Kwesi holds up his fist to greet us. I do the same but Big Ben doesn’t move forwards. I hope he’s not going to hit Kwesi. He only just met him.

‘Why are you here and not in the Minus 2?’

Kwesi makes rapid movements with his hands and face. MC2 raises his eyebrows.

‘Kwesi says he worked for Le Temps undercover in black gloves to hide the tat. But Le Temps got wise. Put him in solitary.’ He waits till Kwesi drops his hands. ‘To try to make him switch sides, brother got special treatment. Beats. Paints.’

Big Ben pauses a long time before he speaks. ‘Logical.’

Kwesi raises his fist to Big Ben and points to the red hat. Big Ben takes off the hat and hands it to Kwesi. I can’t imagine how it’s going to fit on his head over the afro. Big Ben tries to smooth down his hair but it still looks scruffy. In slow motion, he raises his left fist to meet Kwesi’s.

‘We still haven’t found Noon,’ I say.

Kwesi jerks his head towards me on the word Noon and draws a big circle with his hand then claps his hands fast twice. We don’t need a translation. We should have thought of it before. Noon loved The Round. If she was going to leap anywhere in 2100, that’s where she’d go.

Noon doesn’t look dazed like the other Leaplings. I guess she’s not been here as long. Luckily she didn’t leap to January 2100 by mistake.

‘Le Temps told me to work for him. I said no. I leapt in The Round to escape. Kwesi said 2100. I KNEW you’d be here.’ Noon smiles at Kwesi from East to West. I’ve never seen her look so happy.

‘You did good,’ says MC2.

‘There’s 13 of us now,’ I say. ‘A group leap might work.’

Kwesi shakes his head and holds up various fingers like he’s playing the piano. MC2 explains.

‘Brother don’t like 13. Says 12 is best. He’ll stay behind.’

I stare at him with an open mouth. ‘What about Ama? She’ll be furious if you don’t go back. She’ll roll her eyes anticlockwise. She can’t leap to 2100.’

Kwesi looks at me as if he can see right into my head. Then he signs to me. I don’t understand what he’s signing but I like how he moves his hands and fingers. You can almost imagine the sound.

‘Kwesi says: you speak sense. Big Ben should leap by car. And the sheap must be centre of the leap.’