‘That night, when I rescued you,’ he said. ‘When I was down by the river, ready to jump in, the words were going round in my head. The river calling to me. I was at my lowest just then, before I met you. I so wanted to jump in.’

‘Why didn’t you?’

‘I told you before. The grown-ups came. More of them. I got their scent and …’

‘No,’ said Ella. ‘That’s not it. Why didn’t you jump in really?’

‘I’ve always thought there was a very thin line,’ said Malik. ‘Between doing it and not doing it – but there wasn’t. It’s a thick line, and it’s a line I just couldn’t cross. I guess some of us are wired for survival. We carry on. And now, the thing is, you’ve given me a reason to carry on, Ella. I don’t want to jump in the river any more. I don’t want to be an animal any more. I want to return to the world. You showed me that it isn’t only full of bad things. Bad people.’

‘From now on it’s all going to be all right,’ said Ella, and Malik laughed.

‘I hope you’re right,’ he said.

‘I’m right,’ she said. ‘I’m going to make you well and we’re going to rebuild the farm and we’ll live there like proper farmers. I’ll plant flowers and we’ll have a donkey, and another goat. I like goats. And we’ll find a pig somewhere and make sausages out of him.’

‘You’ve got it all thought out, haven’t you?’

‘Yes. I have.’

Chapter 28

28

‘I won’t go! I won’t go! I won’t go!’

‘You’ve got no choice.’

‘I won’t …’ Ella beat her small fists against Malik’s chest. He winced and coughed, then let her carry on a few beats longer before grabbing her wrists and holding her still. He glared at her through his good eye, the white stained red round the edges.

‘You can’t stay here.’

‘I can …’

They were sitting on a platform high up in the treetops in the woods. It was several days since they’d left the farm and gone to hide in the hole. Ella remembered crawling out after listening to Malik’s story. She had had no idea what sort of time it might be, no idea how long they’d been down there, and it had been a shock returning to the real world. Since then she’d spent most of her time sleeping, woken only by hunger. That was how it had been. Day by day, just getting from one meal to the next, stretching out their rations, looking after each other.