I couldn't stand it. I knelt down beside Jamie and put my arm around her shoulders; she shook it off, but when I put it back she left it there. "Don't, Jamie," I begged. "Please don't cry." The green and gold whirl of branches all around, Peter baffled and Jamie crying, the silky skin of her arm making my hand tingle; the whole world seemed to be rocking, the stone of the castle rolling beneath me like the decks of ships in films-"You'll be back every weekend…"
"It won't be the
"No, Jamie, don't-Stop…" I couldn't stay still. I knew it was stupid but for a moment I wanted to tell her I would go instead; I would take her place, she could stay here forever… Before I knew I was going to do it, I ducked my head and kissed her on the cheek. Her tears were wet on my mouth. She smelled like grass in the sun, hot and green, intoxicating.
She was so startled that she stopped crying. Her head whipped round and she stared at me, wide red-rimmed blue eyes, very close. I knew she was going to do something, punch me, kiss me back-
Peter leaped off the wall and dropped to his knees in front of us. He grabbed my wrist in one hand, hard, and Jamie's in the other. "Listen," he said. "We'll run away."
We stared at him.
"That's stupid," I said at last. "They'll catch us."
"No, no they won't, not right away. We can hide here for a few weeks, no problem. It doesn't have to be forever or anything-just till it's safe. Once that school's started, we can go home; it'll be too late. And even if they send her anyway, so what? We'll run away again. We'll go up to Dublin and get Jamie out. Then they'll expel her and she'll
His eyes were shining. The idea caught, flared, spun in the air between us.
"We could live here," Jamie said. She caught her breath in a long, hiccuppy shudder. "In the castle, I mean."
"We'll move every day. Here, the clearing, that big tree where the branches do that nest thing. We won't give them a chance to catch up with us. You really think anyone could find us in here? Come
Nobody knew the wood like we did. Sliding through the undergrowth, light and silent as Indian braves; watching motionless from thickets and high branches as the searchers clumped past…
"We'll take turns sleeping." Jamie was sitting up straighter. "One of us can keep watch."
"But our parents," I said. I thought of my mother's warm hands and imagined her crying, distraught. "They're going to be really worried. They'll think-"
Jamie's mouth set. "Yeah, my mam won't. She doesn't want me around anyway."
"My mam mostly only thinks about the little ones," Peter said, "and my dad definitely won't care." Jamie and I glanced at each other. We never talked about it, but we both knew Peter's dad sometimes hit them when he got drunk. "And anyway, who cares if your parents worry? They didn't tell you Jamie was going to boarding school, did they? They just let you think everything was fine!"
He was right, I thought, light-headed. "I guess I could leave them a note," I said. "Just so they know we're OK."
Jamie started to say something, but Peter cut her off. "Yeah, perfect! Leave them a note saying we've gone to Dublin, or Cork or somewhere. Then they'll be looking for us there, and we'll be right here all the time."
He jumped up, pulling us with him. "Are you in?"
"I'm not going to boarding school," Jamie said, wiping her face with the back of her arm. "I'm not, Adam. I'm not. I'll do anything."
"Adam?" Living wild, brown and barefoot among the trees. The castle wall felt cool and misty under my hand. "Adam, what else are we supposed to do? Do you want to just let them send Jamie away? Don't you want to
He shook my wrist. His hand was hard, urgent; I could feel my pulse beating in its grasp. "I'm in," I said.
"Yes!" Peter yelled, punching the air. The shout echoed up into the trees, high and wild and triumphant.
"When?" Jamie demanded. Her eyes were bright with relief and her mouth was open in a smile; she was poised on her toes, ready to take off as soon as Peter gave the word. "Now?"
"Relax," Peter told her, grinning. "We have to get ready. We'll go home and get all our money. We need supplies, but we have to buy them a little every day, so nobody gets suspicious."
"Sausages and potatoes," I said. "We can build a fire and get sticks-"
"No, no fire, they'd see it. Don't get anything that needs cooking. Get stuff in tins, spaghetti hoops and baked beans and stuff. Say it's for your mam."
"Someone better bring a tin-opener-"
"Me; my mam has an extra one, she won't know."
"Sleeping bags, and our torches-"
"Duh, but that's not till the last minute, we don't want them noticing they're gone-"
"We can wash our clothes in the river-"
