‘Don’t you like my legs?’ I ask, pointing a suede toe at his boot.

He sighs. Shakes his head. Then he walks past me to the other side of the shed. ‘Just wear the trousers, love,’ he says, holding the door open.

Outside, the black sky’s spotted with stars. Dad used to pretend he knew the constellations. ‘That’s the great elephant,’ he’d say, pointing upwards but looking into my face. ‘And that’s Joanna. The huntress.’ He’d begin to smile. ‘See her bow and arrow? You wouldn’t mess with her, would you?’ But all I ever saw were tiny dots of glitter.

If I hurry I might catch them up.

I walk across the field, past the power station. Sometimes I think the towers must have moved in the night. From the other side of the village they can look miles away. But from the field, now, the power station looks like the closest thing to me. It looks like I could reach out and touch the fat towers. I could get my hair tangled in the wires that stretch across the fields. I could frazzle my ends on the current.

I think I see a bike light ahead. They must have been hanging about by the pools. Perhaps they’ve been kissing in the twitcher’s look-out.

‘Rob,’ I call. ‘Wait.’

I start running a bit. ‘Rob! Wait for me.’

And as I step in an icy puddle, I get an answer. It’s a very loud, sort of gargling sound. It’s somewhere between a shout and a scream. And it’s coming from the direction of the pools. My skin goes bumpy, like turkey flesh.

Then it happens again, louder this time.

For a few seconds, I can’t move. The sound echoes around me. The stars look brighter. The steam from the towers looks whiter. One blink seems to take a long time.

‘Joanna! Get out of here!’ I squint into the dark. A boy is racing across the field on his bike. He pedals as far as he can, then the bike swerves on the mud and he gets off and pushes, running alongside it so fast that the back wheel keeps kicking up from the ground.

When Luke reaches me his face is grey. His eyes bulge with fear.

‘What is it? What’s happened?’

‘For God’s sake, get out of here!’

He pushes past.

‘Where are you going?’ I run after him. ‘What’s happened? Where’s Rob?’

‘There was an accident – he had a knife – I’ve got to get help – ’

‘What?’

He’s gulping, crying. He drags his sleeve across his face, but doesn’t stop running. His back wheel’s bucking.

‘Luke, who had a knife?’

I’m panting from trying to keep up with him.

‘Shane! That bloody spacky!’

‘What?’

‘There was a fight – Rob fell – ’

‘Who was fighting?’

‘Shane – he had a knife – ’