She stared down at her half-sister in indecision. What to do?

There was little choice. They could stay on this platform with nothing to eat, and-worse-nothing to drink, and wait for the next train. That was the stuff of nightmares. Or they could walk to whatever it was on the horizon.

She thought back to literature she’d read when they were preparing for this trip. ‘In the case of breakdown in the Outback stay with your car,’ was the advice. ‘Tell people where you’re going. Your friends will send out a search party and they’ll find a car. They may well not find someone wandering in the desert.’

That was fine as far as advice went, she thought bitterly. But the only person who knew they were stuck here was Brian.

The vision of Brian’s face floated before her. She’d never seen such malice.

He’d do nothing. They’d walked into his con brilliantly. She knew he’d do nothing and the thought made her feel ill.

How could she ever have trusted him?

Let it go, she told herself. Don’t even think about it. We’re going to have to look after ourselves.

So what was new?

We need to wait, she told herself. She glanced at her watch. One o’clock. The heat was at its peak. ‘We’ll change into something sensible,’ she told Karli. ‘Then in a few hours we can head over and see whether that’s a house. If it’s not we can always come back. We can always…’

Always what?

Good question.

‘What will we do while we wait?’ Karli asked.

That was another good question. They had to do something. The alternative was thinking and who wanted to think?

‘We could make dust-castles,’ she suggested, and Karli looked doubtful.

‘You don’t make dust-castles. You make sandcastles.’

‘Yes, but that’s according to the rules,’ Jenna told her and she finally managed a smile. ‘We’re in unchartered territory now, sweetheart, and rules need to be stood on their head. Dust-castles it is.’