It’s only drizzling now. We slog back down the track and on to the river path. Behind me and Catrin, Jinx and Tam are trying to guess what she called Mrs Fletcher. I can tell they’re loving coming up with worse and worse suggestions.

‘They like me better now they think I’m a foul-mouthed thief,’ she says quietly.

I glance back at them. ‘I think they do.’ I nudge her. ‘So do I, to be honest.’

She laughs. ‘If I stay friends with you I’ll never be allowed out again.’

It’s gone five and there’s no sign of a farm. Not that we’d see it anyway, it’s dark now and our torchlight only reaches so far. We have to pick our way along the path, watching out for tree roots and uneven ground. We all trip at least once. This, and the tiredness, makes us slow. God, I hope we get to the haybarn soon.

I pull my hat down over my ears. ‘How much further?’ I call to Jinx, who’s leading the way.

‘Can’t be far!’ he calls back.

‘That’s useful.’

‘Give him a break,’ Tam mutters. ‘It’s not his fault we lost the map.’

‘I know that. I’m just cold and tired.’

‘And grumpy.’ Catrin glances back, her torch flashing in my eyes. ‘But Jinx is right – it can’t be far.’

‘There!’ Jinx stops dead and Catrin bumps into him. We cast our torch beams in the direction Jinx points his. ‘Once we get past the fence, we’ll have to switch our torches off but it’s not far across the field.’

‘Why do we have to switch them off?’ Tam asks.

‘So the farmer doesn’t spot us.’

‘What?’ Tam says. ‘There are people living there?’

‘Yeah,’ Jinx says. ‘In the house, like, not the barn obviously.’

‘Did anyone else think we were staying in an unused barn?’ Tam looks at me and Catrin.

We nod.

‘Not everywhere is derelict around here, you know,’ Jinx says. ‘And we’ll be fine. Just got to get up early. Now, once we get over the fence, let’s turn our torches off and wait a minute for our eyes to adjust, then maybe we need to hold on to each other.’ He squints into the distance. ‘It’s darker than I thought.’

‘But this is trespassing!’ Tam says, his voice going weirdly high. ‘It’s against the law!’

Catrin sets off towards the fence. ‘Better not get caught then.’

I’m starting to wonder if Catrin’s enjoying the rule-breaking a bit too much.

‘Look, you two,’ Jinx says, following her. ‘If you’d rather sleep in the bushes by here, carry on.’

Me and Tam look at each other, shrug, and climb over after them.

There’s only one patch of light in the farmhouse, and the flickering means it’s coming from candles. I suppose it’s the kitchen, it is nearly teatime.

Catrin, Jinx, Tam and me hold on to the straps of each other’s rucksacks, like elephants using their trunks to grip the tail of the one in front, and go as fast as we can across the pitch-dark field. I suppose the idea is to keep us together – and it’s not a bad one – till Jinx slips and we all go down like skittles. Some of us shout out – I think it’s Jinx and Catrin – and we all lie there, a mess of arms and legs and rucksacks. Trying to stay still, teeth gritted, hoping no one at the house heard.

Nothing happens.

‘Get off, Tam, mun, you’re breaking my ribs,’ Jinx moans.

‘Shut up,’ Tam mutters. ‘You’re the one who fell.’

‘Shh!’ me and Catrin say together.

We wait about another thirty seconds, then untangle ourselves. Tam leads this time and we move even slower, all checking our footing as we go. My heart’s pounding in my head. A short walk has never felt so far.