‘I wouldn’t, Jack.’ His smile revealed his teeth. ‘I’m a little concerned my people haven’t given me an update. I’ll admit that. But it’s probably nothing. I certainly don’t want to alarm you with guesswork at this stage.’

His reassurances were making the hollow feeling in my stomach twist in on itself with nervous dread.

‘What can we do to track Jack’s parents down?’ asked Amelia. ‘Who do we contact for help?’

‘I’ve made all the appropriate enquiries,’ Langdon said firmly. ‘Right now we just sit tight. I’m sure we’ll hear from them very shortly.’ He drained his glass. ‘Make the most of the facilities here in the meantime, like I say,’ he went on, waving vaguely towards the pool and games room. It was a muggy day and his shirt had sweat rings under his yellow-patterned armpits. In that moment I hated Hawaiian shirts more than anything in the world.

29.

I had no choice but to do as my uncle said and wait for news. It was hard. I turned the hotel suite upside down in search of a note or any other clue that might have put my mind at rest, but found none. All I could do after that was keep my phone fully charged with the ringer on in case anyone called. Though I tried not to I must have checked it every other minute, but it stayed infuriatingly silent and message-less. By the end of that first day waiting I felt like chucking the phone in the pool. I didn’t though: I’m not a complete idiot.

At breakfast the following morning, after an awful night’s half-sleep, I guess I looked pretty ragged. Xander tried to take my mind off things by telling me about a dream he’d had in which our school had been relocated to the rainforest, but right now I wasn’t interested. Though I knew he meant well, I couldn’t help cutting him off, saying, ‘The funny thing about other people’s dreams is that even at the best of times they’re pretty boring.’

‘What do you mean?’ said Amelia.

‘They just sound so made up. No offence, Xander, but even the wildest dreams dreamed by someone else are a bit whatever to hear about. In the unreal world of your dream, our headmaster has turned into a silverback. Who cares? Nothing turns on it.’

‘Actually you’re wrong,’ said Amelia flatly. ‘Neuroscientists now reckon a person’s dreams reveal a great deal about –’

I banged my palm on the table hard enough for the couple seated over by the tree with enormous yellow leaves to look up.

‘Sorry,’ I said to Amelia. ‘But.’

‘But what?’

Xander answered for me. ‘Jack’s right, Amelia. Now’s possibly not the time for an update on cutting-edge neuroscience or my stupid dreams. I’m sorry.’