The Declaration

enough to lift her entire weight, and the walls were too flat for her feet to climb up.
    After a few minutes of concerted effort, Anna fell back on the hard bed, red-faced.
    ‘I can’t get up there, Peter,’ she said hotly.
    But when she looked up, Peter was at the top of her wall again, and he was grinning. Then he pushed himself through the gap and a second later, he was next to her on the bed. He pulled her to her feet again.
    ‘Put your foot in there,’ he said quickly, meshing his hands together to create a foothold. She stared at him.
    ‘Come on, just put your foot on my hands and I’ll give you a leg up,’ he said, looking at her encouragingly.
    Anna’s face lit up, and she did as he said. He held her up high as she reached for the gap, and continued to hold her until she had managed to squirm right up the wall, even though she could feel that he was shaking by the end. Then, like a monkey, he scrambled up the wall himself, through the gap, and helped her down the other side.
    ‘See? Easy,’ he said, a satisfied grin on his face. ‘Any other problems you want to freak out about before we go?’
    Anna shook her head and blushed, embarrassed at how quickly she’d given up. Perhaps she wasn’t quite as invincible as she’d thought.
    ‘No more problems,’ she said gratefully. ‘And thanks, Peter. I . . . well, thanks.’
    Peter shrugged. ‘I said I’d get you out, didn’t I? So, you got any food on you?’
    Anna nodded happily and took out the Cornish pasty she’d made that morning.
    ‘Did you really come here just to get me?’ she asked curiously as she watched Peter eat. ‘I mean, did you really let the Catchers find you just for that?’
    Peter caught her eye and shrugged again. ‘Well, I certainly didn’t come here for the grub,’ he said, his eyes twinkling slightly. Then he put the pasty down on the floor in front of him.
    ‘I . . . I wanted to do my bit for the Underground Movement. Do my bit to help your parents,’ he said seriously. Then he swallowed, and looked at her with the darting eyes that she knew so well. ‘But I wanted to find you for me, too . . .’
    Anna looked at him silently, and he bit his lip, then looked down at the floor.
    ‘I never had any friends, Anna,’ he said a few moments later, his voice smaller than it had been. ‘Never had parents, or anyone who . . . well, I didn’t ever have anyone. And your parents used to talk about you, and how if you weren’t in Grange Hall, we’d be friends. You know. And I used to think about that a lot, about you being free, and about us going places, doing things. So that’s why I came. I felt like we knew each other. Before we met, I mean.’
    He swallowed again, and Anna found her eyes drawn to him, to her friend Peter who, for the first time since she’d met him, wasn’t looking defiant or angry, but vulnerable and lost.
    ‘And now?’ she asked, her voice almost a whisper. ‘Was I like you thought I’d be?’
    ‘I think so,’ Peter said, nodding, and his eyes met hers. They were shining, Anna noticed.
    ‘And do you like me?’ she asked hesitantly. ‘The real me, I mean.’
    Peter nodded again slowly. ‘I suppose,’ he said quietly, attempting a little smile.
    Then he took a deep breath and looked down sheepishly.
    ‘I like you quite a lot, actually,’ he whispered, his voice so fragile that it barely sounded like Peter. And as soon as the words had left his mouth, he turned away, focusing all his attention on a loose thread hanging from one of the sleeves of his overalls.
    Anna stared at him, and for a second she felt like the whole world had stood still, and she had goose-bumps all over her.
    Then Peter shrugged and started eating again, and everything suddenly went back to normal. Although not quite normal, because Anna now knew that, whatever happened, she would follow Peter anywhere. And that, she knew, could be her salvation – but it could also get her into a whole lot of trouble.

Chapter Fifteen
    At two o’clock that morning, Anna woke up and sat bolt upright, shocking Peter, who’d been just about to wake her. She’d gone back to her own cell for the midnight check, and then returned to Peter’s right afterwards and since then they had been lying together on the concrete slab that constituted a bed, huddling together for warmth and comfort. Anna wasn’t sure quite where Peter’s storytelling had finished and her dreams had begun as she gradually fell asleep. She’d been sure