We sit on our rucksacks and try to work out what to do next. Catrin gets the camera and lens out, checking to make sure they didn’t get wet.

‘Are they okay?’ I ask.

She nods. ‘The cases kept them dry.’ She holds the camera up. ‘See? All fine.’

We eat our penny sweets and I look around at my cold, wet friends. We’ve been chased by a bull, lost the map, our biggest enemies are after the Beast too, and it’s still a long way to Blaengarw.

‘We can go back if you like,’ I say.

They all stare at me.

‘I mean, it’s not exactly going to plan …’ I shuffle on my bag. ‘So if you want to cut your losses …’

Jinx nibbles on a stick of liquorice. ‘Don’t be dull, mun.’

‘But – the map – all your hard work …’

‘What’s up, Jase?’ Tam asks. ‘You never used to give up so easily.’

Never used to?

I look him straight in the eye. ‘Well, maybe I’m not the same as I used to be.’

Catrin and Jinx watch us carefully. They get it, I know they do. But Tam just rummages in his paper bag, not saying anything else.

‘Look,’ Jinx says, his voice a bit too upbeat. ‘I’ve been thinking about it. As long as we follow the river, we’re on the right path. And I reckon other things will come to me on the way. I’ll recognise landmarks, or remember what I wrote. The timings will be off but we blew that back at the bull’s field anyway.’

Tam looks up. ‘We’ve started now. No one’s going back.’

‘You sure?’ I look at their serious faces. ‘All of you?’

‘Of course all of us.’ Catrin throws a penny shrimp at me. ‘I didn’t pinch my father’s camera for nothing.’

‘Wait! What? You pinched it?’

She fiddles with the end of her zip. ‘Yeah. But it’s borrowing really, isn’t it? He’ll get it back.’

‘Catrin, he’ll kill you!’

She shrugs. ‘He won’t. My mother might.’ She looks across at me and smiles. ‘Doesn’t matter though, not if it helps you and Richie.’

Jinx and Tam’s mouths are hanging open. They’ve always had this (false) idea that Catrin is some sort of goody-goody, but that’s because they’ve never wanted to get to know her. And I stopped trying to convince them of how brilliant she is years ago. Not that stealing your father’s camera is a good thing, but the reason she did it is.

I smile back at her, wrinkling my nose. ‘You’re only just out of her bad books after what you said to Mrs Fletcher though.’

‘What did she say to Mrs Fletcher?’ Tam asks, kind of excited.

‘I called her something I shouldn’t have, that’s all.’ Catrin unwraps a chew.

Jinx leans forward. ‘What was it?’

‘It doesn’t matter now.’ She puts the chew in her mouth.

He turns to me. ‘Do you know what it was?’

‘Leave it, yeah?’ I say. ‘How long till we get to our sleeping point, do you reckon?’

Jinx goes to the stable doorway. The rain’s not as bad, but it’s dark and murky for four o’clock. ‘I made allowances for slight delays so we should still be at the haybarn before sunset. But we can’t have any more stops.’

The rest of us get up and I pass Jinx his rucksack. ‘And, this haybarn … you’re sure there’s a roof on it?’

‘Funny, Jase. Really funny.’

We pull our hoods up and step out into the gloom.