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‘I’ll get some plates and knives,’ Jacob said.

He didn’t stay for too long after lunch because the snow was closing in again. He cleared his mother’s path and the pavement outside, then headed back across Brentwell. The town had taken on its alter ego as a Christmas paradise, the lights along the high street glittering off the fresh snow. Outside the church, a group of carol singers slowly turned into snowmen as they sang Christmas songs to a small crowd. Further up the street, a group of kids were building a towering snowman right in the middle of the street. Jacob, on foot, headed for Sycamore Park, where he found a group of volunteers setting up the stage for the Christmas festival. He made himself useful where he could, carrying things, tying strings, fitting bolts. Like a group of excited dwarves, the volunteers sang Christmas songs while they worked, chatting happily between them, the excitement of Christmas growing.

As soon as the stage was finished, Madeline invited them all back to the Oak Leaf Café for drinks. Jacob, sipping a Christmas spice latte, wished that Charlotte was here, but she had cancelled, citing another engagement. Wandering from group to group without laying down ties anywhere, Jacob found himself standing near to Tom, the caretaker, and his girlfriend Jennifer, who worked at the primary school. Jacob wanted to ask about Charlotte, but found himself tongue-tied. However, after turning his attention to the pretty little cat sitting in a basket near the door, he looked up to find Tom looming over him.

‘Hey, Jacob? You got a minute? Jennifer just had a question.’

‘Oh, sure.’

‘It’s about the magician. Steamblack?’

Jacob stood up. ‘What do you want to know?’

‘Jennifer was just telling me that he came to the school on Friday to show some tricks to the kids. He managed to upset one of the boys. Billy Toad? Didn’t his mother just start working at your place?’

‘Clarice? Oh, that’s right.’

Jennifer stepped forward. ‘Billy looked pretty upset after the show.’ She explained to Jacob what had happened, that Billy had gone up on the stage and been asked to choose from two boxes. In one had been an actual toad—apparently a toy, but realistic enough to fool everyone. Billy had been visibly upset, and while the kids had been astounded by the supposed trick, James had claimed afterwards that it had been a complete coincidence.

‘He was so upset about it,’ Jennifer said. ‘However, Charlotte was really worried about Billy. I was just wondering if his mother had said anything?’

‘Not to me,’ Jacob said. ‘I mean, we were so busy yesterday that I didn’t get a chance to talk to her.’

‘Oh, right. Maybe if you do hear anything, let Charlotte know? I know she was worried about him. He’s one of those kids that teachers keep their eyes on.’

‘I wouldn’t put it past James to have done it on purpose,’ Jacob said, getting a sour look from Jennifer. ‘I mean, that’s kind of his thing.’

‘No, I don’t think so. He seemed really upset. He was talking to Charlotte for a long time afterwards.’

Jacob felt sick. Charlotte hadn’t told him that James had shown up at the school. He was more confused than ever now: on the one hand, James seemed to be undergoing a personality transformation, but if that was the case, where did that leave him? He had won Charlotte on the basis of not being a complete scumbag like his stepbrother, but if his stepbrother was now a changed man … he held all the cards, in more ways than one. It was a race Jacob wasn’t good enough to even start. Before he’d pulled on his running gear, his brother would be standing at the finish line, laughing.

‘I need to get home,’ he said, wondering if he would make it out of the door before he was actually sick. Somehow he did, stumbling out into the snowy glitter of a Christmassy Sycamore Park. He staggered along the circular path towards the south square, standing for a moment before the huge, leaning boughs of the ancient sycamore Big Gerry, wishing for the tree to come crashing down to put him out of his misery.

For a while he had thought he was winning. Now, he was losing everything again.