Carly held her breath. She heard a shout. Footsteps heading in her direction. Quickly, she lay on the floor, moulding her body around the edge of the pile. She dragged an off-cut of carpet across herself – it stank. She imagined it was crawling with bugs. Her skin and hair began to itch. Real or imagined insects skittered across her skin. Crawled into her ears. Her nostrils. Her mouth. Tiny feet brushed the hairs on her arms. She suppressed a whimper, resisting the urge to scratch. She felt too conspicuous, exposed, in the middle of the room, but she also hoped that was what would prevent them remaining undiscovered.

Hiding in plain sight.

Carly tried not to think about anyone tossing a match onto this makeshift bonfire. She tried not to think about the flames dancing around that effigy of Guy Fawkes she and the girls had made last year. She tried not to think of anything except home.

Safety.

Warmth.

She waited.

Outside, the rain beat against the flat roof. The wind howled through the broken windows. Footsteps slapped against the concrete floor.

‘This place is incredible.’ She recognized Doc’s voice. ‘Can you imagine the history—’

‘You’ll be fucking history if you don’t find them. I can’t believe you—’

‘Yeah, I know. They can’t have gone far though. One of them was really sick.’

‘You’d better fucking hope they haven’t.’

They grew louder. Closer. Through a sliver of a gap where the carpet met the floor Carly could make out boots. A rush of heat swept up her body from her feet to her prickling scalp.

Please keep still, girls. Please keep still.

Another step, Doc’s foot brushed against the carpet covering her, dislodging a cloud of dust that tickled her nose. She was going to sneeze. She could feel it building.

Building.

Building.

Filling her nostrils. Her mouth automatically opened.

Please, no.

Millimetre by millimetre she raised her hand until she could press her index finger underneath her nose, her heart skittering as the carpet shifted. She prayed no one had noticed. She prayed it wouldn’t slide off her completely.

The rain drummed.

Her heart drummed.

Moustache’s footfall drummed.

‘They ain’t here. Let’s check upstairs.’

Silence, but not relief. The second she could no longer hear them she heard a soft crying but before she could comfort the girls, shush them quiet, she realized it was coming from her. She tried to swallow her tears back down, but she couldn’t.

To their credit the twins didn’t speak, didn’t move. It took Carly several minutes to compose herself, pushing her fingertips hard against her eyelids. Breathing deeply through a nose that was clogged with snot and dust.

‘Are you both okay?’ she eventually managed to whisper.

‘Yes,’ Leah’s reply was small.

‘Marie?’

‘I feel really sick again.’

Carly wasn’t surprised, even she fell ill with the stench of damp and urine and soot.

‘Try to be still for a little while longer and when we’re sure they’ve gone, I’ll get you out.’