First she searched around until she found a fallen branch, stripping off the side growth until she had a piece of wood the thickness of her forearm. Pushing one end through the layer of pine needles into the soil below, she wedged the other end against a tree trunk to form a triangle. Then, with Cal’s help, she broke off some of the lower branches from the surrounding trees and leaned them, fan-like, against the central branch. Finally she laid more branches horizontally across before weaving them all together. ‘There,’ she said when they had finished. ‘What do you think?’ ‘Not bad,’ said Cal. ‘What do you do for an encore?’ ‘I go inside and lie down,’ said Eden. ‘Coming?’ Cal followed her inside, breathing the sweet smell of pine sap as he covered the entrance with branches and lay down beside her. ‘This doesn’t feel real,’ she whispered. ‘I feel as if I’m going to wake up any minute and my mom will be standing there, asking me what I want for breakfast.’ ‘Do you wish you were back there?’ asked Cal.
