Nobody burst in demanding to know why two grown people were hiding in a broom closet.

Rory’s shoulders relaxed. ‘I thought it was just a sleep trial.’

He’d moved his hand from her shoulder but had now started gripping the tops of both her arms, like she might run away from him before he could finish.

‘What do you mean? It is a sleep trial …’

He shoved his face closer to her, his beard tickling her chin.

‘I … heard some stuff … from the other technicians. There’s something else going on. The data we’re collecting from you, how you sleep, when you dream, what you dream, all of that is being uploaded to another server. I don’t know where. And they’re really interested in REM sleep. Incredibly interested. Phase One and Two are just a cover; it’s Phase Three that is important and it’s something to do with your dreams. I don’t know what. They told you that you could be your best you, right, in Phase Three? That they’d fix you. Smoking, lose weight, whatever. Well that’s just a lie. I’ve heard them talk. They don’t care about fixing you. There’s something else they want.’

It was a lot for Thea to take in, in the dark, with her leg pressed up against a vacuum cleaner.

‘That might be down to me,’ Thea had to admit.

‘Huh?’ Rory’s grip tightened.

‘Delores offered me a deal. Apparently, I’m one of a really small percentage of people who can function on a small amount of sleep. Like two or three hours. For long periods of time. She wants to pay me thousands of pounds to see if they can make me completely sleepless.’

Rory exhaled so sharply it sounded like he’d been punched in the stomach. ‘Don’t do it.’

‘I was—’

‘Just don’t! Don’t fuck about with REM sleep. That’s your fucking brain! Are you crazy?’

He actually shook her a little, an angry parent telling off their child.

‘I wasn’t going to!’ she hissed. ‘I’ve told Delores that I’m leaving as soon as I can. With Rosie.’

‘Good. That’s good.’ He nodded to himself.

Thea flailed about a little in the dark but managed to grasp his arm and took it in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. ‘They’re going to search the monastery. I’m going with them.’

For a moment there was just the dark and the sound of breathing. Thea felt Rory’s warm hand cover hers and the heat went all the way to her face, but in the gloom there was no way Rory could have seen that.

‘You do believe me, don’t you?’

Rory’s voice, when he spoke, was gruff. ‘Yeah, I believe you. So be careful, okay?’

Chapter 22