‘We had to run,’ Sami said. ‘A long way. Maybe ten miles, without stopping. Then we had to hide in the forest. The ones they found were sent home.’

‘Where did you hide?’

‘There was a ruined hut. Just a pile of bricks. I clambered in under the bricks.’

‘Didn’t that hurt?’

Sami gave a small smile. ‘I’m used to it,’ he said.

‘Why?’

Sami gave him a helpless gesture that said, I can’t tell you.

Max noticed that the pitter-patter of sleet on the metal roof had stopped. Everything was quiet. Then, somewhere outside, a whistle blew.

‘That’s dinner,’ Sami said. He looked like he was going to invite Max to go with him, but was too shy to do it.

‘Shall we go?’ Max asked. ‘I could do with something to eat.’

Sami smiled and nodded. Together they left the hut.

Just because the sleet had stopped, it didn’t mean the weather had improved. The sleet had turned to snow. A blizzard swirled all around them, so thick that the house was a mere outline. Already there was a thin covering of snow on the ground. Max and Sami hurried through it. By the time they reached the house, snow had settled on their hair and clothes. Sami was laughing. His dark, serious eyes twinkled. ‘Where I’m from,’ he said, ‘we never see snow!’ He touched the white powder on his clothes like it was magic dust.

‘You know what I’m thinking?’ Max said.

‘What?’

‘That whatever they have lined up for us tomorrow, the snow isn’t going to help.’

‘Oh well.’ Sami smiled. ‘At least it will be fun!’

Max followed him across the hallway to a large room at the back of the house. There was a school-dinner smell and the sound of voices and clinking cutlery. Inside the room, about twenty cadets were sitting at two long tables. At the far end was a line of hot plates. A woman stood behind them, ready to serve.

‘That’s Martha,’ Sami said. ‘She’s the matron. She’s supposed to look after us.’ He gave Max an open, honest look. ‘I am extremely scared of her,’ he said.

Martha was perhaps sixty years old. She looked severe. She had tanned skin and lines around her eyes and lips. Her wavy hair had blonde highlights and was scraped back in a tight bun, with a couple of tendrils hanging over her forehead. She had her arms crossed and was holding a ladle. It occurred to Max that if she wanted to use it as a weapon, she probably could.

Max and Sami walked up to her in silence. She was standing guard over a cauldron of brown stew. She looked at Max. ‘You the new one?’ She had a Scottish accent.

Max nodded. Martha looked unimpressed. Wordlessly, she ladled out two bowls of stew and handed them to him and Sami. ‘Eat,’ she said.