And so I repeat, it said. Can you open the door for me?

Lizzie glanced up at the window, but there was no sign of Del now.

I don’t know, she said. I guess I could try.

The dog moved aside as Lizzie came up the stairs and approached the door.

So, what’s your name? she asked.

I don’t have one, the dog replied. But I’ve been called Honey.

Was that why Del had no power over her? Did he need to know your name before he could do all these horrible things to you?

But then she remembered what he kept calling her. Little nameless girl.

He didn’t know Lizzie’s name, but he was still able to steal her mouth.

Can you teach me how to stop Del from having power over me? she asked. I’m a full-grown woman trapped in this child’s body. I want my real self back. I want my mouth back.

You must be the fiddler Joe told me about, Honey said. Lizzie.

That’s me.

She tried the door knob, but it wouldn’t turn.

It’s locked, she added.

Honey nodded. Then we have to do this the hard way.

Before Lizzie could ask what she meant, the dog took a run down the porch, then flung herself at the window, head tucked down to protect her eyes. She went through in a crash of breaking glass.

All Lizzie could do was stand and stare until the dog’s face appeared back in the window, her paws on the sill. Blood trickled down her forehead and onto her muzzle from the cuts on her head.

Are you coming? Honey asked.

Lizzie hesitated a moment longer, then nodded and ran to the window.

Geordie

I was still trying to comfort Jilly—a hopeless endeavour since she could neither see nor hear me—when Del suddenly reappeared in the room. He stalked to the window, then turned away, the fury plain on his face. For a moment there, I thought I’d seen a trace of fear in his eyes, but it was gone now.

“Goddamn it,” he said. “Where did that dog come from?”

Jilly never looked up. So far as she was concerned, he was no more here than I was. But then he kicked at the man-shaped pile of debris on the floor that had once been me. Leaves and twigs and dirt went flying across the room.

Jilly screamed.

“Shut up,” he told her. “Just shut up. You want to lose your mouth like your lippy friend did? Because I’m the man can make it happen.”

The Jilly I’d always known was back now. The fearless Jilly who wouldn’t back down for anyone. Tears still wet her cheeks, but her gaze was cold and hard as she looked up at her brother.

“I don’t care,” she told him.