It was a mistake to take Clover from the hospital. A mistake that could have cost them both their lives.
After a while, she feels Clover approach. She raises her head to look at her.
“Why did you do that?” Luna asks. “Why did you set all those clothes on fire?”
Clover doesn’t answer. She stands in front of Luna with her arms by her sides, her face blank.
“I’ll take you back to Inverness,” Luna says sadly. “I’ll call Eilidh, the social worker, and take you to the police station. I’m sorry I brought you here.”
“No!” Clover says, stamping a foot. “I don’t want to go to Inverness! I want to go back to Lòn Haven!”
Clover’s eyes fill with tears. She sits down on the grass in front of Luna and wipes her eyes.
“Who are you?” Luna asks gently.
Clover considers this. “I don’t know anymore,” she says, plucking a daisy. “Actually I do. I’m lost. That’s what I am.”
“Well, that’s a start.” Luna can see she’s getting somewhere. It energizes her, the feeling that she’s making a connection. That some truth is coming out at last.
Clover’s face softens. “I miss my mummy,” she says in a small voice. “I want to see Mummy.”
“Where is your mother?” Luna says.
“Lòn Haven,” Clover says. “She’s going to be so upset because I’m gone. I have to go back.”
“What’s your mummy’s name?” Luna asks.
“She’s called Liv. Her real name is Olivia, but everyone calls her Liv.” She looks up at Luna. “And she looks like you.”
Luna nods, but she’s struggling to make sense of this.
Clover sits down next to Luna, who flinches. She’s still scared that Clover’s touch will hurt her.
“Mummy’s going to be worried about me,” Clover says.
“Is that why you burned the clothes?” Luna asks. “Because you want me to take you to your mum?”
Clover nods.
“Clover, I want you to try and remember,” she says carefully. “Can you do that for me?”
“I’ll try.”
“What do you remember last? Before I came to the hospital and found you. Who were you with?”
Clover takes a deep breath. “I was walking along . . .”
“Where?”
“On the grassy bit.”
“In a field?”
Clover shakes her head. “The road was here . . .” She uses her hands to signal a road to her left. “And the grassy bit was here . . .”
“Which road? Can you describe it?”
“Um, it had some stones. And sheep.”
“And . . . what happened? Did you get lost?”
Clover picks at the grass in front of her, threading it between her fingers. “Well, I was lost for a little bit, but then the man took me in his car and we went to the hospital. And then you came . . .”
“Clover, I need you to think back, right back to when you went missing. I know it was a long time ago . . . So, Mummy was painting the Longing. And then what happened? Did someone take you away?”
Clover cocks her head. “Why would someone take me away? Did they think I was a wildling?”