Chapter Twenty-Six‘Come on then,’ Matilda shouted at them from our high balcony, surrounded by the blaze of our lantern. ‘Let’s fight face to face.’
‘Matilda,’ I said, aghast. ‘There are four of us and hundreds of them. Don’t tell them we’re here.’
‘Pish posh,’ she said. ‘They already know someone altered the signal. Might as well give them a good showing.’
Jeremy’s face whitened, a lurid reflection of the lamp. ‘I don’t want to fight again.’
‘Neither do I,’ I said, ‘but I don’t think we have a choice now. There’s nowhere to go. The nearest town is too far—and full of innocent people, besides. We’re on a peninsula. Either we fight, or we drown.’
‘Ooh,’ said Matilda. ‘That gives me an idea.’
‘Really?’ said Patrick, clenching and unclenching his fists. ‘Is it one where we survive?’
‘T
