She tried not to think about the fact that they wouldn’t have a roof over their heads tonight.

Once they had summitted the hill, they both turned slightly to look back down over the bay, their beloved lighthouse glinting in the early morning light. The beacon at the top of the striped tower called out to them. Lily could almost hear its strained voice crying out over the bay, through the light layer of sea fog, across the crumbling rooftops.

‘Don’t leave me here alone,’ it cried. ‘Come back to me, come back to me.’

It was a wrench to turn away from their sanctuary, not knowing whether or not they would actually return to see its welcoming glow once more. The children had disappeared back inside now, and with a heavy heart, she imagined them trying their best to do the chores and keep themselves busy. She knew the absence of Jem would be especially hard for them. Without Jem or Grace, that lighthouse surely lacked the soul that made it ‘home’.

‘Do you think you’ll ever leave here? When we come back, that is. With Grace and Alice.’ They had turned back towards the little, narrow track over the moors and were walking side by side, which meant that every time one of them took a step with their outward leg, it was lost in the heather branches.

‘I don’t think so. It’s been my one solid sanctuary since I was ten years old. Everything in there, everything we’ve built, it has memories, significance. Plus, I always want to be there if any of the children who were with us a few years back decide they need to return for one reason or another. Or if anyone new arrives in Kelseth in need of help or guidance. I want to be there for the lost children always, whenever they need us.’

Lily nodded in understanding. ‘You never told me what you and Grace were doing before you washed up here. Where are you from?’

Jem, rather than being taken aback by her question, just lowered his chin and nodded, smiling slightly. ‘I was wondering when you’d ask. I’m surprised it’s taken you so long; you’re such an inquisitive person.’

‘I didn’t want to pry, but now it’s just you and me and an open road with a destination I’d rather not think about. I’d appreciate the distraction of a good story.’

Jem cleared his throat dramatically, earning him a gentle shove in the shoulder from Lily.

‘Well, the truth is, I honestly remember very little. Grace is worse because when we washed up on the shore, she had a really dreadful head injury. She still has a gruesome scar across her face; a reminder of how long we’ve been here, and what it took to get us to safety.

‘Thankfully, there were some ancient and dusty medical textbooks in the lighthouse which I consulted whilst I cared for her, but she had … still has, pretty serious problems with her memory. She recalls nothing from our past. Her memory begins from that day we washed up on the beach.’