POV

‘Go to sleep.’

‘Can I read about the witchfinder and the village women first?’ she asked.

‘Only for a little bit.’

She folded her little reader into a small square and searched for information about witchfinders.

‘Thanks, Dad.’

‘Goodnight, Nat-Mac.’

‘Goodnight, Dad-Mac.’

I closed the door slowly, looking in at her fascinated face illuminated only by the glow of her reader and smiled.

I went downstairs, walking carefully down – my ankle was broken years ago and it has left me with a pronounced limp ever since. It still hurts at times, as it never quite reset properly. Rachel was playing her favourite multiplayer role-playing game on the bigger display unit. I could see the little reflection in her eyes where the IDRoPs were reacting to the game. She touched her finger to her watch and paused the game. ‘Did she go okay?’

‘She’s reading a bit. I was telling her about witches.’

‘She’d better not get nightmares.’

‘She’s a tough kid,’ I said. ‘I think she’ll be fine. She loved it, really.’

‘Okay then.’

‘How’s the game going?’

‘Not bad. I reached the next level, but I haven’t figured out what to do yet. You going to log in and join me for a while?’

‘I’m going to get a sandwich first, then I will. Do you want anything?’

‘Fancy sharing a bottle of wine?’

‘You read my mind,’ I said. ‘Can you share the level with me, and I’ll be on in ten minutes?’

‘I’ve already shared it with you. It’s just waiting for you to log in. Check the news, by the way – there’s been a clone outing.’

‘They’re still going?’

‘I know, right?’

‘Okay, I’ll be back in a minute.’

‘Cool.’

There was a shout from upstairs. ‘DA-AAD!’ followed by some stomping down the stairs.

‘Is that the sound of angelic, cherubic footsteps?’ Rachel asked me. ‘You did a great job putting her to bed.’

‘What do you want, honey?’ I said loudly enough for her to hear.

She pushed the door open, walked into the middle of the room and folded her arms, her eyes glaring up at me. ‘They didn’t burn him!’

‘What?’

Her eyes blazed with anger. ‘They didn’t burn him! That’s just a silly legend. He did all that stupid stuff and he got away with it.’

‘Really?’ I asked, surprised. ‘You’re sure?’

She thrust her reader at me. ‘Look!’

I looked at the information on it. She was right. ‘Oh. I could have sworn that …’

‘He did all of that!’

‘I read that he got burnt.’

‘It’s not fair! The village women were meant to be clever. They didn’t do anything!’ Her eyes, which had been so filled with light a little while ago, now swam with tears.

I knelt down. ‘I didn’t know that, honey. Are you okay?’

Rachel came over and knelt beside her as well. ‘It was a long time ago, darling.’

‘It’s stupid!’ Natalie said, her voice breaking. ‘He was supposed to get burnt. That’s the way it’s supposed to end. You’re not meant to do something like that and not get caught. That’s not how it’s meant to work.’

I hugged her, and she buried her head in my shoulder and sobbed. I could feel the wetness through my shirt.

‘I’m sorry, darling,’ I said to her. ‘I wouldn’t have told you that if I thought it would upset you.’

‘I know, Daddy,’ she said, and gripped my arm.

Rachel stroked her soft brown hair, and said in a voice that only she could do in such a soothing way, ‘Do you want to sit up with us for just a little while longer?’

‘Yes, please,’ she said in a small voice.

‘Okay, then.’

‘Thank you.’

Rachel glanced over at me. ‘I think hot chocolate rather than wine, don’t you?’

‘I think so.’

She gestured over to the display, and switched it from the game to a gentle background music stream. The screen showed slowly moving blobs interweaving continuously.

Natalie and Rachel went and sat back on the sofa, Natalie curling up with her head against Rachel’s chest. Rachel gave me a little smile as I went into the kitchen to make the hot chocolate.

I swiped my finger across the touch unit on my watch and used it to scroll my visual display through to media headlines while I made it. I wasn’t looking for any in-depth information – just enough to give me an idea of what was happening in my locality and the world at large. Small, bite-sized little bursts of information, allowing me to make some sense of the swirling cloud of information that was constantly moving.