Ollie had found out that Trinity actually had several names. As a whole, ‘they’ were called Trinity, but the boy part called himself Trey and the girl part called herself Trio. Three names. That was fitting. Ollie didn’t ask if the thing on their back had a name.

Trinity had four legs, two normal-sized ones and two short ones that they kept tucked up under their belly. The bodies were joined down the side, and as far as Ollie could tell they only had three arms. Trey and Trio bickered with each other the whole time and Ollie couldn’t imagine what it must be like being permanently joined to someone like that. They worked efficiently enough, though.

Skinner was standing up now, the better to sing.

‘He always this noisy?’ Ollie asked as Skinner launched into a new verse.

‘Yeah,’ said the girl, Trio. ‘He gets bursts of, like, happiness, and then he gets long periods of being, like, down. And when he’s happy he sings. He’s not being disrespectful.’

‘We’re not used to other people,’ said the boy, Trey. ‘We never mixed. Never met anyone outside of our group. So we … well, we probably don’t feel about other people as deeply as we should. We’re quite turned in on ourselves. Only care about each other.’

‘Yeah,’ said Trio. ‘It’s like we know it was a bummer what happened to your friends, but … well, we’re free at least.’

‘It’s OK,’ said Ollie. ‘I hardly knew them, to be honest. Doesn’t really make it any better, though.’

‘Was it bad in there?’ said Trio.

‘Some of the worst I’ve seen,’ said Ollie. ‘We should have been there for them. Gonna have nightmares about this one long term. It was like falling. Out of control. I nearly lost it. Three times. I was attacked three times. Three times I nearly died. I was stupid.’

‘You’ll be safe now then,’ said Trey.

‘How do you mean?’

‘It’s the rule, haven’t you heard? The rule of three. Everything happens in threes. That’s how the universe rolls.’

‘Yeah? Not sure I’ve heard that one.’

‘He talks a lot of bollocks,’ said Trio. ‘He made the rule up. As a way of explaining how we got like this. Like we’re important somehow. Part of God’s plan. Yeah, right, good one. Special. Massive cock-up more like.’

Ollie glanced down at Trinity’s legs, was impressed at how they worked together, not tripping over each other, in step. The two kids fitted round each other very well. If they even were an ‘each other’ and not one person …

‘We’re not a cock-up,’ said Trey. ‘We’re part of a grand tradition. The three wise men, the three musketeers, three blind mice, the three bears, the three little pigs, and us – the holy Trinity.’