I sat bolt upright in bed and it took me at least a minute to realise where I was. Sweat dripped down my face and my breathing was heavy. I guess it was lucky I hadn’t cried out. No one else in the girls’ dormitory seemed to be awake. After a few moments I could hear gentle snoring beneath me and somewhere off to my right. I lay down and tried to get back to sleep, but the dream was so vivid I had difficulty scrubbing it from my mind. Eventually, though, I drifted off and if I dreamed again, I wasn’t aware of it.

I managed to get Aiden to see the web right after breakfast and he was thrilled. He kept staring at it, saying, ‘Oh, my God, Ash. Oh, my God.’

‘You can’t tell anyone, okay?’ I said.

He just nodded and I knew he wouldn’t. If there’s one thing about Aiden it’s that if he makes a promise nothing will get him to break it. So I watched him watching the web and it was like watching myself when I first saw it. I imagined Aiden’s reactions would be a perfect mirror of my own. Sometimes I think having a twin is like havinga video of yourself or a hologram walking at your side. Weird in a way, but also great.

Breakfast was just some toast and a selection of jams and marmalades, but that was okay. I think most of us were still stuffed after the barbecue, which had been amazing. A couple of my classmates over-indulged on the marshmallows – Charlotte and I had a laugh when we heard them throwing up in the toilets later. After breakfast, Ms Anderson and Mr M called us to order outside and told us what we’d be doing that day. Day two of our camp. I was kinda hoping that horseriding would be today because I’d never ridden a horse and it was a bit of an ambition of mine. In the programs I’d watched it seemed really exciting, if a little scary. I hoped they’d have small horses to fit the size of us. Falling off a big horse, I guessed, would hurt.

Turns out horseriding was for the following day. Today we’d be kayaking, something else I’d never done, so that was good. Plus it was another water activity and I’m comfortable in water. The trek today was slightly longer than to the waterhole and we were warned that we’d have to hike across some rough land. Apparently there was a rocky scree leading down to the water’s edge that was quite steep, so we all had to wear hiking boots. The assistants, we were told, had already carried the four kayaks down to the river while we had breakfast, so we just had to wait for their return before setting off. They would also carry our food – because there were only four kayaks and twenty-five of us, we’d be taking it in turns and that meant we’d spend nearly the whole day out there.