When she turns to leave, she is crying, and she lets the tears run as she walks back towards the gate. It is getting dark – time for her to be back at the Cordelio. Black smoke is still coming up from the harbour. She brushes past a well-dressed older man in a banker’s suit who is carrying a bunch of irises, walking slowly towards the middle of the cemetery, and his face, too, is wet with tears. A little further down the path she sees he has dropped one. She picks it up and holds it to her nose. It has no smell, just a faint coolness: farmed, not quite real, like most of the flowers sold outside the gate. ‘I’m so sorry, Mama. I’m crying for you now,’ she says, and doesn’t even notice that she has slipped into English. ‘I’ve kept my promise, but I can’t do it any more.’ She turns to look back at the ossuary. ‘I was there when they dug you up, Mama. I washed your bones. I’ve sung for you: I’ve always sung for you. Remember when you told me not to follow you? What happens, dearest Mama, when the whole world is going down to Charon? The flowers don’t smell any more. Nothing will be sweet.’ She drops the flower on the crumbling tarmac of the path. ‘Help me be strong, Katina Valavani. Wherever you are, help me be strong.’

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Tom has slipped so far into a heavy, velvety sleep that he wakes to find Niko shaking him hard enough that his teeth are knocking together. He raises his hand to ward him off and Niko lets him go, a look of relief on his face.

‘Thought you were dead, Kapetanios!’ Niko says, crossing himself.

‘Not dead. Sorry … how long have I been asleep?’

‘All day. It is ten o’clock at night. It’s good you slept. Feel better?’

Tom sits up. His skin feels brittle and his burns are stinging, but his head is clear. ‘Whew! Much better, thank you.’

‘Come down, then,’ Niko says. ‘It is safe. And you must eat, OK?’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Sure. We look after you.’

‘OK. Wait a minute.’ He does up his boots and follows Niko down the ladder. At the bottom, Niko looks him up and down and, apparently satisfied, slaps him on the back.

‘OK! Now you come and sit down. The place is full—’

‘Full?’

‘Sure! But you don’t worry about the people. They are all friends. My friends, your friends. You sit, eat, listen to music. Then afterwards, we take you to Zozo’s house.’

‘Where?’ Tom rubs his eyes.

‘To Miss Valavani’s house. We have decided. You will stay there, Zozo will stay here. It is the best place. Here is too close to the harbour: the Germans are everywhere.’

‘Where does Miss Valavani live?’