‘Please, we must all be very careful,’ said Eva. ‘We’ve kept it quiet until now for a reason.’

JUDGE: She supported you. But she was nervous.

STELLA: She had done it secretly, all this time, I guess is why.

‘Let’s go out on the roof, shall we?’ Tara said, after Eva had gone back to her study.

‘The view must be amazing,’ said Stella.

‘It’s winter!’ said Zoe. She had been out on to the roof, once, with Eva, years ago, to clear the gutters. You had to climb through a hatch in the attic bedroom, crawl along the beams, unlatch a skylight, and push your way out on to the balustrade, without falling through the insulation to the bedrooms below. The house was three storeys high. From up there, the drop was dizzying. But suddenly Zoe felt like she could probably fly if she needed to.

‘Have you been out on the roof?’ asked Tara.

‘Once,’ Zoe said, doubtfully; but her friends were all delight.

‘Let’s do it.’

‘I bet you can see Cwen from up there too.’

They waited impatiently as she put the ladder in position and pushed up the hatch. Zoe went first. She could feel the pulse of her blood through her arms and legs. There was a whispering in her ears which was probably the elevation. She called down to the others, ‘Come on,’ her voice sounding, even to her, very distant. She crept along the beam towards the skylight, and, when she pushed it open, found they were right in the middle of the roof. They crawled out and sat back against the tiles. The sun came out, lighting up the islands in the distance. The expanse of it was glorious.

‘It’s like being on a magic carpet,’ said Stella. ‘Look at the birds!’

‘The sea, our islands,’ said Tara. ‘Here we are, above everything—’

‘All-powerful,’ said Stella.

‘Poised in a moment of change,’ said Tara.

‘It’s raining over there, now, look,’ said Stella. Her nose stud flashed in the sunlight.

‘Where’s Cwen?’ asked Tara.

‘The other way,’ Zoe said. ‘You can see her if you stand. Hold on.’

She put out a hand and Tara held it as she reached up to look over the roof to the island.

‘No way,’ Tara said, as she sat down again. ‘Our Cwen.’

The three of them sat with their eyes closed, feeling the sunshine and wind on their skin.

‘Mashallah,’ said Zoe, quoting Mariam.

‘When does your father arrive again?’ said Stella.

Zoe’s eyes opened. ‘Next weekend,’ she said, and felt nervous, as she always did, when thinking of Sebastian. ‘What are you planning?’ she said. ‘I saw the banners Ravi had.’

‘We need to act,’ Stella began.

‘To protest,’ added Tara.

‘I know,’ Zoe said, sadly. ‘They’re such dicks.’