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Chapters (75)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. About the Author
  4. Title Page
  5. Intoroduction
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EITHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. SIXTEEN
  22. SEVENTEEN
  23. EIGHTEEN
  24. NINETEEN
  25. TWENTY
  26. TWENTY-ONE
  27. TWENTY-TWO
  28. TWENTY-THREE
  29. TWENTY-FOUR
  30. TWENTY-FIVE
  31. TWENTY-SIX
  32. TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. TWENTY-NINE
  35. THIRTY
  36. THIRTY-ONE
  37. THIRTY-TWO
  38. THIRTY-THREE
  39. THIRTY-FOUR
  40. THIRTY-FIVE
  41. THIRTY-SIX
  42. THIRTY-SEVEN
  43. THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. THIRTY-NINE
  45. FORTY
  46. FORTY-ONE
  47. FORTY-TWO
  48. FORTY-THREE
  49. FORTY-FOUR
  50. FORTY-FIVE
  51. FORTY-SIX
  52. FORTY-SEVEN
  53. FORTY-EIGHT
  54. FORTY-NINE
  55. FIFTY
  56. FIFTY-ONE
  57. FIFTY-TWO
  58. FIFTY-THREE
  59. FIFTY-FOUR
  60. FIFTY-FIVE
  61. FIFTY-SIX
  62. FIFTY-SEVEN
  63. FIFTY-EIGHT
  64. FIFTY-NINE
  65. SIXTY
  66. SIXTY-ONE
  67. SIXTY-TWO
  68. SIXTY-THREE
  69. SIXTY-FOUR
  70. SIXTY-FIVE
  71. SIXTY-SIX
  72. SIXTY-SEVEN
  73. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  74. CLIMATE EMERGENCY
  75. Copyright

We’re sitting on the grass, Dana’s knees are tucked under her skirt and she’s running her hands along the long, thin leaves of the bush with purple flowers on. A few are beginning to turn black. We’ve been talking for a while now.

‘I’ve been coming here for years. It used to be my grandad’s land, all this. Remember that old cottage that used to be here, by the main road, before they started building?’

They’d bulldozed the land so long before the building work had started that I can’t remember clearly, but there’s a hazy image in my mind. ‘With the yellow walls? Had a strange kind of pattern on the roof?’

‘Yeah, that’s it. That was my great grandad’s house, apparently. He used to be the gardener for some big manor that’s long gone, and they let him have that cottage to live in. Until they condemned it.’

‘And no one else knows about it? About this?’

‘My dad does. But he hasn’t come here for years. Not since he went away. But I think he might have come back the other week. Or over the weekend maybe.’

A few yellow and blue birds flit up and land on the wall, behind which the sky is growing darker, more delicate.

Dana continues, ‘I came here after school on Monday and the door had been kicked in. The lock was all broken, so I’ve fixed it. Took me ages. But at least now I know that I’ve got the only way in.’ She holds up a key. I hadn’t noticed her unlocking the door.

Dana mistakes my guilty look for one of disbelief, ‘What? So because I’m not good in school I can’t fix a lock?’

‘No, it’s not that, it’s just—’

‘Just that I’m not clever enough to join your little gang because I don’t get on with books?’ As I watch, a wall goes up behind her eyes, not as big but just as old and solid as the ones around the garden. Her garden.

‘Not at all. I’d have no idea how to fix a lock. And I don’t really have a little gang.’

‘I had to do the door first, bought some wood filler and replaced the bits that had been broken off.’ She hands me the key. ‘Go and have a look, if you don’t believe me.’ She says it like it’s a challenge.