‘So she drove us most of the way to London.’
‘And can you trust her?’
‘Yes. I mean, she would have told the Catchers when they were there, wouldn’t she? If she wanted us to get caught?’
‘I suppose. And you walked the rest of the way? And no one saw you? No one at all?’
Anna stood at the kitchen doorway hesitantly, not sure whether to go in. She’d been in bed for what felt like days. Apparently she’d had a fever, which meant that she had to ‘get lots of rest’. Which had been absolutely fine by her – it was the most comfortable bed she’d ever been in, more comfortable even than the bed she had slept in at Mrs Sharpe’s house when she worked there. It had a huge padded blanket on it, and two pillows, and every time she had tried to sit up and get up, she’d found herself sinking back down, not yet ready to face the world.
Her parents and Peter were talking seriously, sitting at a big wooden table in the kitchen.
Suddenly her mother looked up and saw her and immediately got up.
‘Anna, Peter was just telling us about your journey,’ she said softly. ‘Would you like some breakfast?’
Anna nodded. She felt sleepy still, which was stupid because she’d had more sleep than anyone could ever need. She stifled her yawn and tried to look more awake.
She was shown to a chair at the big wooden table, and food was put in front of her that she didn’t recognise, but that she ate anyway, and it was the most delicious thing she’d ever eaten. She didn’t say anything because she wanted them to keep talking about whether anyone saw them. If there was any information that would make her feel more secure and safe from the Catchers, she wanted to hear it. And if she wasn’t safe, then she wanted to know that too.
‘We’ve got a bit of time, I think,’ her father said seriously, pouring her a cup of tea, which she’d only seen Legals drink and had never had herself before. It nearly burnt her mouth, but it was delicious and sweet, so she continued drinking even though it was too hot.
‘We should lie low here for a few days,’ he said. ‘The last thing we want is to be out on the road when the Catchers are searching everywhere. Pip agrees we’re safer here than anywhere else.’
‘Barney says they’re crawling all over the place,’ her mother said, a hint of tension in her voice.
‘Catchers are always crawling all over Barney. That’s nothing new.’
Anna kept quiet, her eyes cast downwards. She wanted to know who Pip and Barney were, wanted to know why the Catchers crawled all over Barney, but she didn’t know whether questions were polite on the Outside, and she didn’t want to appear rude.
Peter caught her eye and grinned at her.
‘You OK?’ he ventured. ‘Got enough sleep now?’
He was laughing at her, she realised, and it made her smile.
‘I suppose,’ she said, pleased to see he didn’t look at all worried about Catchers. Maybe they were safe here, after all.
Peter got up again to help himself to food, and Anna found herself turning to her mother. It was no good – she had to ask.
‘Will . . . will you go to prison? If the Catchers find us? And will they take the Small away?’
Her mother looked at her, confused. ‘The Small?’
Peter wandered back to the table. ‘Ben. She means Ben.’
Her mother nodded. ‘Of course.’
Then she looked at Anna and took her hand. ‘No one’s going to prison, Anna,’ she said, then she sighed.
‘I don’t know what’s going to happen,’ she said softly, ‘but I want you to remember this. We knew what we were doing when we had you, and we will gladly suffer the consequences. The important thing is that you are safe, and that Ben is safe and Peter too. That’s all that really matters. We’re protected here – there are people all over London, all over the country, who think we’re doing the right thing and who also have children, who are going to help us. They helped us before, when we got out of prison. So I don’t want you to worry. And I don’t want you to think that you’ve put us in danger either. We put ourselves in danger, and because of us you spent many years in Grange Hall, for which we will never forgive ourselves. But you’re safe now. Because of Peter, you’re back home. And home is exactly where you’re going to stay.’
Anna nodded silently. She had so many questions, about Longevity drugs, about Opting Out, about Barney and Pip and the Catchers and Grange Hall and Peter. But she didn’t know how to ask them without blurting them all out at once and sounding like a Pending who had finally been allowed to ask Mr Sargent a question and didn’t know when to stop. So instead, she continued to eat, snatching little looks at Peter every so often, and feeling a huge wave of happiness wash over her when he caught her eye and grinned, then put his arm around her briefly to give her a squeeze.
‘This is your home, Anna Covey,’ he whispered. ‘I told you it was worth it, didn’t I?’
Anna smiled at him and nodded. But as she did so, the phone rang, and her parents looked at each other, their faces tense.
Her father picked it up, and he smiled and said, ‘Pip,’ and then his expression changed and a deep line appeared between his eyes. He nodded a few times, then said, ‘Thanks,’ and put the phone down.
‘They’re coming to Bloomsbury,’ he said, in a low voice. ‘They got a tip-off. It was the House Matron, apparently. But how could she have known? Nobody knows. Nobody at all.’
He sat down and looked at Anna’s mother, who shrugged helplessly.
‘Peter, you didn’t tell anyone anything, did you?’
‘Of course not,’ Peter said hotly. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘Well, then, I just don’t know,’ her father said, staring at the wall behind Anna. ‘I don’t know at all.’
Anna looked at him, terror rushing through her veins at the mention of Mrs Pincent and the Catchers. And then, suddenly, she knew how they’d found her. Knew that her First Sin had caught up with her, that her fate had been sealed the first time she broke the rules of Grange Hall, and that her transgressions were going to be the undoing not just of herself, but of everyone around her.
‘It’s my fault. I wrote a journal,’ she said, her voice barely audible. ‘About things that happened. Things that Peter told me. It was hidden in Female Bathroom 2, and then I put it in my pocket to escape, but when I got to Mrs Sharpe’s it wasn’t there.’
She swallowed uncomfortably. ‘It might have fallen out in the tunnel. Or somewhere else. I . . . I’m not sure.’
Peter stared at her, and Anna felt her heart begin to beat faster as she saw her parents’ expressions change, saw the muscles around their eyes and mouths tense. And then she found her own muscles tensing, and she braced herself, waiting to be beaten.