Make today count. I repeated my old challenge to myself as the sun rose behind me early the next morning, casting long shadows across Hurstwell’s open yard. I’d hardly said it—or lived it—since coming here, but it was time to start. Purposeful steps carried me toward the archaic building, into the chill of its shadow, but then I slowed. Getting out without being caught had been relatively easy, in the end. Getting back in and remaining unseen was its own problem.

I knew the corridors by this time, and when each would be empty. I’d have to stay alert and keep out of sight every minute, changing locations when the staff did. My heart pounded as I approached the place, and I crouched in the bushes, evaluating my options. Bare rose branches poked me. I was near the bench where I’d talked to Anna.

She’d be one of the first I’d help. Somehow.

It was then I realized I had no idea what I planned to do. Coming back here was step one, but hiding out in the corridors and unused rooms did the patients little good. What did I mean to do, help them escape? Bring them decent food?

A figure trudged over the snow-powdered walk ahead, and I shrank deeper into the bushes. She looked about—it was Nurse Duffy, her blond hair hanging limp from its crown of pins. I held my breath. The gardens were mostly bare this time of year, and she’d spot me if she looked hard enough.

Just a few more steps. I’d dash past once she’d turned the corner.

A solid arm yanked me back. A hand stifled my cry. “Thought to escape now, did you?” Thornhill’s hot breath mingled with the chilly air around the left side of my face. His arm held me against him like a metal bar. “Troublesome creature, you are.” He pulled me to my feet, wrenching the breath from my lungs. Smashing my ribs together. Obliterating all my plans. “I don’t know why you’ve come, why you lied about who you are, but I won’t let some chit bring this place to ruin.”

Legs off the ground, I kicked and fought in a sudden panic. “You can’t do this! I’m not mad. Not mad! I’ll have your hide for this.”

He stopped on the lawn, impervious to my flying limbs. “You’ll have nothing. Nothing. There’s no helping some people, and there’s only one place for that sort.”

Isolation. Again. Awash with fresh panic, I twisted and wrenched, screaming into the morning mist. The lonely moors echoed with my sharp cry, then he dropped me, hand flying across my face. The blow stunned me into silence and I lay on the cold ground.