21
The Mini was eating up the miles now, tearing through the arid countryside and leaving only a trail of dust in its wake. Steven had passed through Bala a few minutes ago, a small town nestled on the shore of the vast lake from which it took its name. He and Sam had stayed there once. She’d convinced him to try kayaking, a sport she’d always enjoyed. He’d spent more time out of the boat than in it, soaked through and shivering with cold.
The lake had been impossibly difficult to spot today, even from the stretch of road which ran right alongside it. Where he remembered an expanse of choppy grey water, there was now only a dried-up mudflat. He could see people in the distance out there; a small tented village which had sprung up around a visible dip. The deepest part of the lake, he pre
