‘You don’t have enough facts to make a plan,’ Ade says. ‘Well, not one that will work anyway.’

‘Very helpful,’ Kat snarks back. ‘Do you want to tell us what additional facts we need so that we can get to a point where we can make a plan?’

‘First of all,’ Ade sighs. ‘You’re glossing over a key detail: why hasn’t Karim’s tree affected him in the way Lance’s has changed his mum?’

‘We thought maybe it was too small?’ Karim half whispers, like he’s talking to an angry tiger.

‘Does it have the cones on it?’ Ade says.

‘Yes.’

‘The spores will be coming from the cones, because they’re the galls formed by the parasites. If there are cones, there are spores, so being small isn’t relevant.’

‘What else is different about your tree, Karim?’ I say. ‘Have you not been close to it very much?’ 189

‘You know I’m in that room all the time, mate,’ he says. ‘And I stand right next to that tree to do my hair.’

‘Jeez, then you’re clocking up a lot of contact hours,’ I say.

‘Exactly,’ says Karim. ‘Perfection takes dedication. And a lot of hairspray.’

‘Hairspray!’ Ade says. ‘Do you spray your hair next to the tree?’

‘Only four or five times a day.’

‘PVPs,’ Ade says. ‘That could do it.’

‘PVPs?’ I know I sound like an idiot, but I really have no idea what she’s talking about.

‘Sticky synthetic polymers.’ Mak nods. ‘I think you’re right, Ade, they could be creating a hard barrier on the galls.’

‘Come again?’

‘The hairspray is coating the cones with a sticky residue that prevents the spores from being released,’ Ade says. ‘That’s why Karim hasn’t turned.’

‘Ah, she actually used my name,’ Karim says and draws his finger down his face in a fake teardrop. ‘Did you hear that, guys?’

Kat giggles. 190

‘Ade, you’re brilliant,’ I say.

‘Yeah, well,’ she sniffs, but again I can see she’s trying not to smile.

‘So now we have a way of neutralising all the Crater trees in town,’ I say, feeling, like, proper smug.

‘But there are still all the other unanswered questions.’ Ade again.

We all look at her.

‘If the spores are coming from the trees, and the trees are all over Straybridge, why isn’t everyone being turned?’

‘I’m assuming you’re only asking us because you already know the answer, and you want to make us feel stupid,’ Kat says.

Ade rolls her eyes. ‘The truth hurts sometimes, Katja.’

‘So,’ I say, impatient to hear more, ‘do you know why everyone hasn’t turned?’