‘Okay. Bell: where are your maps?’

‘I don’t have any.’

‘That’s just bollocks. I know you have maps. Where are they?’

A flash of defiance burned in Bell’s face. ‘They were stolen.’

‘Convenient. By who?’

The fire flickered, and was extinguished. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘It matters to me. We want to know where the fuck we are and what the fuck is going on, and whether we can get the fuck home again. So, you’re going to tell me where your maps are, or I’ll beat it out of you right now.’ Mary balled her fists, and the muscles in her bare arms flexed.

‘A man called Crows stole them when he left me.’ Bell put her hands to her face to cover her shame.

‘Left you? Like he was your boyfriend? Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me.’

‘You know this Crows man?’ Mama looked askance. ‘You get around, girl.’

‘Yes, I know him. He stole my fucking map too.’

‘Mercy! Will someone please, in heaven’s name, explain what is going on?’

‘Right.’ Mary glanced up to see she had an audience. The longer she left it, the more interested they became, and the more embarrassed she turned. ‘No. I’m going to let Bell do it.’ She pushed her with the flat of her foot, and the geomancer tried to slap it away. Too slow.

With the focus of attention off Mary, she moved back and waited with the others.

‘Down,’ said Bell, with a shuddering sigh, ‘Down isn’t just a direction.’

‘It’s a destination,’ said Mary. ‘Get to the good bits.’

‘Down is a world separate to where we came from, but connected to it in lots of different places and times. These places we call portals, and they’re doors where people can enter Down, but not, apparently, leave. Someone, a long time ago, discovered that if you draw a line between two portals, there’s nearly always another portal on that line. You can get villages on those lines, too. Where those lines cross, you get castles. That’s why maps are important. And Crows stole mine.’

‘She’s missing some stuff out,’ said Mary, ‘but that’s pretty much what I got from Crows.’

‘So what did I miss out?’ asked Bell. She pushed her hair back from her face, to better show off her black eyes, torn skin, and dew-drop of blood clinging to the end of her nose.

‘That the villages and the castles grow, depending on how many people live there.’ Mary watched the others’ consternation rise. ‘Those houses we found in the forest? They grew there, and were just sinking back into the ground. The same with castles. She needs people to live here in order to keep the walls and the towers intact.’

‘Is that why she took us?’ Elena was as bemused as she was angry. ‘Is that all?’