Luca and Mr. Khouri shook hands, and then he smiled at me. “Of course I am.” He turned to Aidan. “You’d better get to the oval and start warm-ups!”

Sam tugged on my arm and pointed out Jed and Keira, who were sitting with their families, so we walked over.

Luca shook more hands and even got a few backslaps when Khoa pointed out that Anika was due any day now.

“Shame she can’t be here today,” Vi said.

“That’s right, do you have everything you need? All the equipment that comes with babies these days?” Keira’s mom asked.

Luca smiled but ran a hand over his head like he always does when he’s stressed. I wanted to take his other hand and squeeze it. But before I could, he was pulling away, saying, “I might go and find the volunteers, cheer with them for a bit.” I frowned after him.

Vi bumped my shoulder. “It’s okay, love—those first-time father nerves seem to be kicking in.”

I blinked when she said that. I knew she didn’t mean anything by it, but . . . it stung a bit. The idea that Luca was about to be a “first-time” dad when he’d been mine all this time.

And then a siren was sounding, and players were moving out onto the field—the Australian side in green and yellow, the Albanians in red and black. The crowd went wild. The refugees were waving homemade paper flags around: red with what seemed to be a black double-headed eagle in the middle.

I poked Jed in the ribs. “Hey, I’m ducking off for a bit.”

“What?”

“There’s someone I have to see.”

Jed frowned at me and I poked him again. “I’ll be right back. I’ve just got to check on someone. . . .”

And then I was running, back to the haven.

I followed signs to the infirmary, which had a tall smokestack sticking out the back, because it was where the quarantine staff used to burn people’s luggage and clothes if they were diseased, just like Mr. Khouri had taught us.

It was more like a house, really, made of weatherboard and painted yellow, with a wide veranda that wrapped the whole way around. The double doors were old-fashioned, with windows stuck in the frame. I peeked through and saw a front desk, but nobody around. I pushed the doors open and stepped right in, saw two corridors, and picked the one on the right to walk down.

There were a bunch of empty rooms; some of them had beds and a whole stack of boxes labeled with the Red Cross sign, but no Nora. I thought I’d try the other way, but when I got to the end of the corridor there was another door with windows in the middle. When I looked through, I saw her—down by the little cliffs overlooking the shore.