But – the money. She needed it. She couldn’t continue the way she had been – she saw that now. All of her energy had been going into just getting through each sleep-deprived day, and every day doing that dragged her down just a little more. The money would give her 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. every morning whilst she worked out what to do with her life; it would give her breathing space.

But she’d be a breathing guinea pig.

She turned to face Delores. ‘I’d like those shoes, please, and I’d like to go out for a walk around the island to think it through. With Rosie. I think … I’d also like to phone my mother.’

Delores smiled coldly and nodded. ‘I would need an answer by the end of the day.’

Suddenly her mother took control of Thea’s mouth.

‘And, I think … it’ll probably have to be more than twenty thousand …’

Chapter 15

Thea had her own angel and devil, except they weren’t sitting on her shoulders but walking beside her.

‘I’d chew my own arm off for that kind of money!’ Rosie panted up the hill, still dressed in her gym gear from earlier, the wind fluffing her crazy hair into even crazier shapes. ‘Let them know that, yeah – if they have some more money lying round? Totally up for chewing my own arm off in the name of science!’

‘It’s danger money,’ Ethan called back to them, waiting a little further up the path.

They hadn’t been able to get hold of Rory, but, as Harriet had handed her the trainers with a look of puzzlement on her face, Thea had spotted Ethan hovering nearby trying to act as if he wasn’t listening in. It had been easy enough to get another pair of trainers for him.

‘It’s a shame you couldn’t get through to your mum, though.’

They’d tried. But mid-afternoon was peak plotting time for the women at HQ – and by “plotting” they often meant “napping”. There was no answer.

Thea continued to plod, staring at her newly issued trainers, the same as Rosie and Ethan’s. They had springy soles and she felt like she could walk for hours, at least twice around the small island. The cult clothes had been replaced by fleece-lined leggings and a puffy jacket that kept her warm despite the chill air.

‘My mother would probably suspect this is all a patriarchal conspiracy of some sort,’ Thea said.

Rosie nodded seriously. ‘Well, most things are,’ she said.

Thea wasn’t sure if Rosie actually knew what a patriarchal conspiracy was.

‘You could talk about it to Harriet,’ Rosie said.

‘Yeah, you could.’ Ethan cracked his knuckles together. ‘But you wouldn’t get a straight answer.’