“Tell me what you see, Leho,” Ma asks softly. Her expression is calm behind the goggles, yet her hand clasps my arm tightly.

“We’re going past the shops,” I say gruffly. “There are the gates to the House of Law, down the end of the street.”

Marching alongside Ma, her cane strident on the cobbles, Hern has gone quiet. Behind us, the crowd hangs back a little. Everybody seems affected by the sight of the House of Law glittering in the pearly light. Will the Director still be there? It’s rumoured there are cells beneath the House of Law lined with sheets of iron so that the screams of the tortured won’t be heard.

My thoughts fly to Jorzy and what might be happening to him. I’m close to tears, but I swallow down my fear.

Then we reach the gates and stop. Nobody seems to know what to do next. I look to my mother for guidance.

“Tell me what you see,” she says again.

I clear my throat. “There’s the plaza in front of the House of Law. It’s empty. No automobiles, or anything. Maybe there’s nobody here.”

“There is always somebody at the House of Law,” says Ma. She seems to be thinking, angling her face as if to catch the sound of distant voices.

“It’s true, it’s true,” Hern says nervously. “Always somebody here, night or day. They’re probably watching us at this very moment, as we speak. There’ll be Black Marks along soon, you’ll see, oh yes, Black Marks.” He peters out.

“Where are the guards?” I ask slowly, the emptiness of the place dawning on me.

The little man glances nervously from side to side. “Very true,” he says quietly, “there are no guards. There are always guards. Hm, where are the guards?”

I startle as my mother squeezes my arm. “Let’s go,” she says.

“Go?” I whinny in my nervousness. “Where?”

She lifts her chin, taps the cane on the ground. “Take me to the main entrance.”

Me and Hern exchange bleak glances. The people behind us are shuffling and murmuring. The main entrance? Oh, gods. Cerels aren’t allowed near the main entrance.

“Don’t you mean the side entrance, Ma?” I ask urgently.

She turns her face to me, and I see my reflection in the dark goggles. “No, son. The main entrance.”

“Oh my, oh my,” Hern is muttering under his breath, “now we’ll be for it, oh yes indeed, this’ll be it–”