He stops in a place that smells of stone where trees speak to one another in the night, over the sound of running water. From what I can see through the tiny opening at the neck of the sack, we’re in a shallow gulley with a waterfall at the end. Ted makes camp with a lot of rustling and groaning. Light flickers through the dark fabric that contains us. Fire. Overhead, I can hear the wind stroke the leaves.

I can’t see much but I can feel the vastness of the air. Wind crashing into clouds. I wish I’d never known the truth, I say to Lauren. The outside is terrifying. There are no walls. It goes on and on. How far does it go, the world?

She says, “It’s round, so I guess it goes on until it comes back to you again.”

That’s terrible, I say. I think that’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard. Oh LORD, preserve me …

“Focus, Olivia,” she says.

Is he going to let us out of this bag? I ask. To pee or whatever?

“No,” she says. “I don’t think he will.” I can hear her mind running furiously. “It’s a change of plan,” she whispers. “That’s all it is. We pivot. We adjust. He has the knife. I felt it against his hip. So you get it from him, is all, and kill him. Same plan. Better, actually, because we’re in the middle of nowhere and no one will come to help. We can make his plan work for us, see?” I wonder if she’s been at Ted’s bourbon because she sounds exactly like he does when he’s drunk. Fear can make you slur your words as badly as drink does, I guess.

I think of the body, our weak, thin body, against Ted’s bulk, his might. The wind strokes my fur with cold fingers. I breathe it in. It is both ancient and young at once. I wonder if it is the last thing I will feel.

Wind is lovely, I say. I’m glad I got to feel it. I wish I had got to taste real fish, though.

“I wish you had too,” she says.

I can’t do it, Lauren. I thought I could but I can’t.

“It’s not only for us, Olivia,” Lauren says. “It’s for him. Do you think he wants to be like this? Do you think he’s happy, being a monster? He’s a prisoner too. You have to help him, cat. Help him one last time.”

Oh, I say, oh dear …

“OK then,” Lauren says, soft and resigned. “Maybe it won’t be so bad.”

I think about the round world, which if you travel far enough, only brings you back to the same place.