Without my tablet I had no way of telling the time, but judging by the position of the sun it was around midday. Aiden and I sat at a picnic table. It was old and splintered and had benches along two sides. There was a hole in the centre with a battered umbrella stuck into it and that gave a little bit of shade. It was hot, but I liked that no one was fussing about sunblock and UV levels. We kept in the shade, though. Stupid not to.

I felt a little better. Aiden had helped me clean up a bit, though my T-shirt was still stained. At least my face, he assured me, was blood-free.

‘I feel stupid,’ I said.

‘No. Not stupid, Ashleigh. We have led particularly sheltered lives, you and me. It’s not our fault that we have little experience of … life’s nastier sides. And you had no idea it was going to happen.’

‘I should’ve, though, Aiden. I should’ve. Nonna told Xena to prepare some ham. And that’s what she did. But I …’

Aiden put his hand on mine. I had been plucking at a few of the splinters in the wood, trying to prise them loose.

‘It’s been a stressful few days,’ he said. ‘Hey, how’s that for understatement?’ I gave a tired smile. ‘So cut yourself some slack,’ he continued.

‘I’ll try,’ I said.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, lost in our own thoughts. When I glanced up, Aiden was staring at the sky, one hand absent-mindedly scratching Z, who lay panting on the bench next to him.

‘What are you thinking about?’ I asked.

He smiled and pointed upwards.

‘Do you see them, Ashleigh?’

I squinted, but there was nothing there as far as I could tell. Then again, the sun was too bright and painful and I couldn’t look for long. The glare didn’t appear to bother Aiden.

‘What?’

‘Drones,’ he said. ‘Mother’s drones, watching us.’

I immediately tensed.

‘She knows where we are?’

‘She always knows where we are, Ash. There’s nothing we can do about that.’

Leaving my tablet behind, it turned out, was completely pointless. ‘Then she’ll be sending people to get you,’ I said. Another thought immediately crossed my mind,one even more worrying. ‘You don’t think those drones could hurt you, do you?’ It would be simple for Mum to arm a drone, program it to select a specific target. She could do it without breaking a sweat.

‘No. She couldn’t risk a strike, especially while you’re here.’

‘Then I’ll stay with you all the time.’

‘But even when you’ve gone, she won’t. Mum might be all sorts of things, but there are people around and she won’t take the risk that someone could be hurt by being close to me. She’s not a killer.’

‘She wants to kill you.’