Justin had been keeping his eyes on Blue, expecting any trouble to come from him, but it was Maxie who launched herself at him. She was up and out of her chair in a second and had latched her hands on to Justin’s throat, forcing him back so that the two of them collapsed on to the floor, where Maxie sat on him, her fingers still locked round his neck.

‘Don’t you ever, EVER think that again,’ she hissed. ‘Or you’ll have worse to deal with than a few manky grown-ups.’

‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’

Maxie let him go. Stood up, embarrassed. She felt like a school bully. In a moment Justin had gone from being the main man here at the museum to a frightened nerd, slobbering on the carpet. She’d felt a brief thrilling surge of release, a rush of power to her head, and then a feeling of emptiness. And now she hated herself.

‘No, I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I overreacted. It’s just – the last couple of weeks have been bare heavy. I lost a lot of mates. My boyfriend among them.’

She paused. Had Arran been her boyfriend? Nothing had ever happened between them. In her mind, though, he’d been that. Her soulmate. That’s how she’d remember him.

She glanced at Blue. He was watching her. What were they now? The two of them.

Blue shrugged and turned to Justin who was sitting back down in his chair.

‘Looks like we got us a situation, innit?’

‘Please, you must understand,’ said Brooke. ‘We really, really can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for us.’

Blue didn’t even look at her.

‘You don’t trust us,’ he went on. ‘And, to be honest, we don’t trust you. Makes sense not to give your trust too freely. So there’s only one question really.’

‘What’s that?’

‘How do we go about getting each other’s trust?’

Justin stared down at the table, tapping his fingernails on the varnished wood surface. Thinking.

‘There is one thing you can do for us.’

‘Go on.’

‘We need more medicine, chemicals, drugs.’

‘You mean like vitamins and that? Makes sense.’

‘Not only stuff to keep us healthy,’ said Justin. ‘We need materials for our labs. You might think we’re crazy, but we’re trying to figure out how the disease works. Maybe even find a cure.’

‘You’re right,’ said Blue. ‘We do think you’re crazy.’

‘Well, for a while we’ve been talking about setting up an expedition, but we’ve never had the manpower.’

‘That’s us,’ said Blue. ‘Manpower. Girl power too.’

‘It would prove you were genuine.’

‘So you want us to put a team together?’

‘Maybe.’