15

After breakfast the next day, instead of taking us to her mother’s room, Prima led us out under the arch. Felix was outside with the two horses and the caravan.

‘Satur … I mean Sattie?’ I said to Prima.

I had no idea where we were going, or how long we were going to be, and parting from Saturn always makes me nervous when I’m years away from home.

But Prima just smiled and shook her head and said something that I totally hoped meant that we wouldn’t be gone for long.

I ran back and got Tilly’s schoolbag, and then we all climbed into the caravan.

‘Yay,’ said Tilly as we set off. ‘We’re going on a road trip.’

A while later, we stopped near the centre of the city. Felix waited in the shade, minding the horses and the caravan while the rest of us went off exploring.

Prima took us to a place where the streets were narrow and cobbled. There were heaps of little shops that sold all kinds of amazing stuff. At one shop, Prima bought cakes filled with honey, and in another she bought us each a drink. Prima bought herself a whole bag full of jewellery and tiny bottles of perfume. Then she bought Tilly a pretty comb to hold back her hair. Finally, she led the way to a shop that sold tiny silver ornaments. Prima spoke to the shopkeeper for a long time. In the end, she grabbed my arm and showed my charm bracelet to the shopkeeper.

‘OMIGOD,’ I gasped. ‘She’s trying to sell my bracelet to this man.’

‘Look on the bright side,’ said Tilly. ‘At least she’s not trying to sell you.’

I needn’t have worried, though. The shopkeeper dug around in some baskets behind the counter and finally pulled out something that he handed to Prima. She opened her palm and showed it to me. It was a girl in a Roman tunic, just like the one I was wearing. I stroked the tiny figure.

‘It’s just perfect,’ I sighed.

Prima paid the man and then held my arm towards him. He fixed the charm on to my bracelet in the gap where the flower used to be.

‘Benigne,’ I said to Prima, and she smiled.

We walked through the streets for a long time. Prima pointed at things and spoke to us in Latin.

‘Prima’s talking to us a lot more today,’ said Tilly after a while. ‘I don’t know why she bothers, as we barely understand a word she says.’

‘Maybe she thinks we’re like babies and that if she talks for long enough, eventually we’ll become fluent.’

‘If that’s so, she kind of has a point, but that would take years and years, and we’re not exactly planning on hanging around that long, are we?’

Suddenly I felt sorry for Prima. She was a friendly, generous girl. She was being really nice to us, and she probably thought we were going to stay with her forever. How could she know that Tilly and I were just having a bit of fun, and that far away, in another place and time, we had real lives and real families waiting for us to come back?

‘Let’s not think about that now,’ I said quickly. ‘Let’s just enjoy our day out.’

Sometime later, we were wandering down a narrow lane, with Prima leading the way as usual, when Tilly called my name in the weirdest, croaky voice.

I looked to where she was pointing and felt suddenly sick. It was the ogre, grinning his evil grin and walking right towards us.

There was no time to warn Prima. There was no time to discuss the finer points of who belonged to Prima’s family and who belonged to the ogre. There was only time for me to say, ‘Run!’ before I turned and, with Tilly on my heels, I sprinted as fast as I could.

I pushed past shoppers and children, soldiers and workers; I scrambled through flocks of chickens and ducks; I elbowed through a pair of elderly donkeys and I jumped over a sick-looking dog. I’d been caught by the ogre once before, and I sooo wasn’t going to let that happen again.

Finally, when I couldn’t run any more, I threw myself into a narrow gap between two tall buildings and made room for Tilly to squash in beside me.

For ages, we said nothing as we struggled to catch our breath.

Finally Tilly peeped round the corner. ‘It’s OK, Lauren,’ she said. ‘We’ve shaken him off. Everything’s fine.’

‘Do you know where Prima is?’ I asked.

Tilly shook her head.

‘Do you think you could find the caravan?’

Another shake.

‘Or Prima’s house?’

Shake.

‘Or Saturn?’

She shook her head one more time.

‘And everything’s fine?’

‘Well, the ogre didn’t catch us, so we’re not one step away from being onion-farmers for the rest of our lives. All we have to do is find Prima and then we’ll be grand. Like I said – everything’s fine. Sort of.’