“Run,” Mallian said. “Hide, human. Ascent is here. You’ll know me soon. You’ll all grow to know me.”

Bone turned and ran, heading after the other three. He wished he was young again, and that his tree was still there, and he could find the hollow trunk and huddle away from the world forever. But he was no longer a child, and there were no hollow trees.

Everything here was exposed.

Part Two: Ascent

PART TWO

ASCENT

20

20

Lilou emerged from the woods one morning and surprised Angela while she was taking a bath. Sammi had woken early and disappeared on one of her regular long walks. It took a while to fill the bath, using buckets from the spring-fed well and heating saucepans on the wood burner, but Angela did it once each week. Cool showers were all right, but she’d always enjoyed a long soak. Back home in London, in the maisonette she shared with Vince, she’d bathed most evenings, sometimes with a coffee or a glass of wine, always with a good book. Jay had brought a selection of books to the cabin, but Angela had found she could only ever read when schooling Sammi. It was more to do with her own mindset than Jay’s choice of books.

For most of the summer they had the bathtub beside the cabin, out on the rough timber deck partly sheltered by the overhang under which they stored firewood. Angela had developed strong shoulders and arms from chopping logs. Living a more basic life, she’d found her strength building month on month.

As the water cooled around her she heard the nymph’s footsteps. She could instantly tell they weren’t Sammi’s—the girl walked with a different pace, a heavier gait—and she crossed her arms over her chest and sat up.

“Oh. Sorry.” Lilou didn’t seem sorry at all. She smiled at Angela and sat on a pile of logs. “I brought breakfast.” She held a rabbit in one hand, its neck broken. A drop of blood pattered onto her boots.

Angela grabbed her towel and stood from the bath, wrapping herself up.

“You could have warned us you were coming.”

“You didn’t hear me calling from the lane?”

“No. In a world of my own.”

“It’s hot,” Lilou said. She eyed the bath, holding back from actually asking.

“You stink,” Angela said. “What do you do when you’re out there, roll around in deer shit?”

“It’s good camouflage,” Lilou said. “Actually fox shit is better, but then wolves want to roll in me.”

Angela laughed. She couldn’t help it. “Have a bath,” she said, taking the rabbit. “I’ll gut and skin this bastard, and cook it while you relax.”

“What about Sammi?”

“That girl’s got a good sense of smell.”