‘I hope the alarm is set,’ he said. ‘It’d mean there’s no clones inside. Kate, open the door.’

It was harder than Kate had thought. The inside of Oakenfold would be where her ugly past met her ugly present. It had been the place where she’d tried to recover from her years of bullying – and only partially succeeded. Now, the best school on Earth would showcase the horrors of a post-Takeover Britain.

She pulled the door open, and the last free students of Oakenfold Special School crept back into the building they had escaped from together. After almost a whole year, it could perhaps have been a sentimental moment. But Nicholas Grant was days away from launching an invincible protective shield that might have been perfected in that same building, so it hardly felt magical.

The alarm didn’t sound. Ewan looked disappointed, as far as Kate could tell. It wasn’t proof that clones were in the building, but it kept the possibility open.

‘Nothing above a whisper,’ Ewan said, following his own instruction. Before splitting up, the group of six stood together for a brief moment of shared empathy. Raj said it first.

‘United by our differences, guys.’

‘United,’ whispered everyone else.

Ewan wasted no time in heading for the classroom nearest to the entrance – the one for the profoundly disabled students, who had needed rolling in and out of school in specialised wheelchairs. Simon followed him with a nervous huff.

Raj and Gracie headed straight for the sensory room, already resigned to not finding anything interesting.

‘Shall we?’ asked Mark.

‘Yeah, sure,’ replied Kate.

‘This way first. Head teacher’s office.’

The reception was right next to them, but Mark had made his decision to inspect the most important room first. Kate started to follow him as he set off, but a thought struck her.

‘Wait… isn’t this the long way round?’

‘Yeah. There’s something I need to grab from my locker. Assuming they haven’t raided it.’

I was at my locker when it started…

Kate’s brain faded into autopilot as she followed Mark, her eyes fixed on his feet as they trod before her. It was the least appropriate time to retrace the past, but perhaps Nicholas Grant had chosen the school for that exact reason.

And to be fair, it was working.

It had been between English and maths, and she had been exchanging her exercise books in her locker. Chloe and Sally had complained about not getting a signal on their phones. In the background, Charlie was shouting about his human rights being taken away because he couldn’t access social media.

The staff had looked worried, but said nothing. Rule number one in times of crisis – hide everything from the students, even news that might help them.

With Chloe and Sally equally clueless, Kate had walked down the corridor and noticed Raj talking to his friend Callum.