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“Hey, look at me,” I shout. Bill looks back at me, and I uncap my last vial of salt. “Tell your master—” I hesitate and he cocks his head.

“Tell him what?”

I shake my head crossly. “I could have probably thought of a really great speech if you’d given me the time. Okay—” I take a breath. “Tell him to fuck right off.”

I throw the last of the salt at him, but the movement pulls at the slashed, burning skin on my side, and it sets off my balance. I wince as the salt misses him.

He laughs mockingly. “Have to be better than that, Bluey.”

“I’ve got plenty of time. I’m alive after all. Not mouldering in an executed man’s grave eh, Mr Bones.”

His face contorts in anger. “I’ll show you some tricks,” he says. He reaches into his pocket and throws some small objects at me. They glint and gleam, falling to my feet.

I look down. “Coins?” I say in disbelief. They’re gold with a skull and crossbones on them. “Is that all you’ve got? At least, try a few tenners and make it worth my while. Make it rain.”

“Be careful,” Branok shouts, a thread of fear running through his voice.

“Earth take ee, Mr Billings,” the wrecker says, making a sign with his fingers crooked at me, and then vanishing.

“Okay. Opening the coffin,” my husband calls. “Fuck, this is the grimmest thing I have ever done. I don’t want to do this on any of my future honeymoons.” A loud creaking sound echoes.

“I’m pretty sure I’m having a worse time,” I say.

“What’s the prize in this strange competition? A really dreadful time?”

I try to keep the smile in my voice. “You know me so well. I can’t see you, Levi. What can you see?”

“Oh fuck. The skeleton is huge, Blue. I can’t see another body in here, though.”

“Look closer.”

Before I can hear his response, ice-cold hands seize my ankles and pull me down. “Levi!” I scream. “Find the other body!” Then the sky vanishes and I’m under the earth, and bony hands are pulling and tugging at me. Soil fills my mouth and eyes, and I can’t see which way is up, can’t scream.

I twist and writhe as a hoarse, creaky voice whispers, “Pretty boy. Open your eyes, pretty boy.”

Fingers poke at my eyelids and force my eyes open. A faint light strobes through a thick darkness, showing me glimpses of horrors—a skull with empty eye sockets, white lace tinted yellow-green by mould, and a skein of white hair wound around my wrist.

Oh fuck. I’m inside a coffin. I remember the wrecker’s words and the coins tumbling through the air. This must be why Branok was so freaked out. “No,” I croak. “No, please.”

“Pretty eyes,” the voice says. “They will not last down here.”

I scream and thrash as the dead woman brings me closer.

“You’re mine now,” the skeleton whispers, staring at me with empty sockets. “Sleep with me, the eternal sleep wrapped in my arms. I’m so hungry.”

“No.” I shove the arms away, but they grab me again. “Let go,” I whisper. “Please let me go.”

“Mine. My pet,” she whispers. “He left me, but you shall not.”

Lights sparkle at the edges of my vision, a warning I have only seconds before losing consciousness. I wrench an arm free, shove my hand in my pocket, and find a few crystals of precious salt. I grab them and then fling them at her face.

I count to two and then she screams and screams, flailing against the sides of the coffin. The ancient wood splits and earth consumes the space.

“Levi!” I gasp out a garbled scream.

There’s a flash of light and a loud bang that reverberates through the earth.

I brace myself, squeezing my eyes shut. And suddenly, I can breathe. And see. My eyes flicker open and a dark, moonlit sky is overhead.