And all the lies that were told.

Before I can think of anything, I hear a voice behind me. ‘Are you looking for me?’

Chapter 16

BACK THEN

Prin climbs out of her bedroom window in nothing but her nightie. Neither Mum nor Daddy knows that she can do this. She only worked it out herself a few months ago. She has to shimmy right to the left-hand side of the window to reach the flat of the roof below with her feet. But she is big enough, tall enough now to do it. In the summer it gets so hot in her bedroom. But at night-time, she can come out here where there’s a breeze and it’s cool and she can look out over the whole world.

Or out over the back garden anyway.

It’s a very pretty garden. Mum does a lot of the gardening herself, but Daddy also pays for people to come and make it look extra nice. Daddy likes things to look pretty and perfect. Prin thinks about the word Mum used about him once, talking to a friend of hers in the kitchen with Prin secretly listening from behind the closed door. A narcissist, Mum said, I read about it. I think that’s what he is, and it made Prin think about the flower they learned about in school, narcissus, which meant a sort of daffodil, a very pretty flower.

Prin feels the roof below with her toes, warm and gritty. She lets herself drop down, then slips across onto the flat of the roof next to it. This is where she can lie down and look at the sky.

Tonight, even though it’s very late, the sky is still turquoise along the horizon. Turquoise there, and then deep ink-black on the other side. Prin knows that the sun sets in the west which is why one side of the sky stays light longer. She learned that in school, and her Daddy confirmed that it was right.

Prin’s nightdress feels light and thin now against her skin. She was so hot in bed before, kept kicking the covers off her and turning her pillow over and over trying to find the cool side. On the bed Mum set up for her against the far wall, Jane was fast asleep, seemingly unbothered by the heat. She’s only seven, Prin remembers. Prin remembers going to bed earlier and sleeping more herself when she was as little as that. Jane was so fast asleep she didn’t even stir when Prin lifted the sash window.

Now Prin lies herself down on the roof. It is hard under her back; she should have brought a blanket or something out here, made herself a little bed. She closes her eyes and imagines lying on a feather mattress, like the princess in her storybook, who lay on that whole tower of mattresses!

Up above her, faint stars circle. She can see all kinds of pictures that they make. Daddy taught her about the constellations. Plus Prin has made up constellations of her own.