Deep down Ella knew he was right. It had been getting harder and harder as their supplies started to run low. She felt feeble all the time and cold and scared. There was always the worry that they’d be attacked again. She never felt completely safe, not even when they were down in their snug hole. So far they’d been all right. There had been a couple of occasions when a pack of dogs came sniffing by, but Malik got rid of them. The dogs half liked him and half feared him, but they were hungry too and wild, and if they got the chance they’d come in for dinner. When dogs were in a pack, they behaved differently.

‘When?’ she said, sounding grumpy and glum. Grumpy Glumdrops. That’s what her mum used to call her when she was in a bad mood, to try to tease her out of it. And it had always just made her worse. Grumpy Glumdrops. That’s who she was.

‘Tomorrow,’ said Malik. ‘No point in waiting any longer. I’m well enough to walk now. I’ve been thinking about this ever since we had to leave the farm, planning it. You need to be back with people, not stuck with a ghoul like me.’

‘You’re not a ghoul.’

‘I’m hardly Johnny Depp, though, am I?’

Ella had to admit that there was a part of her that was lonely and a part of her that was bored, made worse by sitting thinking about food all day.

That and being attacked by grown-ups.

They hadn’t seen any of them so far. Maybe they’d all gone, marched off with the tall woman and her army. Ella wondered where they’d been going.

‘You’re right,’ said Malik. ‘I’m not a ghoul. Which is why I need to go and live with people again. I’ll have to do it sooner or later. If I don’t go to them they’ll come to me. So are you all right with it, Ella? Can we stop arguing?’

‘I suppose so.’

‘Good girl. You’ll see. It’s the right thing to do.’

Chapter 29

29

Next morning they packed up what they could carry, stowed the rest in the hole and set off for Bracknell. As they walked through the woods, Ella asked Malik how long he thought it would take them.

‘Shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours, maybe three, as I can’t go too fast and we might need to stop now and then, but we’ll be there by lunchtime. It’s the start of a new life, Ella.’

‘If you say so.’ There she was, doing it again – Grumpy Glumdrops. Couldn’t snap out of it even though she knew this was the right thing to do.