“Yes,” Oliver repeats urgently, panic written on his face and Alastair longs to do something, anything, to help him.

Unfortunately, he too, finds himself too stricken with fear to do much besides dart his eyes between his parents and Oliver.

It feels like even the air around them thickens so that when Cecil finally moves, it's slower than it should be. Time stretches for Alastair as he watches his mother’s smile shift into something knowing before it’s ...