I might have known this would happen. It’s all very well me keeping quiet, knowing – because I’m much older than him – that people will react with disbelief, or scoff, or simply not understand. But Seb doesn’t do that. He just says it all, straight out, while Dad’s face stays blank. Seb gets one of the Dreaminator boxes and holds it up to my phone to show Dad.

‘A Dreaminator?’ Dad says in a mysterious sort of voice.

‘Have you heard of it?’ I ask. I’m about to tell him that I met the inventor this morning, but I’m put off by his suspicious tone of voice.

‘The name rings a bell,’ Dad replies. ‘Dunno where from, though.’

At that point, Dad’s girlfriend calls for him and he has to go. I keep thinking that the word ‘Dreaminator’ has stirred up some memory in Dad that he doesn’t want to – or can’t – tell me.

Chapter 38

Hours later, I still can’t sleep. It’s a really warm night for September. I’ve flung the cover off and I lie there, listening to Seb snuffle.

‘You awake, Malk?’ he whispers.

‘Mm-hm.’

‘Me too. Are we going to do the dream, with the Nerf guns? Shooting Hitler?’

‘If we get to sleep, yeah.’

‘Cool.’ He lies back. ‘Will you read Kobi to me?’

I put the light on with a sigh. He’s already sitting up now and has got the book in his hands. I prop myself up on my pillow and start reading.

‘In the shadows of the cave, the fire flickers red,

And Kobi lies down with a rock beneath his head …’

We get halfway through the story, to the bit I know is his favourite.

‘A ride upon a mammoth? What a wonderful idea!

Kobi clambers up its trunk and hangs on to its ear …’

But Seb’s already asleep. When I close the book’s cover, I see something that I’ve never noticed before. On the flap is small, scrawly writing:

To Seb from Dad. Be brave like Kobi x

Only it’s obviously not Dad’s writing. It’s Seb’s.

Seb, who hardly ever mentions Dad. I turn out the light and flop back on to my hot pillow, a strange feeling inside me. I think it might be protectiveness towards my brother?

It’s new, and I don’t like it.

And that’s not all. Because, a few hours later, I’m dreaming the dream that will change everything.

Chapter 39

Remember: it was Seb’s idea. I can at least blame him for that. He was the one who came up with the idea of attacking Adolf Hitler.