Forest lay on top of the covers in his new bedroom at Safe Harbour. There was a four-poster bed, with the canopy and everything, and it was made up with silk sheets. They made his skin itch – Ivy had told him they were new. Even this bed had only been bought today. Zeus lay just outside the glass doors that led out onto the garden, whining. Ivy said she didn’t have many rules, but she had insisted the dog stay outside.

That evening, in a gleaming dining room around a massive table made from a gigantic piece of dark-brown driftwood, they’d eaten a six-course dinner, provided by a catering company she’d called in just for the two of them, including a waitress who filled up his glass and cleared away the plates as he finished each course.

As they ate, Ivy implored him to make himself at home. He should let her know anything he needed. She wanted him to be safe, but she danced around what she really wanted to say: she wouldn’t ask what had happened to him, but she was cautioning him to make sensible decisions. Then, she gave him a gold-tinted credit card. She told him with a wink that it had a ten-thousand-dollar limit – enough for him to buy ‘essentials’.

Now, lying on the bed, looking around at the room, he had the overwhelming sense that she was trying to dazzle him with wealth.

It made him realise that it was past time he went to see Huck.

As quietly as he could, Forest slipped out of bed and got dressed, finding an oversized jacket in the wardrobe Ivy had prepared for him. He swiped a fancy metal pen off the desk, and brought the credit card with him, too.

As he walked out the door, Zeus rolled over onto his back, paws in the air, whimpering.

‘Stay.’

Zeus wagged his tail once, but he didn’t change position.

Forest stayed low and moved quietly through the muggy, moonlit night. He knew that the police were keeping an eye on the house, but he had always been very good at sneaking around. He picked his way through the grey saltbush that separated Safe Harbour from the neighbouring property, then crept down their root-strewn staircase to the beach. The salty air, dense with heady eucalypt, buzzed with insects. The sky above was a fountain of stars.

Forest padded along the sand until he reached a park with a playground and swings. Here he climbed a cabbage gum, retrieving his bum bag, having stashed it here the night before. This time he took only the map of Shacktown, leaving the remaining cash hidden inside.