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I reach out and take the coins, and in doing so I brush my hands against his. I feel his skin, and I immediately pull back with the coins in my palm.

  “Are you sure you're alright?” he asks, tilting his head slightly. “You don't look alright.”

  “I...”

  I try to think of something to say, but instead I simply turn and walk out of the shop. Once I'm outside, I stop to open the packet of chewing gum, and I slip one into my mouth. Then, hearing car doors slamming nearby I walk back up to the beach and see that two police cars are parked on the other side of the road. Two officers are already climbing over the sea-wall to follow the metal detector guy, while a third officer is speaking to someone on his radio. He glances briefly at me, before turning away.

  “Tell Osborne to swing by when he gets a chance,” he says to whoever's on the other end of the line. “I think this might well be linked to the Caroline Peters murder he was called to this morning.”

  Suddenly rain starts falling again. I watch as the officer goes down to join the others, but I stand completely still apart from chewing some gum. I can feel the rain, I can feel every drop, and I don't even care that I'm soaking wet. Sure, I'm in pain, and sure, I still don't understand what's going on, but for a few seconds I feel each and every drop of rain that hits my body. There are thousands and thousands of them at a time, but I can feel them all until they begin to merge into one overall sensation of being rained upon. And as that happens, I hear – for some reason – Paula's voice from the other night drifting back to me through my thoughts:

  “Sometimes new things just get created out of nowhere. No-one knows where they come from, but one minute they're not real, and then the next... Bam! There they are.”

  “All of human life began when some dumb fish crawled out of the water millions of years ago. Maybe another new thing'll start at a beach some time.”

  “Things die at the edge of the water. And that's also where things are born.”

  Also by Amy Cross

  STEPHEN

  Fresh from the convent, Beryl Seaton accepts a position as governess for the Brooks family. When she arrives at the family's remote house, however, she discovers that a terrible secret is waiting for her in the nursery.

  From the author of Asylum and The Farm, Stephen is a horror novel about a young woman who finds herself torn between two worlds. Desperate to help her employers in their hour of need, she nevertheless struggles to look after their son.

  What happened to Stephen, to leave him the way he is? What happened to the previous governess at Grangehurst? And what causes the sobbing sound that seem to drift through an empty room?

  By the time she uncovers the awful truth about the family, and about little Stephen, it might be too late for Beryl to ever leave.

  Stephen is a horror novel about a family with a deadly secret, and about a meek and timid young woman who finds herself drawn into the heart of a nightmare.

  Also by Amy Cross

  HAUNTED

  Twenty years ago, the ghost of a dead little girl drove Sheriff Michael Blaine to his death.

  Now, that same ghost is coming for his daughter.

  Returning to the small town where she grew up, Alex Roberts is determined to live a normal, quiet life. As far as she's concerned, her past – and her family's history – shouldn't ruin her future. For the residents of Railham, however, she's an unwelcome reminder of the town's darkest hour.

  Twenty years ago, nine-year-old Mo Garvey was found brutally murdered in a nearby forest. Everyone thinks that Alex's father was responsible, but if the killer was brought to justice, why is the ghost of Mo Garvey still after revenge And how far will the real killer go to protect his secret, when Alex finally starts getting closer to the truth?

  Haunted is a horror novel about a woman who has to face her past, about a town that would rather forget, and about a little girl who refuses to let death stand in her way.

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE BRIDE OF ASHBYRN HOUSE

  “I have waited so long for your return.”

  In the English countryside, miles from the nearest town, there stands an old stone house. Nobody has set foot in the house for years. Nobody has dared. For it is said that even though the lady of the house is long dead, a face can sometimes be seen at one of the windows. A pale, dead face that waits patiently behind a silk wedding veil.

  Seeking a much-needed escape from his hectic life in London, Owen Stone purchases Ashbyrn House without waiting to find out about its history. As far as Owen is concerned, ghosts aren't real and his only company in the house will be the thin-legged spiders that lurk on the walls. Even after he moves in, and after he starts hearing strange noises in the night, Owen insists that Ashbyrn House can't possibly be haunted.

  But Owen knows nothing about the ghostly figure that is said to haunt the house. Or about the mysterious church bells that ring out across the lawn at night. Or about the terrible fate that befell the house's previous inhabitants when they dared defy the bride. Even as Owen starts to understand the horrific truth about Ashbyrn House's past, he might be too late to escape the clutches of the presence that watches his every move.

  The Bride of Ashbyrn House is a ghost story about a man who believes the past can't hurt him, and about a woman whose search for a husband has survived even her own tragic death.

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE BODY AT AUERCLIFF

  “We'll bury her so deep, even her ghost will have a mouth full of dirt!”

  When Rebecca Wallace arrives at Auercliff to check on her aged aunt, she's in for a shock. Her aunt's mind is crumbling, and the old woman refuses to let Rebecca stay overnight. And just as she thinks she's starting to understand the truth, Rebecca makes a horrifying discovery in one of the house's many spare rooms.

  A dead body. A woman. Old and rotten. And her aunt insists she has no idea where it came from.

  The truth lies buried in the past. For generations, the occupants of Auercliff have been tormented by the repercussions of a horrific secret. And somehow everything seems to be centered upon the mausoleum in the house's ground, where every member of the family is entombed once they die.

  Whose body was left to rot in one of the house's rooms? Why have successive generations of the family been plagued by a persistent scratching sound? And what really happened to Rebecca many years ago, when she found herself locked inside the Auercliff mausoleum?

  The Body at Auercliff is a horror story about a family and a house, and about the refusal of the past to stay buried.

  OTHER BOOKS

  BY AMY CROSS INCLUDE

  Horror

  The Soul Auction

  Stephen

  The Girl Who Threw Rocks at the Devil

  The Ash House

  The Camera Man

  The Bride of Ashbyrn House

  The Body at Auercliff

  Haunted

  B&B

  Laura

  Asylum

  Meds (Asylum 2)

  Annie's Room

  The Farm

  The Ghost of Molly Holt

  The Curse of Wetherley House

  The Ghosts of Lakeforth Hotel

  The Haunting of Blackwych Grange

  The Ghosts of Hexley Airport

  The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal book 1)

  Darper Danver: The Complete First Series

  The Disappearance of Katie Wren

  The Horror of Devil's Root Lake

  The Printer From Hell

  The Nurse

  American Coven

  Eli's Town

  The Night Girl

  Devil's Briar

  The Cabin

  After the Cabin

  Last Wrong Turn

  The Ghost of Shapley Hall

  A House in London

  The Blood House

  The Priest Hole (Nykolas Freeman book 1)

  Battlefield (Nykolas Freeman book 2)

  The Border

  Short Story Collections
/>   Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories

  Twisted Little Things and Other Stories

  The Ghost of Longthorn Manor and Other Stories

  The Vampire of Downing Street and Other Stories

  Thrillers

  The Murder at Skellin Cottage (Jo Mason book 1)

  The Return of Rachel Stone (Jo Mason book 2)

  The Girl Who Never Came Back

  Dystopian / Science Fiction

  The Dog

  The Island (The Island book 1)

  Persona (The Island book 2)

  The Abyss (The Island book 3)