Lewis looked over to where Amelia was sitting with Trinity round a garden table under a wooden structure that was covered with a climbing rose. Jug of water and bottle of lemonade sparkling in the sunlight. Like something out of an old advert. Happy families. The grandchildren visit their granny … except that Trinity looked well odd, the two bodies, boy and girl, joined together, like something out of one of the Percy Jackson books Lewis had been into when he was younger, before football took over.

Trinity wasn’t no monster, though. He mustn’t think that. They could read minds, couldn’t they?

‘That’ll do for now,’ Ed grunted and chucked a split log into a wheelbarrow.

Lewis still wasn’t sure about Ed. He was sorted enough to be a leader, but was he a fighter as well? ‘You see your man Macca?’ said Lewis.

‘Yeah?’ Ed was stooped over, picking up logs and lobbing them into the barrow.

‘Reminds me of this guy Arran, yeah? Was one of the kids led us out of Holloway. I never really knew him that good. Blue was my general. Anyways, he got bit in the neck, same as Macca.’

Ed started to wheel the barrow away. ‘You’re going to tell me he died, aren’t you?’ he said.

‘Yeah,’ said Lewis, following. ‘But not from the wound. He got hit by an arrow. Right in the chest. Was an accident. This girl, Sophie, shot him by mistake. That’s what did it for him. Only thing is, maybe it was for the best. Quick, you know?’

‘You suggesting I go up and shoot Macca with a bow and arrow?’

Lewis yawned, scratched his Afro, untangling a knot, staying cool.

‘No way, man,’ he said. ‘I’m just saying …’

‘What are you saying?’

‘Dunno.’

‘Yeah.’

Lewis felt uncomfortable around Ed. Knew he wanted to be gone from here. So he left him to stack the logs on the log pile and walked over to the table. Pulled up a chair. Helped himself to a glass of lemonade.

Trinity was deep in conversation with Amelia.

‘So, if I understand you right,’ Trey was saying, ‘the disease is parasitical.’

‘That’s right,’ said Amelia.

‘What, you mean like a bug?’ Lewis butted in. ‘An insect thing?’

‘Along those lines, yes,’ said Amelia.

‘It moved from this tribe in the rainforest into the scientists who were studying them,’ Trio explained. ‘Scientists from Promithios, from Medicines Without Frontiers and loads of other organizations out there.’

‘From all around the world,’ said Amelia.

Lewis remembered the Twisted Kids talking about Promithios back at the museum. It’s where their parents had worked and where they’d been hiding out when Blue found them.

‘They were immunized and screened for all known diseases,’ said Amelia. ‘They were the experts in their field.’

‘So how come no one spotted this new sickness?’ said Lewis.