‘I don’t want to scare you.’

‘Oh, my knees are shaking,’ said Achilleus and he laughed dismissively.

Jackson could see, though, that Ebenezer and Paddy were nervous and unsure.

‘Why you not upstairs with the rest of your dogs?’ Achilleus asked.

‘Why aren’t you?’ came the reply.

‘I guess I’m sort of keeping guard,’ said Achilleus. ‘Don’t trust no one. How about you?’

‘I’ve seen the show too many times. It’s boring. TV Boy just likes to show off. Doing all the voices. He’s a pain in the arse sometimes. Acts like he’s in charge. He’s not in charge. The Warehouse Queen – she’s in charge.’ The boy paused. There was a silence and then he went on, his voice still muffled. ‘It was TV Boy who wrote those messages in the corridors.’

‘What was that all about?’

‘He said if anybody was going to come in here they had to earn it, show they were clever enough, brave enough, I guess. Tough enough.’

‘Why was that important?’

‘It’s dangerous around here. Lots of sickbags. We can’t stay in here forever, though, and just rot. TV Boy said that if anyone was going to help us they had to prove how good they were. He’s always making traps and tricks and crap.’

‘You saying you were waiting for someone to ride in to your rescue?’

‘Something like that.’

Jackson had worked out that the boy was hiding behind a nearby stack of boxes; he’d been moving about at first to confuse them, but he’d stopped still now and she could just make out a shape crouching in the dark. The light was fading fast outside, the skylights only showing a soft blue glow against the black of the roof.

‘Come out,’ she said. ‘We can’t talk to you lurking about behind there.’

‘Achilleus was right,’ said the boy, who must have been listening for some time. ‘I’m embarrassed. I’d forgotten what normal children looked like. I’ve been here too long. Got used to it. Forgotten what creeps we are.’

‘It’s all right,’ said Jackson. ‘We won’t laugh or anything.’

‘I might,’ said Achilleus and he grinned.

‘Shut up, Akkie,’ said Jackson and he made a face at her. Jackson turned back towards where the boy was hiding. ‘Are you going to come out?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘What’s your name?’ Jackson asked.

‘Skinner.’

‘Is that your surname or a nickname?’

‘It’s my name. My only name.’

‘What’s your real name?’

‘We don’t deserve real names. We were unwanted. Ugly. Shut away. We were a dirty secret.’

‘Yeah, but you had names, right?’

‘I told you. I’m called Skinner.’

‘Are you not going to tell me?’

‘It’s Skinner.’

‘What?’ said Achilleus. ‘You skinny then, are you?’

‘Something like that.’

‘Let’s see it.’

‘You can laugh if you want.’

‘Thanks. I might.’