Addy hadn’t expected Elise to do anything special for her birthday, not with everything going on, but to know that she’d been planning it for weeks and saving precious flour and sugar? Tears pricked her eyes as Cate leant forward and struck a match, and all four of them sang for her, their voices low and husky.

Adelaide looked at Harry, then Jack, and finally Cate, before blowing out her candle and shutting her eyes. She saw the attic as it used to be, saw her brother lying on the bed, throwing a pillow at her as she crept in to annoy him, saw her sister sitting at the top of the stairs, calling to their mother below. She could see Mama with her apron on, singing in the kitchen, and her father sleeping on the sofa, Oscar curled on his over-sized belly.

“Make a wish, Addy,” Elise whispered beside her.

Adelaide shut her eyes even tighter, her head spinning. I wish we could go back to normal, that this war was over for good. It was a stupid wish, one a child might make and expect to come true, but it was the only thing she could think to ask for.

“To many more birthdays to come,” Elise murmured, kissing her head as Cate cut the cake and put it on to plates.

Adelaide took the first plate, her fingers closing over the dainty little fork. It had been a long time since they’d indulged in cake or used their mama’s best china and cutlery. Once, cakes had been as commonplace as cheese and beautiful baguettes, but now they were as rare as hens’ teeth and she savored every bite.

When she finally looked up, licking every last morsel from her fork and seeing all the others do the same, she noticed the way that Harry was looking at her sister. The animosity was long gone, and had been replaced by an almost-protective gaze that was impossible to miss. Maybe that was why he’d been so curt with her before—he was cross with her on Elise’s behalf.

“So let’s run through this again,” Jack said. “The more we go through it, the more likely we are to be successful.”

“Even making it to the beach is going to be difficult,” Harry said, setting his plate down, her birthday celebration well and truly over as the discussion turned more serious. “Can you pass me the map?”

Jack grunted as he leant forward, clearly in some degree of pain still.

“So by my calculations, we need to walk all night, find somewhere to hide during the day, then resume our walk again the next night,” Harry said. “Elise?”

“Yes, but I think we need to allow some time for anything unexpected. What happens if we have to hide from a patrol or we have to change course?”