‘Stop reacting to him!’ Zara snaps. ‘He’s being an idiot. And so are you, frankly. You’re both too pig-headed to sort this out, and I’m not hanging around while you two carry on shouting at each other.’ She grabs her bag and bolts out before I can say anything.

Yanny stares at the place where she was. ‘Her parents rowed,’ he says, wincing as the kitchen door slams down below us.

I shake my head. ‘I should have stopped her from going . . .’

‘She probably needs some time out from all this,’ Yanny says, his eyes flashing. ‘I know I do.’

And he too turns and marches out of the door.

‘Oh, Peg,’ I say into the new silence. ‘That wasn’t very good, was it?’

Teacake gives a chirp as I sit down on the bench below the window and bounces into his usual spot in my lap.

‘It’s what happens,’ Peg says, ‘when people care about each other, and times are difficult.’

‘Should I go after them? I don’t know what to do!’

‘Let it be for tonight,’ he says. ‘And in the morning, everything will feel different – it always does. We can fix it.’

‘Can we, Peg?’ I ask, my voice wobbling. He flings over to me, perching on the windowsill and looking me right in the eye. ‘Can we really? Because I want to go in there and find that palace, and make everything better, but I seem to be doing it all wrong already!’

‘I don’t think so,’ he says slowly, still staring at me. ‘I can see adventures. All you need to work out, Stella, is whether you’re ready. If you’re ready, all the rest will fall into place.’

In the morning, it doesn’t feel like the sort of day for an adventure to happen. It feels like a staying in and reading sort of day. Cold, brittle rain splashes against the windows, and it’s so dark, I can’t even make out the silver wire fence. Nan watches silently as I force a piece of toast down my throat, and Peg whisks up a hot chocolate that burns my mouth and makes my eyes ache.

For so long, this has been us: my family, my home. And it’s safe, and warm – and out there, it’s wild and wet, and my friends are hurting, and shadows are spreading, and I know I’m going to go in there today, and I’m going to fight with all that I have to find that palace, but I still don’t have the slightest clue how to make any of it better.

It was a night of tossing and turning. My stomach tight; eyes aching from crying; all the conversations of the day rushing through my head. Teacake stayed rumbling beside me for all of it, at one point rubbing her face into mine, drying the tears. I kissed her and thanked her, mainly because it was her hunting time, and she’d stayed in for me.