“And we’ll see him when he gets back.”

She cleared her throat again. “Yup. Yup. Course we will.”

“And maybe Lil’ll be able to come and visit us one day.”

“Yup. Yup. I’m sure that’s right.” She pushed her hands through her hair. “Well, I’m off to bed now. Hurry up. Get some sleep. School in the morning.”

She climbed up the stairs into the darkness.

No wonder Lil never came back to visit. If I got out of Fennis Wick and didn’t have to spend the rest of my life scrubbing laundry and lugging water and making pastry, I wouldn’t ever come back either.

I went through the kitchen, into the larder. Breathed in the cheese and the lavender.

I filled up the bag, took it upstairs and hid it in my middle drawer. No one ever looked in there. I’d take it up to the cemetery after school tomorrow.

To catch Una.

Not to help her.

THURSDAY
4 SEPTEMBER

CHAPTER 12

“Maggie?”

Mum’s voice reached into my sleep.

“Maggie?”

I opened itchy, smudgy eyes.

“You awake, Maggie?” she called from the landing. “Better get up or you’ll be late for school.”

School. I had to sit through a whole ’nother day of school before I could take Una’s food to the cemetery.

I pulled the covers back over my head.

“You’ll all be pleased to hear that Lindi Chowdhry is well enough to be with us this morning.” Miss Conteh blinked like she wasn’t properly awake yet. “But we only have her until lunchtime. Doctor Sunita wants her to get plenty of rest, what with her going to camp this Saturday. Isn’t that right, Lindi?”

“Yes, Miss Conteh.” Lindi sat up all prim. She had a dotted pink scarf wrapped round her head, tied neat at the nape of her neck. She’d have been as tidy and proper as always if it weren’t for the dark purple hoops around her eyes. She looked like the Parker brothers after too much homebrew and a midnight brawling.

“I’ve been hearing a little more about Lindi’s accident.” Miss Conteh stifled her third yawn of the day. We’d only been in for fifteen minutes.

“It seems,” she carried on, “that Jed Cruise, another of our eldests, bravely administered first aid and was constantly at Lindi’s side until help arrived, showing us again how valuable all our eldests are.”

Bravely administered first aid?

It was Trig who remembered the first aid – all of it. And help wouldn’t have arrived at all if I hadn’t run all that way to get it.

“Well done, Jed,” Miss Conteh went on, “and congratulations on your speedy recovery, Lindi. I’m sure only an eldest would have the capacity to heal so quickly. I hope my little Michael will grow up just the same.”

Lindi tilted her head towards Jed. His cheeks reddened.