Trisha sat perched on the window sill, her feet on the table and the window open so she could lean out and smoke. Caro went off, muttering something about having a shower. Michaela bent over the laptop, reading from the screen, a frown creasing her brow.

‘Maybe Caro’s right,’ Trisha said.

Michaela clicked the mouse on another link. ‘Right about what?’

‘Leaving. Maybe she and I should pack up and go somewhere else. I could look after her as easily as myself.’

Michaela looked up. ‘How old is she?’

Trisha stubbed out her cigarette in a saucer she was using as an ashtray. ‘Fifteen,’ she said.

Michaela looked back at the computer. ‘Doesn’t she need to be sixteen to leave home? Otherwise you’ll run into all sorts of shit with your mother. You can’t really be serious about taking her away from her mother anyway, can you?’

‘She’s sixteen in two months. And you know what? Mom’s never home, Caro was right about that. And even when she is, she’s sleeping. Caro had been pretty much raising herself until I got here. I should have known, you know? I should have known what it would be like for her.’

Michaela stopped reading. ‘How could you have known?’ she asked. ‘You got kicked out, if I remember what you told me. How were you supposed to stick around for your little sister if you weren’t even allowed in the house?’

Trisha lit another smoke. ‘I still should have come back earlier,’ she said, blowing twin streams of smoke out her nose. ‘I should have stuck around anyway.’

Michaela watched her. ‘There’s no point thinking that way, babe. You came back, and you’re not too late. Look at her – Caro’s the most together 15 year old I’ve ever met, and this is despite everything. And I reckon you probably came home at just the right time.’

Trisha sniffed. ‘Yeah, I suppose so. It’s the way it’s turned out anyway. But when she’s 16, if she wants to go, I’ll take her.’ She pulled at the cigarette again. ‘I’m going to go bat shit if I have to stay here much longer.’

Michaela looked down at her hands. ‘Where are you going to go?’

Trisha shrugged. ‘Dunno babe. Out of this shit hole for sure. Somewhere with more than two streets.’

Michaela wondered if the small town she lived in would be counted as a shit hole. It might have more than two streets, but it wouldn’t be many more.

‘What’s it like at your place?’ Trisha must have read her mind.

Michaela shrugged. ‘Beautiful, I guess,’ she said. ‘I’m not far from the sea, and on the other side there’re mountains and rivers. Lot of tourists in summer.’ She shrugged and mentally kicked herself. Could have talked the place up just a bit, surely?

‘It’s a small town, though, right?’

Michaela nodded. ‘But Nelson’s half an hour away, lots of shopping and places to go there. Or you can take a ferry across to Wellington, which is the capital.’ She stared at the computer screen, not wanting to see Trisha’s expression.

‘Sounds nice,’ Trisha said. She scooted down from the window sill and sat next to Michaela. ‘You finding anything useful?’ she asked.

Michaela thought about it. There was an awful lot of information here, but it was all of the same sort. Eyewitness reports for lack of a better term. She rubbed her eyes.

‘Well, I guess so,’ she said. ‘It’s a start anyway, but I’m getting too tired to make any sense of it.’ She looked around the room. ‘I can’t see or sense anything here at the moment, can you?’

Trisha leaned against her and shook her head. ‘No, but I don’t even want to.’

‘How does Caro manage to sleep at night?’ Michaela asked.

‘With the light on, I think,’ Trisha replied. ‘And some nights she’s not the only one.’

Caro came into the room, carrying a hairdryer she plugged into the wall. ‘What do I manage to do?’ she asked.

‘Michaela was just asking how you manage to sleep at night, with this, you know.’ She gestured at the computer screen.

Caro pulled a face. ‘Badly,’ she said. ‘With the light on half the time, and the other half I’m buried under the blanket wishing I was anywhere on earth but in this house.’

Michaela frowned. ‘Do you think they, these shadow people as these people call them,’

‘Or shadow fucks, as they’re more commonly known,’ Trisha said.

‘Yeah, whatever,’ Michaela said, still looking at Caro. ‘Do you think they’re attracted to the house?’ She didn’t quite want to add the rest of her question – or are they attracted to you?

But Caro was right there with her. ‘Do I think they’re attracted to the house, or to me?’ She fiddled with the hairdryer, thinking about it. ‘I want it to be just the house,’ she said at last. ‘But I really don’t know.’ She pointed at the laptop. ‘Everyone talks about seeing them, but no one seems to have any theories about what they are. Or what they want.’ She shuddered.

Michaela rubbed her face. ‘It’s a lot to think about,’ she said. ‘And I’m too bloody tired to think straight.’ She looked at the webpage again then closed it down. ‘I need to sleep off this jet lag,’ she said. ‘Then I have some ideas for tomorrow.’ She looked at her watch. ‘I don’t even know what day it is,’ she said.

‘It’s Saturday,’ Caro said. ‘School again the day after. And in a few days it’s Halloween.’

‘Right. Okay then. Will you be okay tonight?’ Michaela asked Caro, who simply shrugged a yes.

‘Sorry guys,’ Michaela said, ‘but I’m dead on my feet here. I feel like I’ve been here a week already and awake for every minute of it.’