Scarface took Ella over to one of the other barns. The door here also had all sorts of locks and things on it and she had to wait while he sorted them out. She looked at the club he’d given her. Didn’t think she could ever hit anyone with it, but had to admit she felt a bit better holding on to it.

Once Scarface got the door open they went inside. There was a strong smell that clawed at the back of her throat, like old stale wee, and there was a dry, dusty feel to the air, and the sound of something humming and buzzing, as if there was a huge crowd of people inside the barn. They went through a small entrance area and into a much larger space. Ella was amazed to see a great pen full of hundreds of chickens all running around clucking. She laughed. This was crazy.

Scarface went over to a big bin and scooped out a shovelful of grain that he threw at the chickens, who squawked and clucked even louder and started pecking at it like mad things. She was amazed that he would use food to feed chickens. That meant there must be lots of it here. A whole farm full of stored-up food. No wonder he had so many locks and traps about the place. He handed the shovel to Ella and she copied him, hurling more grain at the chickens and still laughing. There was a line of henhouses down one side and Scarface showed Ella the warm eggs sitting in straw under lift-up wooden flaps. She helped him collect them and carefully put the eggs into a bucket.

It was just like Maeve had said the countryside would be – farms and animals and food and lots of friendly kids to play with

Except it wasn’t really, was it? Because Maeve had missed out the part about having your head chewed off by a grown-up. And Ella wasn’t skipping round a sunny farm with a jolly farmer. She was trudging about the place with a nasty spiked club in the rain with this weird sicko, old Face-Ache.

Life was never like the stories in books, was it?

They took the eggs back to the main barn and Scarface let Ella carry them. They were putting them away in a tin box when Scarface suddenly stopped and straightened up, listening, sniffing the air. Ella listened too. She could just hear the faint tinkling of a bell in the distance. Scarface let out his breath and scratched his armpit. He looked at Ella, as if deciding something, then passed her the club that she had put down to stack the eggs. He walked to the door and started unlocking it.

What was going on now?