‘Just sip it, OK?’ Jemima hands me a plastic cup of water. ‘Just in case…’

I will my arm to move but nothing happens. She places it on the desk behind me.

‘What day is it?’ Dominic stares at me.

‘Do you even know what day it is?’ Jemima tuts at him.

‘What day is it?’

‘Thursday,’ I say, coughing. ‘It’s Thursday.’

He smiles as Jemima scowls. ‘Very good,’ he says. ‘And what’s my name?’

‘Pillock,’ Jemima says.

I wince as I raise an arm to rub my head. ‘What happened?’ There’s an egg-sized lump under my fingers.

‘You fainted,’ Jemima says, reaching out to squeeze my arm. ‘Clean on to the floor. Bang. Quite the statement.’

‘Took my coffee with you, too,’ Dominic adds. ‘Fair enough, I suppose, since you buy me so much of the bloody stuff in the first place.’ 150

I finger the egg on my head. My hair feels sticky, or is it my head? Something tugs deep inside again, merciless, insistent.

‘I’m calling you a car, OK?’ Jemima straightens, pulling out her phone. ‘You are to go straight home. And if you’re sick, you go straight to A&E. Ever had a concussion before?’ She raises her eyebrows as I snort.

‘I’m OK,’ I say, smoothing my hair over the egg. ‘Seriously, Jemima, I’m fine. It must’ve just got a bit hot in here…’

‘Don’t be absurd,’ she says, lifting the phone to her ear. ‘What’s your address?’

‘No, really,’ I say, bracing myself on the arms of the chair as I try to stand.

‘Forget it,’ Dominic says, leaning over to flick a switch on the keyboard on the desk behind me. ‘I can confirm, from bitter experience, that you don’t stand a chance against Jonas on this one … on any one, for that matter…’

My skin prickles as he fiddles with the equipment, memories clearing the fog in my head. The monitor. The picture. Andromeda. It’s like so many of the dreams I wake up from, where I’m older and she’s still a child. The idea it’s just a dream flashes, so tempting and painful, I think I might pass out again. Except this time I can’t let myself fall back to sleep.

‘…asap,’ Jemima says into her phone. ‘Just come to the main door…’

Dominic straightens, smiling down at me.

‘Bill will be here in fifteen minutes,’ she says, tucking her phone back into her pocket. ‘I left the destination open. You’ll be OK to direct him, right?’

‘I’m fine, honestly, guys,’ I say, pushing myself upright. ‘Just a funny turn, that’s all.’

I rest on the wall so I can look at the screen without collapsing again, digging knuckles into my eyes. She’s still young, in my head, and in the picture.