Tom glanced at his sister, desperate to laugh. She returned the look with mortification.

‘So, let’s all bow our heads a minute, is it?’ And his voice changed gear, sinking down an octave, becoming intense and mysterious, yet still delivering words with machine-gun-like rapidity. ‘Lord-Jesus-Christ you are the light-an’-th’-hope. Deliver oh Lor’ our servant Catherine—’

‘It’s Catrin, it is—’

‘Ssh,’ hissed Liz, her eyes firmly closed.

‘… that she may stay safe-in-yer-care, as like Sain’-Chris’pher the patron saint of travels she travels herself to the far’way lands of Greece, an’-that.’

Tom couldn’t control himself and exploded in a snort.

‘Amen.’

Huw and Liz in unison said, ‘Amen.’

‘Sorry, can I ask something?’ Catrin interjected.

‘No. Ssh,’ said Huw. The priest had turned to his bag of tricks once more and was rustling around inside.

‘But how can the prayer work if he got my name wrong? I mean, did he even say my name right when I got baptized?’ Catrin pleaded in hushed tones.

By now Tom was having to stifle his hysteria with his mother’s Tower of London tea towel, stuffing almost half of it inside his mouth.

‘Ta dah!’ announced Father O’Leary, producing a small blue box. Catrin noticed the vinyl was peeling on one edge. He opened it and nestled inside on a cushion of grey plastic sponge was a gaudy-looking silver-coloured necklace.

Catrin looked closer and realized it was a tacky St Christopher charm, the kind they sold in the dusty cabinet at the back of the church.

‘What d’you think of that then?’ said Father O’Leary with gleaming eyes, as if he was showing her the Koh-i-Noor diamond.

‘It’s to keep you safe on yer hols!’ announced Huw.

‘Lovely!’ declared Liz. ‘Now let’s get it on you, shall we? Let it start doin’ its job!’

Catrin looked at her mother in disbelief.

Tom had tears streaming down his face. ‘It’s absolutely beautiful, Karen,’ he announced. And nobody detected his sarcasm. Except Catrin, of course. Who stood there resplendent in her khaki money belt and nickel-plated St Christopher charm that looked more like an SOS medallion, only not as subtle.

‘Hey now doesn’t that look the real deal!’ declared Father O’Leary.

The phone rang in the hall.

‘I’ll get it!’ Catrin screeched, desperate to get out of the kitchen. She leapt into the hallway and grabbed the phone. ‘5-0-6-5?’ she said.

‘Cat, it’s Lana.’

‘Oh, thank God! Look, the sooner you get here and we bugger off to Greece, the better. My family is actually deranged. My mother has only gone and—’

‘Babe, we got a problem.’

Catrin caught her breath.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked, worried.

On the other end of the phone, Lana sighed.

‘It’s Judith. She’s not fucking coming.’

2

Judith

After checking her bedroom for anything she may have forgotten, Judith picked up her bulging rucksack to test the weight and heaved it on to her shoulders. She couldn’t wait to leave. Focusing on the trip had buoyed her up through the pressure of exams. A little beacon in the otherwise murky mass of revision timetables, instant coffee, late-night cramming and nervous stress. But now she could put all that behind her: soon she’d be flying to Athens for the adventure of a lifetime with her two best friends.