Asif and Haz tumble out the window after us, then we’re all up and running, stumbling over tree roots and bushes. The men are close behind. ‘Come back, ya little devils!’

‘Spread out!’ yells Claudie.

I dive between two bushes and scramble and grope my way forward in the dark, until someone grabs my arm and yanks me to my feet.

‘Let me go!’ I shout, and try to twist free.

The man’s grip is a pincer on my arm. He must feel me trembling. ‘We’re off to the police station over there, girlie,’ he says. ‘You’re trespassing on private property.’

‘We’re not doing any harm,’ I say. I might be scared, but I’m also angry. ‘What if we were your kids needing somewhere warm to sleep?’

The man leans close. ‘Not my kids, not my problem,’ he says. ‘But this, little girl, is my building site.’

‘Don’t call me little girl.’ I spit the words at him and try again to wrench free.

Sylvie taught me how to stop a fly – to freeze it mid-flight. I only did it for a few seconds, then let it buzz off. Freezing a man shouldn’t be all that different, should it? I’m afraid to point at him, though, with all that tree-energy coursing through me. Much as I hate this man, I don’t want to kill him. I turn my free hand so the palm faces him. ‘Swyn, rhewa,’ I say, imagining him completely unable to move.

It works perfectly. He might as well be made of stone. Only his wide, scared eyes move, and follow me as I pull my arm from his grip and take his torch. ‘You know what?’ I say, my heartbeat slowly returning to something like normal. ‘It wouldn’t hurt you to let them sleep in the building. Be kind. You might need someone to be kind to you one day.’

He can’t reply, of course.

‘Claudie?’ I call into the darkness. ‘Are you there? Haz? Asif?’

She emerges from behind a tree. ‘What happened to him?’ she whispers, her face scrunched in confusion.

‘I don’t know,’ I lie. ‘Where are the others?’

‘The other man dragged them away. Said he was taking them to the police station.’ She can’t tear her eyes from the paralysed man. ‘Let’s get out of here.’ We collect the little stove, the tins of beans, Haz’s cards and the blankets. I find my Welsh dictionary on the floor where Asif dropped it. ‘I need to go back to the road where I met Haz,’ I say. If I’m going to find the other Merry, that’s the place to start looking.

‘I can take you,’ she says.

When we reach the fence, I let Claudie go ahead, then turn back and say, ‘Goodbye, tree. Thank you.’ I point to the man and reverse the spell.