Ray moves quickly. In the bedroom he pushes a bookshelf to one side revealing a cavity behind it.

‘Quick,’ he says. ‘Get in here. Take Willow.’

He lifts Kas off the bed. She tries to push him away, not understanding what’s going on, but he takes the baby from her arms, guides her to the cavity and pushes her in after Willow.

‘You can’t do this on your own, Ray,’ I say. ‘I’m not hiding.’

He takes me by the shoulders. ‘It’s you three they want,’ he says. ‘They won’t take the baby and Rose is…’ He stops and looks at her on the bed.

‘But what about you?’

‘I’m too old for them to worry about,’ he says, and points at the cavity. ‘Now get in there.’

There’s just enough room for three. It’s musty and smells of rats. Most of the light is blocked when Ray pushes the bookshelf back into place, but if I flatten myself against the side wall I can see through a small gap into the room. Ray sits himself down on the bed, cradling the baby in his arms. Waiting.

Slowly the room fills with light and large shadows. No one has said anything, but I can see Ray looking up at a man standing in the doorway. His large shape moves around to the other side of the bed and he drops to his knees.

It’s Ramage.

He reaches out and touches Rose on the cheek. When his voice comes, it’s thin and low.

‘Ah, Warda, my beautiful Warda. Why did you run? I could have looked after you.’

Kas is pressed against me. She’s heard the voice and knows who it is.

Ramage reaches out to Ray—to the baby.

‘This is Rose’s daughter,’ Ray says, shaking his head. ‘Rose’s.’

‘Warda is my Siley. The child is mine.’

Ray looks to the door as someone else enters the room, someone smaller than Ramage. They come closer to Ray and reach for the baby.

‘It’s okay,’ a woman’s voice says, ‘I’ll look after her.’

Through the gap, I can see her flaming red hair and I remember Rose’s description of the woman who saved her when she was caught at Swan’s Marsh. It must be the same woman.

Her voice is gentle. ‘Has she fed?’ she asks.

‘No,’ Ray mumbles.

Ramage leans over the bed and softly kisses Rose. Then stands to his full height and guides the woman out of the room. When he comes back, his voice is hard again, and angry.

‘The sister,’ he says, ‘and the boy. Where are they?’

Ray is ready for the question. He answers without hesitating.

‘They were here,’ he says. ‘They’re gone now. Left a couple of hours ago.’

‘Gone?’ Ramage sounds unconvinced. ‘Gone where?’

‘Didn’t say.’

‘Don’t you lie to me, you old prick.’

‘Why would I lie?’ Ray speaks in an older, weary voice. ‘What’ve I got to gain from lying?’ He straightens and stands toe to toe with Ramage.

‘If I find you’ve lied to me,’ Ramage says, ‘I’ll burn ya fuckin’ house down.’ He turns and yells, ‘Search the place. Tear it apart. If she’s here, we’ll find her. And the boy. I’ll kill him.’

I can feel Willow trembling beside me. I draw her in and hold her head against my chest. Kas’s arm loops over us both and we huddle together and wait.

Heavy footsteps come through the back door and the room fills with light and the smell of burning pitch. Tables and chairs are being turned over, but above the ruckus I hear the woman’s voice, loud and clear.

‘Stop!’

Ramage turns and I know she’s looking straight at him.

‘There’s no time for this,’ she says. ‘This baby’s premature. If you want her to survive we’ve got to get her back home as soon as we can. The mother’s dead. That’s enough tragedy for one day.’

Ramage hesitates before stabbing his finger into Ray’s chest.

‘I know where to find you, old man. Any more trouble from down here and I’ll be back. And you tell that girl and boy that I don’t forget. Benny Ramage never forgets. They’ll never be safe. Not here. Not anywhere.’

Ramage leans over the bed one more time and kisses Rose. Then he pushes past Ray, knocking him against the bookshelf. Footsteps thump out through the kitchen and onto the porch.

Ray waits a good fifteen minutes before he pushes the bookshelf out of the way and we crawl out into the bedroom. He has his finger to his lips.

‘I don’t trust them,’ he says. ‘They’ll still be watching.’

But there’s no sign of their torches in the grey light of the new day. Ray gathers us all in the kitchen.

‘You have to go now,’ he says, ‘before it gets proper light. Head down the valley to the coast and make your way back to Angowrie. Be careful.’

‘I’m not running,’ Kas says, her voice low but firm. ‘I’m not leaving Rose. What about her…her body?’

‘I’ll look after her, I promise,’ Ray says. ‘There’s nothing to be gained from you being caught by Ramage.’ He’s got his hand on Kas’s shoulder. ‘You’d best go in and say your goodbyes.’

Kas looks bewildered, torn, raking a hand through her hair.

‘Ray’s right,’ I say, softly. ‘We have to go.’

Kas takes my hand and leads me into the bedroom, to Rose. She leans over until her forehead rests on her sister’s. As she does, her mother’s ring slips out of her shirt and falls onto Rose’s chest.

‘I promise you,’ she whispers, ‘I promise you I’ll find your baby.’

Kas straightens and turns to me. ‘The baby needs a name,’ she says.

I don’t know why the answer comes so quickly, but it’s as though the name has been there, waiting to be spoken.

‘Hope,’ I say. ‘Let’s call her Hope.’

Ray is standing at the door. ‘Come on, you have to go,’ he says, urgent again. ‘It’s getting lighter.’

Kas kisses Rose a final time before backing away into the kitchen.

I’m left alone with Rose. Her face is cold when I touch it. I kneel down by the bed and put my head on the pillow next to hers.

‘Hey,’ I say. ‘It’s me, dog boy. I’m sorry I couldn’t look after you better.’ My eyes cloud with tears. ‘But I promise I’ll look after Kas. And we’ll find Hope and bring her home so she can swim in the sea. And I’ll teach her to surf. But I’ve got to go now. I’ve got to go, Rose.’

I roll her name around in my mouth like I did the night I met her.

Kas has pulled an old coat around Willow’s shoulders and has hitched her onto her back. Ray hands me a small bag with some food.

‘When you reach Red Rocks Point, check the tide,’ he says. ‘If it’s low enough, follow the beach all the way back into town. You can’t risk the cliff tops track. They might be watching it. Leave the horse here, but take Rowdy with you. Wait for a week then come back to me. Catch me a couple of bunnies, if you can. I’ve been missing them.’

I put my arms around him. He waits a couple of seconds before saying, gruff-like and embarrassed, ‘All right, enough of that now. You’ve got to get moving.’

Kas hardly seems to realise what’s going on. She walks straight out the door and I have to grab her arm before she breaks cover.

‘Wait,’ I say. She turns and looks at me with blank eyes. ‘We’ve got to keep low, Kas. They could still be out there.’

I take Willow off her back and hand her the bag. Rowdy is standing on the top step of the porch, sniffing the wind. He seems unconcerned; I take that as a good sign.

We run across the home paddock to the shed. Even pulling Willow along, I’m faster than Kas, who is still limping. After we’ve cleared the fence, we walk through the bush in silence, all the way down to Red Rocks Point.

By the time we reach the first of the big granite slabs, the sun has risen and is warming our backs. Rowdy is restless. He knows we’re going home, but the tide is too high for us to get all the way along the base of the cliffs to the river mouth. By the look of the wet sand further up the beach, the tide is dropping.

We find a nook where we can’t be seen. Kas sits with her back to the rock. Her head is up, but her eyes are closed. I sit next to her. Little tremors run through her body and she swipes at her tears with the back of her hand.

‘It’s not fair, Finn,’ she says, finally. ‘It’s not fair. She didn’t do anything wrong. Everything she did was to protect me.’

I kick at a loose stone. ‘Nothing’s fair,’ I mutter. ‘Nothing’s been fair since the virus. None of the old rules apply anymore.’

She turns her head away and catches a tear before it falls.

‘It’s never been fair for Rose and me—not even before the virus.’

She balls her hand into a fist and hits the granite again and again, until I grab her arm and pull her into me. Big sobs wrack her body and I feel every one of them against my chest.

By mid-morning the tide has dropped, allowing us to make our way back along the beach to Angowrie. It’s a beautiful day, with the sun glistening off the water and a regular swell breaking on the sandbars.

Looking at the waves shaping up and peeling left and right takes my mind off the pain I feel in my body. And the ache in the middle of my chest. Kas walks a few steps behind me.

It takes us a couple of hours to reach the river mouth. The low tide means we can wade across, but we check for danger first. I scout upriver until I can see the road bridge, but there’s no sign of life. The Wilders’ camp on the other bank is deserted.

Crossing the water, Willow on my back and Kas by my side, I try to remember how long ago it was that Rose and I waded over to escape from Ramage. However long it is, I wish I could go back and have that time again. I’d have done things differently; I’d have kept Rose safe.

When we reach the other bank, Kas walks ahead, her wet clothes clinging to her body. In all the drama of the last few hours, I’d almost forgotten how close we’ve grown to each other, forgotten that we’ve kissed and kept each other warm through the night.

But all that’s been buried under the weight of losing Rose. Just like when Dad died, and then Mum, it’ll take time for everything to sink in and for us to work out what to do next. Willow needs to be looked after and there’s still the matter of staying alive, finding food, keeping safe. Maybe it’ll be weeks, months even, but somewhere in all of that, Kas and me will find some space to talk about us.