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‘I’m making a spaceship for us to live in!’
    Georgia burst out laughing, and the two of them disappeared into the house.
    â€˜All right,’ I said, wanting to get down to the medical centre ASAP. ‘Well, tell your mum –’
    â€˜Thank you for saving Jeremy,’ Lauren said in a rush.
    â€˜Huh?’ I said. ‘Oh, right. No problem.’
    â€˜No, seriously,’ said Lauren. ‘Thanks. If you hadn’t come in, Tank would’ve …’
    â€˜What were they attacking him for anyway?’ I asked.
    â€˜It was so stupid!’ Lauren threw up her hands, like she’d been waiting for a chance to vent all of this. ‘Jeremy was just drawing on his schoolbag, and that other guy, Mike or whatever, saw what he was doing and just clicked it at him.’
    â€˜What was it?’ I asked. ‘What was he drawing?’
    She pulled a face, as though this was a weird question for me to be asking. ‘It was nothing!’ she said. ‘Just this circle with – Hang on.’
    Lauren leant inside, reaching for the phone table, and came back with a notepad and pen. She flipped to a blank page and started scribbling something.
    â€˜Here,’ she said, holding the notepad up in front of my face. ‘It was this.’
    She’d drawn a kind of spiral thing – a circle with a bunch of lines twisting out from the middle.
    â€˜What is it?’ I asked.
    â€˜How should I know?’ said Lauren. ‘I thought he just made it up, but obviously it meant something to Tank, because five seconds later he was smashing him onto the floor.’
    â€˜Uh-huh,’ I said, but my attention had suddenly shifted away from the notepad, to the hand that was holding it. Between each of Lauren’s fingers was a thick smudge of slightly paler, freckle-less skin.
    She’d been holding hands with Jeremy.
    Lauren caught me looking at her and whipped her hand around behind her back. ‘Anyway, thanks again,’ she said hurriedly. ‘Mum said she’d drop Georgia back at –’
    But she was drowned out mid-sentence by a high-pitched squeal from down the hall. Georgia came bursting through the doorway, squeezing past Lauren’s leg to get out of the house. Max was right behind her, swinging a little foam sword above his head. Georgia turned left and right, searching wildly for an escape route, then jumped up and started climbing me like a tree. Max ran circles around us, swatting the sword at Georgia’s ankles.
    â€˜Help me!’ she gasped between hysterical giggles. ‘Help me! He’s gonna kill me!’
    I reached down and snatched Max’s sword out of his hand.
    â€˜Hey! That’s mine!
    â€™ Lauren raised an eyebrow at me.
    I looked at the sword, then shook my head and handed it back. ‘You be nice to my sister, okay?’
    â€˜I am being nice,’ Max said. ‘You’re the one who’s being a stealer!’
    â€˜Right,’ I said. ‘Sorry.’
    It had been a stupid overreaction. But I was starting to feel like that was the only way I knew how to deal with anything anymore. This place was messing with my head. And having Georgia here in the middle of it all was like this constant weight .
    I had to protect her.
    But how was I supposed to do that when I couldn’t even keep my own brain under control?
    Georgia was staring up at me, brow furrowed.
    â€˜What’s wrong?’ she asked.
    â€˜Nothing. Everything’s fine.’
    Sixty days, I told myself. Hang in there. Concentrate on the job in front of you. Concentrate on dealing with Tabitha –
    Georgia’s eyes went wide. She grabbed me by the shirt, shivering like she’d just stepped into a freezer.
    â€˜Jordan,’ she whispered. ‘Who’s Tabitha?’
    I walked up the steps to the medical centre, Georgia’s terrified expression still burned into my mind.
    Tabitha.
    Had I accidentally said the name