In the middle of the gully, the shade was cool and the ground soft. Everyone was exhausted, and glad to set down.

We had paid a visit to the mine’s pantry after retrieving our packs, so they were full of food. I brought out some bread and cheese – a rare treat that we had to eat quickly before it spoiled – as well as some biscuits and cans of stew.

Rupert glanced at the sky through the canopy. ‘It’ll be eight or so hours before it’s truly dark,’ he said. ‘Never thought I’d be so enthused to lie down on some dirt!’

I chuckled, glad to see he had put down the tracker for a moment.

With their bellies full, dogs started lying down to snooze. Barely able to keep my own eyes open, I forced myself to go check on Sunrise.

‘Feeling any better, girl?’

I gave her a scratch behind the ears. She didn’t exactly ignore me, but she didn’t press against my hand warmly as she normally did.

Maybe she was just weary, like the rest of us? I hoped she’d wake up and be her old self again.

I lay down under a tree, using my pack for a pillow. Before I knew it, I was sleeping peacefully. It had been a long couple of days.

I awoke in darkness feeling a whole lot better. It seemed we had all slept right through the afternoon and evening!

A bit of moonlight filtered in through the trees, and insects chirped loudly around us. It was well into night, and time to be off.

‘Hello, doggies?’ I called softly. ‘Rupert?’

I got snuffles and at least one human-sounding grunt in answer. I reached into my pack and found a torch – there had been plenty of those to take from the mine.

I sent its beam sweeping around the group, earning myself a few glares.

It took me a moment to realise …

‘Hey!’ I said. ‘Where’s Sunrise?’

Nosey was on his feet in an instant, sniffing around. He went to the place I had last seen Sunrise resting, but the leaves there were barely flattened.

Lying nearby was the backpack Sunrise usually carried.

‘Did anyone see her leave?’ I said.

Not me, said Tiny. I’ve been chasing lizards in dreamland.

I called to the branches above. ‘Eagle? Are you there?’

Rupert arrived beside me, rubbing his eyes. ‘Eagle’s asleep,’ he said, pointing out her still and silent shape among the leaves. ‘Even eagles have to snooze, it seems.’

A thought hit me, and I reached inside my pack. My fingers moved about, and I felt the shapes of various objects, but not the one I hoped to find.

‘No, no …’

It was missing!

‘Gwen, what is it?’ said Rupert.

‘Sunrise has taken my mother’s shawl,’ I said, in disbelief. ‘Why would she do that? She knows what it means to me! Nosey, can you track her?’

The labrador led us to the edge of the gully and pointed out into the night.

‘She went that way?’ I said. ‘Why would she take off on her own?’

‘Well,’ said Rupert, with a sigh, ‘there’s only one way to find out. At least, since Sunrise is following the shawl, and we’re following Sunrise, we’re still on track.’

‘We have to move fast if we’re going to catch up!’ I said.

‘Still on track for what?’ Rupert retorted. ‘What if your parents aren’t at the next place either?’

I knew that he was just letting off steam, but right then his attitude annoyed me.

‘We have to keep looking!’ I snapped. ‘We look and look until we find them. All of them. Right?’

Rupert was taken aback by my outburst, his eyes wide and shining in the moonlight. Then his gaze hardened and he nodded firmly.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘We look until we find them.’

We followed Nosey back out into the fields and travelled at pace.

After a few hours, in the distance we could see a hill with some weird shapes on top.

‘Could be some kind of communications base,’ said Rupert. ‘I think those might be satellite towers.’

‘Is that where she’s going?’

‘If it is, there’s something else in our way before we reach it.’

He was right. There was a tall fence around an area of densely packed trees.

Was it a park of some kind? A national park?

Vegetation was growing so thickly against the fence that it was starting to lean outwards in some places.

Rupert checked the tracker. ‘It isn’t named on the map.’

‘This is where Sunrise went in?’ I asked Nosey.

Yep, she went right through here.

‘Okay, everyone,’ I said, ‘whatever this place is – line up, we’re going in.’