‘Huge but natural. Like catching a wave. Also, my life depended on it. Like breathing,’ Winter answered and then she left.

And the next day, Joe got another question.

‘Did you know, before he climbed out of his egg?’ That one hurt him to ask, and it obviously hurt Winter to answer.

‘Yes,’ she said, taking it slow. Her eyes were huge and glittering. ‘I only cared about Jin’s egg, not the others.’

Unexpectedly, that made Joe feel better. He was never going to have bonded with any of those eggs at the ceremony: he should have guessed. He felt calmer now, remembering it, and from then on he stopped going over and over what he’d done on Hatching Day.

The days slipped past. Joe looked forward to Winter’s arrival, and each time she came, she stayed longer and talked more. As gradual as the change of the seasons, they turned from strangers into friends.

‘Soon you’ll be well,’ Winter said one day, after they’d been giggling over Joe’s imitation of the baker. ‘You can walk up the tunnels and into the city again.’

‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I won’t go back.’

‘You have a home up there.’

‘Not any more. Can’t I stay here?’ Joe added quietly. ‘There’s room for both of us. There’s room for the whole city.’

‘It’s my home. It’s safe. It’s secret.’ She shook her curtain of black hair so it covered her face.

She hid.

That’s what she did, Joe realised. Hiding had kept her safe these past two years and let her mourn in peace. 75

‘I know, I know! I won’t change that. I’m not going to tell anyone else, I promise!’ He tried to explain. ‘I can’t go home, not till I’ve changed, till I’ve done something to be proud of.’

She seemed frozen and he didn’t know if she was listening.

He took a deep breath and all his stored-up thoughts came tumbling out now. ‘But I need to start on that. I need to find a new path, something to work at.’ He fumbled around, lifted the lamp and showed her where he’d used his knife to chip away at the wall. ‘I’ve made this – look.’

She peered up through her curtains of hair.

‘This is where I came in, and this is the largest cavern, the one as big as a dragonhall. I don’t know where we are now – but you do, don’t you?’

‘It’s part of a map,’ she said slowly, reaching up and touching it with one finger. ‘I never thought of that. I’ve been sticking to a few main routes, so I didn’t get lost …’ She sat very still in the warm circle of lamplight, shadows trembling and dancing all around her as she thought it through. ‘If we copy this – and other passages – down onto parchment and bring it with us, we could go anywhere!’ Her eyes sparkled now, catching his excitement.

‘Yes! We can explore it all. These tunnels were used once, so there must be something worth finding down here. Something ancient! Maybe there’s buried treasure. I could trade with it or buy passage off the island: make my new start. Who knows what we might find?’