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showed no further signs of protest. He lifted one of the plates from the wall. It was about the size of a serving tray, but much thicker. Seven symbols were carved around the rim with an angel moulded in the centre. He climbed down and flipped the plate over, his brow furrowed with concentration.
    “This thing is heavy.” He inspected the back, his fingers gliding over the surface. “I wish I had a magnifying glass.”
    “As if you know anything about carat marks.” Bam snorted and leaned over the plate, her fingers sliding over the gold in search of a mark. “This could be something.” The tip of her finger pointed at four little symbols incised into the metal. “Lemme see.” Oliver held the plate out for her inspection, and Bam manoeuvred both him and the plate towards the light from the large Victorian windows.
    “Yup, these are definitely gold markings.” She squinted, bringing her face closer to the object. “It’s not solid gold, because I see an H.G.E. mark, but the plating is 18-carat, which is pretty good.” She looked from Oliver to Freya, shock and excitement mingling in her face.
    “What would that mean? How much would they be worth?”
    “I don’t know, but each should be at least a grand judging by the size of them, depending on how much gold is on the plating. I’m thinking probably more.”
    “A thousand pounds? That’s amazing.” Freya felt her heart flutter, and she blessed her strange old aunt for her expensive taste.
    “So, are we doing this?” Oliver turned to Freya as he held up the gold plate. “Are we selling these and getting our hotel?”
    “I thought that was the plan?” Freya looked from Oliver to Bam, and she saw a look of worry in their eyes.
    “We weren’t sure if you still wanted to.” Bam bit her lip and looked at Freya. “You’ve been a bit weird ever since you set foot on the island. We thought you might be chickening out.”
    “I do feel a bit weird. And to be honest, it doesn’t help that half of what we’ve seen of the house looks like it’s come straight from the abyss. But we said we would do this, and if we can find an affordable builder who can work wonders with houses that leak brown gloop, then I’m in.”
    Oliver laughed, and he carefully set the plate down so that he could hug Freya. “I say we go find the nearest pub and celebrate. Maybe find a bed and breakfast too, because I don’t know if I’m so keen on sleeping here tonight. At least not until we’ve had that strange stuff investigated.”

Chapter 2

    Bam woke at five AM after a short, uncomfortable sleep. Her night shirt was drenched in sweat, and her head throbbed with a dull but incessant ache while her stomach churned with stinging acid. She couldn’t remember her dreams, but she knew that they must have been disturbing. The small bedroom in the Redwood House B&B was still cast in darkness, and next to her in the bed, Freya groaned a little.
    “Stop thrashing around.”
    Bam felt a hint of irritation. “I’m not thrashing, I just can’t get comfortable. This bed is too damn small for the two of us.”
    “Well, get used to it. We’ll be spending more time together until we find out if the hotel is safe to live in. We can’t afford three separate rooms.”
    “I don’t see why Oliver gets his own room and we have to share.”
    “Because he’s the guy.” Freya’s voice sounded muffled through the soft, white pillow.
    “As if we haven’t slept in the same bed as him before. It shouldn’t make a difference.”
    “Fine, we’ll rotate. Whatever. Just please stop moving around. I feel sick enough as it is. I think I had too much cider. It went straight to a hangover. Didn’t even get a nice buzz.”
    “I feel sick too.”
    “Well then, maybe you had too much cider as well.”
    “I drank diet Coke.”
    “Then you had too much diet Coke. I don’t know. Just stop fucking moving and we can still be friends.” Freya turned around and pulled one of the extra pillows over