I rummage around Mitch’s cabin until I find a penknife. Then I start to cut the ropes. Rose is fidgety and impatient, her eyes moving from the door to the window. “Hurry up,” she says every few seconds.

While I cut through the thick knots I tell Rose what happened at Barracuda Bay, but she’s barely listening to me. The second the rope falls to the ground she’s on her feet and heading for the window. “What are you waiting for?” she says. “Let’s go!”

I shake my head. “Rose, we can’t go.”

She looks at me like I’m mad. “Of course we can. No one knows you’re here. Win’s waiting for us. We can be off this thing in seconds!”

“But when Hati realizes you’re gone she’ll send her wolves after you. Running is pointless. It’s what I was trying to tell you at the Bucket of Blood. The Dark, Candyfloss, Smokey, Bendy Joan—they all went away once we stopped being scared of them. You don’t like cats, but you tickled Smokey’s tummy until he walked off.”

Rose shakes her head with frustration. “Arthur, how can I not be scared of a pack of wolves? Do you expect me to tickle their tummies?”

And that’s when we hear sniffing at the door followed by a bark. Rose moves closer to the window.

“Forget about the wolves,” I say, although just the sound of the wolf’s nails scratching the wood has made me flinch. Another wolf joins the first at the door and the scrabbling gets louder.

“Forget about them?” Rose stares at the door with wide eyes. “Arthur, they can hurt me. They can bite!”

“No, you love wolves. It’s not the wolves you’re afraid of. Hati is your fear.”

Rose raises her chin and gives me a hard look. “Scared of a girl with a stupid fur hat? I don’t think so.”

“But she’s not just a girl with a stupid fur hat, is she? She’s a bully.” For a moment we stare at each other. Rose’s mouth is clamped shut. She looks furious, but I know I can’t stop now. “Hati Skoll is a bully,” I say, “just like Harriet Scott is a bully.”

“No!”

I put a hand on Rose’s arm. “Yes.”

She shakes me off. “Harriet Scott is my friend, Arthur, one of my best friends, or had you forgotten?”

There is a bang on the door followed by Hati shouting, “Rose!”

The door handle turns, but the lock holds.

“I worked it out when Hati called you Fish. Rose, Harriet Scott is mean, and she is not your friend.”

Now Hati is hammering at the door. “Let me in, Rose! NOW!”

“The only way you are going to get rid of her,” I say, pointing toward the door, “is by admitting that Harriet Scott is someone who scares you.”