36

Mrs Careen regretted the amount she had told the boy, but remained unsure how she could have parsed the truth out any more appropriately, nor how she could have told him any more without making everything in his world more impossible to comprehend. She had intended to help the boy to see, of his own accord, the likelihood of seeing his siblings again, given the track record of found children in this little alcove. She needed to share the girl's history with him, help him see, and firmly drive the child into the safety of their grip. Everything was likely to be far more difficult if, at this moment where they must pull together, the boy himself felt compelled by a desire to prove himself strong, to tear away from their guardianship and into some righteous crusade to find his brother. Mrs Careen knew that, since the boy was gone, especially given the circumstances of his capture, the chances of his reappearing were ostensibly nil. That Mr Armitage had chosen that exact moment to awaken the long-buried resentment of their neighbour infuriated her. She had smiled and listened while he explained what happened, while her insides screamed at the insane buffoonery he had exhibited. Smashing his window, damnit, physically grabbing the man, leaving him bleeding. Good God, what novel hells he’d dug up last night. Mr Armitage was too confident in the hiddenness of the recluse, thinking that while in there, he could do no damage. Damnit, nothing could be further from the truth; that man had ways of wreaking havoc. Any person able to tear up their own life like that has a depth of vengeance to plumb for the most minor of grievances; the worst thing you can do is give them real ones. They have one child left. One. And the great fool had smashed the face of the man she was most afraid of into the floor.

She looked over her deck and saw in the morning frost, barefoot and wrapped in a dark red tartan dressing gown which just passed his knees - her neighbour - perfectly still, aside from a hand, gesturing a wave as though seven years hadn’t passed.