“Woody, who has been telling you these terrible untruths?” asked Gruber gently. “If it’s who I think it is, all I can say is that she hasn’t been herself since she sabotaged the Wolven DNA.”

“Liar!” shouted Woody. “If you mean Iona, she’s told us everything. Her only part in this was bringing my clan here.”

Gabriel shook his head sadly. “Oh, Woody,” he said sorrowfully, “did she tell you she left the project of her own accord, because she was upset at what was going on? Or, rather, that we summarily dismissed her? In fact, it was Iona’s arrogance and complete disregard for living beings that made it impossible for her to carry on here. Her drive to succeed cost lives, and eventually her mind became so unhinged that it was necessary to pension the poor thing off.”

Woody shook his head violently. “You lie,” he said. “You’re just twisting things to … to cover yourself.”

Gabriel Gruber smiled. “It was Iona who killed your mot her.”

Woody reeled back as though Gabriel had pulled a gun on him.

“I thought that would grab your attention,” said Gabriel, enjoying the look of devastation on Woody’s face. “Mr. Scale here, he saw it all.”

Lucas Scale nodded.

“I’m afraid it’s true,” he said with fake sympathy. “It was just after you were born. Iona went to take you away from your mother, and she turned very nasty. Technically, it was self-defense.”

Woody said nothing. Then he spat straight into Scale’s grinning face. “I know you are lying,” he said, smiling feverishly. “It was here, wasn’t it?”

Woody shook off Scale’s grip. Scale went to grab him again, but Gruber put his hand up. “Leave him!” he ordered, fascinated.

Woody moved over to a long padded bench, like a hospital gurney without wheels. It had straps made of steel-reinforced mesh, presumably to wrap around the arms and legs of whoever was being examined or experimented upon. He put his hands on the bench, his face contorting as though with pain. His mother wasn’t the only being to have died in this place. Images of the past thundered through his tired brain. He could feel the souls of all the Wolven who had perished calling to him as he ran his hands over the fabric of the bench. He saw everything, everything he needed to see, and he wished he hadn’t.

“It was you!” He looked straight into Gruber’s eyes. “You killed her, not Iona.”

Gabriel Gruber shrugged. “She attacked poor Mr. Scale, then she bit me. Badly,” he added, looking Woody straight in the eye. “It really hurt, so I had her put down. It’s what people do, when they’re bitten by their pets.”