He was saved from answering. Just as they reached the top of the stairs, there was a squeal and a flurry of angel wings. Three pretty girls raced up to them. “Seb! Bonsoir!” exclaimed the one with dark hair. Before Seb quite knew what was happening, she was kissing him on both cheeks; he reciprocated automatically. The other two girls followed suit. Willow blinked, looking taken aback by the social kisses.

“You left the hostel!” laughed the dark-haired girl in French, her tone mock-chiding. Céline, that was her name. “None of us knew where you were; one day you just vanished.” Her gaze went to Willow, taking her in curiously.

Seb was acutely conscious that the three girls were devouts, and had almost certainly seen Willow’s photo on the news, or the Church of Angels website. “Oui, I met my girlfriend,” he said, his arm still around Willow’s shoulders. “Maria.” It was the first name that came to mind. In English, he said, “Maria, this is Céline, and – I’m sorry,” he said to the blonde. “Is it Nicole?”

The girl tsked and shook her sleek head; she looked pale and too thin. “Ah, you see, he forgets all about us once he has you,” she teased, glancing at Willow. “Maria, this is Nicole” – she indicated the third girl, a tall redhead – “and I am Adèle.”

“Hi,” said Willow, offering her hand to them.

They started moving down the stairs; to the irritation of the people behind them, the trio showed no signs of leaving. Céline was still gazing at Willow. “You look so familiar,” she said suddenly. “Are you an actress?”

Seb’s muscles went tight as Willow tried to smile. “No, but everyone says that,” she said. “I think I must look like someone.”

“So this is where you girls ran off to – I thought you’d abandoned me,” said a cheerful American voice. A guy with floppy brown hair had come up behind them. Mike. He caught sight of Seb and his face burst into a grin as he slapped his shoulder. “Seb! God, man, where have you been?”

“He has a girlfriend now,” pouted Céline, tucking her arm through Mike’s. “I am very sad at this. You’ll have to comfort me later.”

“Oh, hey, that’s too bad,” said Mike in a soothing voice. “Yeah, we’ll have to have some serious comforting time when we get back.”

They’d reached the bottom of the stairs; somehow the three girls and Mike had gotten ahead of them. Smiling widely, Mike turned and gave Seb a double thumbs up as the girls started filing through the metal detector.

Willow’s expression was slightly dazed. “Friends of yours?”

Seb shrugged; he could hardly believe they’d all appeared. “I know them from the hostel I was staying in.”