The boys were back, coming from the other side this time. They were making a lot of noise again, telling each other to shush and then sniggering; and close, so close, they must be standing right next to the tree trunk without even realising she was in there! Odette had to put her hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. Boys were so stupid.

Jake’s voice was loud in the quiet of the woods.

‘She’s not here, lads.’ More snorting laughter from the other two boys. ‘It’s a proper mystery, I don’t know where she can have got to. Maybe she’s gone down into the gorge.’

The sound of them tramping away through the leaves again.

Odette kept watch through her little peephole in case the boys came back. They had been right next to her, without even realising she was there! She was going to win. It would be so funny when she told them how close they’d been.

It was warm in her secret hiding place. Cosy. And it was so hard to sleep in her holiday bed . . . it was different to her normal bed at home, too hard; but then sometimes it was too soft, and she couldn’t usually get comfy without all of her toys. Her nest inside the fallen tree was quite comfy though, even if some of the leaves were a bit scratchy. She actually felt more comfy in here than in her holiday bed.

Her eyes felt heavy.

She let them close.

*

She woke without even realising she’d been asleep. Her shoulder ached where she’d leaned on it against the bark, and the light outside was a bit different. But no one had found her. None of the boys had guessed where her hiding place was. She was going to win.

Outside in the woods it was getting noisier.

Voices, shouting the names of all the children.

Shouting her name.

‘Odette! Where are you?’

Odette knew what they were doing: they were trying to trick her into coming out, show where her hiding place was. They were trying to make her look silly.

She smiled to herself. She was cleverer than them. She would show them. Something smelled bad though, like when Mum burned her toast and made the alarm go off at home. But Odette wasn’t going to fall for that one – she knew what boys were like.

She wasn’t going to give up that easily, not when it was her turn to hide.

She wasn’t going to come out for those silly boys.

She wasn’t going to come out for anyone.

Chapter 67

67

For a second, the three of us just stood and stared.