Mum steps between me and Peter Potts. ‘What happened to you, Pete?’ she asks. ‘This is not who you really are. I know you.’

He raises his eyebrows. ‘You knew me when we were kids, Merry. If you’d bothered to keep in touch you’d know I’m not even called Pete anymore. It’s Peter. And I’ve joined the real world. If I’d followed my heart, I’d be carving bits of wood into lumpy statues – and be flat broke. You and your friends have to get real, too.’

‘Tulsi’s right, Pete – Peter,’ says Mum. ‘It’s not fair. We need time. Give us six months.’

‘No.’

Mum whispers. ‘Please.’ She presses her hands together as if she’s praying.

He stares at her for what must be a whole minute. The big top is silent, except for quiet snuffling from the little girls. Dad pulls me closer. Finally, Peter Potts says, ‘You have exactly one month to start making money, Merry. And I’m only doing this because I’ll need that time to find buyers for the circus trucks and the few bits of decent equipment left. If you’re not turning a profit in four weeks, I’ll shut you down like this.’ He snaps his fingers. And with that, he turns and strides out of the big top.

CHAPTER 3

Kit and I sit in the dark, on the steps of his family’s van. The adults are holding a meeting in the big top, and sent us to put the little girls to bed. Cleo and Mai are sprawled, asleep, on the big bed at one end of the van, still wearing their tutus. Kit once told me that sometimes he’s too exhausted to set up his own bed (which has to be put together every evening over the dining table), so all of them – him, his mum and the twins – sleep together in the big bed.

We’ve just eaten a couple of bowls of Li Lin’s lentil and veggie stew, which has been dinner most nights lately while money is tight. Normally everyone eats together around the campfire, and I fall asleep curled on a blanket while Zanni or Walid strum a guitar.

‘Where will your family go if he closes us down?’ Kit asks as he scrunches a serviette into a ball. I can just see his glum face in the glow from the fairy lights looped along the side of his van.