I was going to have to speak. You can’t gain a wanderer’s trust without actually speaking to them. Trouble was, my brain had gone fuzzy and my mouth had dried up and my words had disappeared.

“What’s your name?” she said.

Maggie. My lips made the right shape but no sound came out.

“Can’t hear you.” She grinned her gappy grin and cupped her hands behind her ears.

“Maggie,” I croaked. “Maggie Cruise.”

“Good to meet you, Maggie Cruise.” She stuck out her hand. She was taller than me. A whole head taller. I clasped my hands to my chest.

“S’all right.” She dropped her arm down. “We don’t have to shake hands. Bit old-fashioned anyway. Let’s wiggle ears instead.”

She stood right in front of me and lifted up the sides of her hair.

“Ready?” she said.

One step closer and we’d have been touching noses. My heart kicked at my ribcage. What would Jed do? What would Lindi do? What would any of the brave eldests do?

No idea.

“Ready,” I whispered.

“Here goes then.”

She stared right at me and her ears wiggled up and down. All by themselves. Without anything else moving at all.

“Your turn,” she said.

I didn’t need to hold my hair up. Mum cut it short, first day of every month. Long hair just gets in the way.

I clamped my teeth together and wiggled. My whole face crunched and scrunched but my ears stayed completely still.

Una grinned.

“Hard, isn’t it? Hold on, watch this.”

She lifted one ear, and then the other, changing sides. Left, right, left, right, left, right.

Wow.

“How d’you do it?” My voice came out normal.

“My grandad taught me.” She dropped her hair back down. “He said most people think it’s genetic. Most people think you’re born so that you can either do it or you can’t, and nothing can change it. They’re wrong, though. You can learn. Anyone can. You just gotta know how. Want me to show you?”

Her grin again. That gap between her front teeth.

I pressed my tongue against the back of my own front teeth. They were tight together. No space at all.

“Yes,” I said. “Yes, please.” I held out the bag. “This is for you. And your dad.”

She took it, and our fingers touched. Wanderer skin. It felt just like normal.

She looked inside.

“There’s no antibiotics,” I said. “Not yet. I think I can get some, though. My dad’s a nurse.”

Her eyes glistened with tears again, like they did yesterday. “This is so kind, Maggie,” she said. “I’m so lucky I met you. Thank you. Thank you.”

“S’OK.”

“C’mon, let’s go over there, behind those walls.” She set off alongside the hawthorn, towards the old church. “We’ll be well hidden. I’ll give you your first lesson in ear wiggling.”