‘I hope you’re right about this,’ Mallory said in a way that masked his implicit trust of her. He got down on his hands and knees and crawled towards the cat. His tension eased a little when he realised that it was not making any threatening sounds or movements; it simply stared at him with those eerie eyes.

When he reached the cat, he rolled on to his back and bared his throat. There was one brief moment of connection when Mallory saw a flickering alien intelligence in the saucer-eyes, and then the cat lunged, jaws gaping wide. Sophie screamed. Mallory screwed his eyes shut, waiting for the pain as his throat was ripped out. He felt hot breath on his skin, the prick of teeth. And then nothing.

When he opened his eyes, the cat was holding his throat in its mouth, poised gently. It could have torn him to pieces in the blink of an eye. It remained that way for a few seconds while Mallory’s heart thundered, then it withdrew and turned its attention to Sophie. Mallory scrambled past it and beckoned for her to follow suit.

When Sophie was standing by him, shaking after her experience with the huge beast, he held her close for a second, and then they turned and walked to the edge of the precipice. Beyond, the abyss fell away into deep shadow far below.

‘Which one?’ Mallory said.

Sophie took a deep breath to calm herself. She didn’t need Mallory to tell her that they would probably only have one chance. ‘They all look the same,’ she said.

‘But there has to be one true path,’ Mallory said. ‘That’s how this works in all the old stories. So how do we know which is the true one?’

Sophie closed her eyes while she pondered, and after a moment a smile came to her lips.

‘What?’ Mallory asked.

‘Close your eyes.’

Mallory did as he was told. ‘OK… now what?’

‘Go calm. Feel. Really feel with your senses. You know which one is the right path now, don’t you?’