The Devil's Eye. Dawn Brown

      Prologue

      “You’re a sodding liar, Charlie Deevers.”

      Charlie glared at Martin Buldger. He’d have liked nothing more than to smash the other boy right in his stupid gob, but Martin was bigger than him, and would probably lay him out flat if he tried. Still, bigger or not, Charlie wasn’t about to stand there and let a prick like Martin take the piss out of him in front of their mates. Sure, he was lying, but so were they all. Why should he be the only one centered out?

      “I did see her, The Witch of Stonecliff, up there on that rise.” Charlie pointed to the rocky ledge through the trees. Sharp gray stone poked out between clumps of fuzzy green moss. “She was hunched over, eating a dead animal. When she looked up, she had blood all around her mouth.”

      Martin squinted his piggy eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “What kind of animal?”

      How the hell should he know? He’d only added that last bit for effect. Eating an animal raw sounded like something a witch might do. “I don’t know. She’d eaten it, hadn’t she? All I could see was a bit of fur and guts. She looked at me and her eyes glowed red. I thought she was going to eat me as well, so I got the hell out of there.”

      “Do you suppose that’s what she does with them?” Dev cut in, his voice heavy with awe. “Do you think she eats the men she takes?”

      The wind kicked up, rattling the last leaves clinging to branches. Even without the forest canopy, skeletal trees cut the daylight. Combined with bleak clouds overhead, a dull gloom made the forest darker than outside the woods. Charlie shivered.

      Martin snorted and smacked his palm off his forehead. “Don’t be a stupid git.”

      “I heard she fucks them to death,” Robbie added, his eyes bright.

      For a moment, they all fell silent, even stupid Martin, while considering the possibility. At twelve, Charlie’s knowledge of sex was a combination of science lessons and wank mags Dev’s dad hid in their back shed. The idea of being fucked to death both thrilled and terrified him.

      “That’s rubbish. You can’t be fucked to death,” Martin said, but his voice had turned soft and raspy as if he had a sore throat.

      “I heard she’s got a dick and a twat,” Dev said, jamming his hands into his coat pockets and hunching his shoulders against the damp air. “My brother, Tom, said so. Griffin Paskin saw, and that’s why she killed him. Maybe she ate him after, and that’s why no one found his body.”

      “Deevers is full of shit, and you’re as stupid as he is if you believe a word of it.” Martin jabbed a finger at them both.

      “I’m not!” Charlie cried. “And I don’t care if you believe me, anyway.”

      “I don’t believe you. I said so, didn’t I?” Martin shifted into his path, standing only a few inches away. “Everyone knows the witch left the island and hasn’t been back. How could you see her when she wasn’t even here?”

      Charlie’s hands curled into fists at his sides. “Oh, she’s been back. They’ve had another hired man go missing, haven’t they? And Stephen Paskin saw her, too.”

      Dev and Robbie nodded in agreement. Ha, even Martin couldn’t dispute facts. The wind kicked up again and Dev wrinkled his nose. “Do you smell that?”

      Charlie inhaled and grimaced. A sour, rotting stink laced the air, mingling with brine blowing in off the sea.

      “It’s The Devil’s Eye,” Martin said, and shifted back uneasily.

      The hair bristled along Charlie’s neck. He couldn’t shake the feeling someone was watching them.

      He glanced up at the ridge half-expecting to see the witch standing just as he’d imagined, gripping the remains of some animal in one hand, a ring of blood smeared around her mouth. “I need to go home. My mum will be looking for me for my tea.”

      “Deevers, you wanker. You’re shit-scared with all of us here. There’s no bloody way you’d have come by yourself.” Martin’s smug smile split his