“We can’t keep running away,” I say. “We’re heading farther and farther away from Home. We’ve got to stop sometime.”

“You can stop,” says Rose, wrapping her hands around her mug. “I’m going to keep on going until I get away from them, or they go away.”

“But, Rose, what if you can’t run away from them?” I say. “I honked Candyfloss’s nose and you jumped out on Bendy Joan before they went. Maybe you’ve got to do something to Hati and the wolves to get rid of them.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, Arthur, six massive wolves are chasing me. What could I possibly do to get rid of them?”

Rose glares at me as Carol’s sinister music plays in the background.

“You got rid of the Dark,” says Win. The Dark was this big black cloud that followed Rose wherever she went and kept trying to wrap itself around her. “I can remember exactly what you did before it went away.”

Rose looks at him curiously. “What did I do?”

“You ran into the middle of it,” says Win, his eyes shining bright with the memory, “and you danced in it, and you were laughing like mad. You got us to join in too. Remember?”

“I do,” she says, smiling. “I called it the Dark Disco.”

“You were laughing like mad . . . ,” I repeat Win’s words.

“So what?” says Rose.

“Maybe that’s it. It was funny when I honked Candyfloss’s nose, and when you jumped out on Bendy Joan. I bet we were laughing then too.”

Rose looks at me. “So you think I should go up to the wolves and laugh? That’s not going to work, Arthur!”

“Fine,” I say. “They’re your fear; what do you think will work?”

“How many times do I have to tell you?” she says, standing up and banging down her mug. “They’re not my fear. I like wolves and Hati Skoll is just a girl who wears way too many stupid tassels.” And with that she stomps out of the inn.

Win eyes her abandoned drink. “Do you think she’s finished with that?”

I shrug. Right now, I haven’t got a clue what Rose is thinking.

Outside, I can see Rose standing in the empty street, her eyes fixed on the path that leads out of the village. Rose can make all the jokes about tassels that she wants, but I know she’s lying. I saw how she changed when Hati got out of the Box; I felt her trembling next to me. She’s not scared of Hati. She’s terrified of her.

Chapter 43

Cold and hunger soon drive Rose back inside. She shakes the snow off her onesie and says, “Do you reckon Carol Brocklebank does food?”