‘Being lucky once does not make you invulnerable.’

‘I know that. Crows, you’re not my social worker, all right?’

‘Am I correct in thinking you did not listen to them either?’

She gave him the look, and he turned away, holding his hands up in mock surrender.

‘You are free to destroy yourself in any way you see fit. Just that it would be a waste, that is all.’

The wolf howled again. It seemed closer, but that could have been her imagination.

‘It’s almost like you care,’ she said. ‘What about those people who you were supposed to be protecting?’

‘Mary, they are not here. You are.’

‘They don’t stop existing. They’re still there, locked away in her castle. They’re people like you and me, who were running from something terrifying: they ended up here and tried to make the best of it. They don’t deserve this any more than my lot do.’

‘The strong do as they want, and the weak suffer what they must. I cannot protect them: I built myself up for a role I could not fulfil. Now, we all suffer, they in their prison and me in my ruin.’

‘Fucking hell, you sound like me, and I sound like someone else. Things change, Crows, and there’s no reason why we can’t make them change.’

‘Strong words. Perhaps once you have seen her castle, once you have seen her, you will realise how pointless all this is.’ He swirled his own cloak about him, gathering the darkness and blotting himself out for a moment before reappearing as the cloth settled again.

‘Maybe I will. There’s no harm in looking, is there?’

‘Yes, there is. We are deep in her territory, almost up to her door. If you think there is no risk in this, then why are we hearing the wolf ’s howl?’

Mary pushed her hair away from her face. It felt tangled and greasy, and her scalp itched. Perhaps Crows did have a point, but she was certain she did too. She wasn’t doing this blind, but naively? She shrugged.

‘Is there any way of working out whether the wolfman’s hunting us?’

‘Only by finding him before he finds us. Which is not very wise.’

‘So let’s get on with it.’ She clambered up, and turned to look at the last rays of the sun touch the crowns of the trees. She had no idea where this sudden courage had come from. First sign of danger and she’d always run. And sometimes not fast enough.

Crows was still below her. ‘You may go if you wish,’ he said. ‘I have done my duty, and I will go no further.’

‘Shit, Crows, what is wrong with you?’

‘Whatever follows, you cannot say that you were not warned.’ He flapped his cloak a second time and was gone.