, then we shove the boat fully into the waves, letting the tide catch it and sending it drifting towards the endless sky. They float further, and I gasp as the boat begins to glow faintly, then becomes so bright that I have to look away. Then it glides smoothly back to the shore, completely empty.

The kids are back in the normal world, now, doing whatever they were doing before they went missing. Time is frozen there now, but they won't know it. The month here will pass by in the blink of an eye, for them. And then their lives will be exactly the same, as though none of this had ever happened.

I set Coby down gently on the sand, then freeze as something catches my eye. It's lying in the sand, and the waves wash repeatedly over it, yet it stays completely dry. It's so familiar I'd recognise it anywhere. I never thought I'd see it again. I reach for it with shaking hands, and open the front cover to see the writing on the first page. My heart stops.

T h i s   b o o k    b e l o n g s     t o     M a y a    M o s s l e y.

N O  B I G    B R O T H E R S   A R E    A L L O W E D   T O   R E A D    I T   S O   H A H A    M A R T Y.

It's my book from the charity shop.