‘Hey! Is there any bread to go with this?’ ‘You’re joking, aren’t you?’ one of the cooks shouted back. ‘They’re scoffing next month’s supply upstairs.’

‘They’re scoffing everything upstairs. We’ll starve.’

‘We’ll make do.’

Ollie had seen enough. He slipped away. So David was lying to them, pretending they had more food than they really did. What was he up to? Showing off, probably. For now they would have to sit tight and see what happened. Ollie knew that he ought to be angry, but he was actually quite impressed. David was a clever boy, devious. He knew a bit of psychology. He understood about politics. About spin. He had achieved a hell of a lot here, obviously not quite as much as he was making out, but it was still remarkable. Ollie would need to be very careful – they all would – but David was a good person to be on the right side of.

Ella was eating her dinner slowly and quietly. Godzilla was under the table chewing on a piece of leather. Occasionally she would feel him bump reassuringly against her leg. She was thinking about Sam. He’d have liked it here. He’d have liked playing in the garden, and running round the palace, looking at all the nice things. She’d seen a painting of a man in armour. Sam would have really liked that. He liked knights. He always loved dressing up in his play armour. She’d tried to play with him, as a princess, but he didn’t like princesses. He only wanted other knights to fight with. She wasn’t very good at fighting and always ended up getting hurt and crying.

Was he really in heaven like Whitney had said? Ella didn’t exactly know what heaven was. She’d always imagined it looked a bit like this. A nice clean palace with pictures and a garden to play in and a nice man looking after you. And nice food.

She’d never liked vegetables before but now they tasted lovely. So many things had changed. Too many. She’d always thought Sam would be there to look after her, even though he was only small. She was nearly as big as him.

Now he was gone.

She said a silent prayer. Sent it up to heaven.

Sam, if you can hear me I hope you’ve got nice food where you are. Some vegetables like these. They’re meant to be good for you. So eat them all up, like I’m doing. When I die I’ll come and see you and we’ll be together again. But for now I’m going to think of you safe and happy and playing knights with a friend.

Love from Ella. Your sister.

PS I got a good long go with Godzilla today after we got here. Godzilla is very happy.

PPS I forgot, you never met Godzilla. He is a puppy and is very cute, he belonged to a boy called Joel who got killed by monkeys. I think the monkeys were sick. Monkeys are usually nice. At least in stories.

PPPS Maybe you’ll meet Joel where you are. Say hello. He is nice.

PPPPS Goodnight, Sam. The others call you Small Sam. To me you’re just Sam – my brother.

I miss you. I wish I was with you.

38

‘They put something in the soup to make you sleep.’

‘What do you mean? Why would they do that?’

‘Why do you think? They needed to chain you up. They’re keeping us prisoner.’

Sam had woken up in a different carriage. There was no fancy furniture in here, no curtains or carpets. There was straw on the floor, a bucket at one end to use as a toilet and the doors were jammed shut. Otherwise it was a normal tube-train carriage.

There were handcuffs around his wrists. A thin chain led from them up to the roof where it was fixed to the handrail. He had room to move about, but not far.

There were three other kids in here. Two were asleep. Twins. A boy and a girl, about Sam’s age. They looked clean and well fed, but a little feeble, and their skin was very pale. The third kid was a girl, older than Sam, quite fat but with withered, skinny legs. She sat on one of the seats and seemed to have some trouble breathing. Maybe it was asthma?

Her name was Rhiannon. She said she’d been here about three weeks. As far as she could tell.

‘Why would they keep us prisoner?’ said Sam. ‘They seemed nice.’

‘When I’ve first come here,’ said Rhiannon, ‘there was another boy. His name was Mark Watkins. He’d been here a long time. He could hardly stand up. His muscles was all wasted away. They’d been feeding him on tinned vegetables and dog biscuits. Then one morning he wasn’t here. I’ve never saw him again. But I saw Rachel and Nick. They was stuffing their faces with meat. I saw them taking away bin bags after. They’re keeping us like cattle.’

‘They can’t,’ Sam protested. ‘They’re not like the other grown-ups. They’re not diseased. They’re not mad.’

‘They still need to eat.’

‘They can scavenge…’

‘They want meat,’ said Rhiannon. ‘I’ve quizzed them about it. They deny it. But why else would we be here? People will do anything to survive. I’ve read stories. People stranded at sea, or in plane crashes. They end up eating each other. Just to live.’

‘You’re wrong,’ said Sam. ‘You’ve got no proof.’

Rhiannon nodded at his handcuffs. ‘Ain’t that proof enough for you?’

‘But Nick saved my life,’ said Sam, who was close to tears.

‘If a wolf attacks his sheep the shepherd kills the wolf,’ said Rhiannon. ‘But he still eats the sheep when he’s hungry.’

‘I’m not a sheep,’ said Sam. ‘I’m a boy.’

‘To them you’re a sheep. Or a pig,’ said Rhiannon. ‘They feed us. They give us water. They check we’re not sick. They won’t eat us if we’re sick. That’s why I’m still alive, I reckon. They’re waiting to see if my chest infection is serious. There was another kid, a girl, never even got to know her name. She kept throwing up. Was too ill even to speak. They took her out. Don’t know what they did to her. Maybe they fed her to the rats or to their horrible fat cat. I call them Spiderman and Spiderwoman. It’s like we’re bugs caught in their web. They’ll keep us here until we’re ready to be eaten.’

‘We’ve got to escape,’ said Sam, jumping up and pulling at his chain.

Rhiannon snorted through her nose.

‘I done it before,’ said Sam. ‘I escaped from a nest of grown-ups at Arsenal stadium. I’m Sam the Giant Slayer. I’ve come all the way here from Holloway by myself. I’m not going to let these buggers hurt me. We’ll all get out.’

‘Don’t you think I’ve tried?’ said Rhiannon, shaking her head. ‘I’ve thought and I’ve thought, I’ve looked and looked, but there’s no way out of here.’

Sam sat down miserably. To have come all this way and end up like this was terrible, just terrible.

But he was Sam the Giant Slayer.

And he wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

39

‘This is ridiculous.’

‘Let’s just go with the flow, yeah? We’re their guests at the moment. If we want to live here permanently we’re going to have to learn to get along.’

It was ten in the morning. The most senior kids from the Holloway crew had been brought to somewhere called the Green Drawing Room and were standing around on the plush carpet, waiting. It was a ridiculously ornate room with patterned green wallpaper and a huge crystal chandelier dangling from the middle of the over-decorated ceiling. Apparently the palace kids were organizing some kind of ceremony for them. But it was taking forever.

The newcomers had spent the night in their sleeping-bags on camp beds in the ballroom, which had been made up as a huge dormitory. Most had slept well. Feeling secure and safe for the first time in a long while. They’d woken feeling excited, and eager to explore more of their new home.