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All at once my feverish slumber was disturbed by distant sounds above us. Too weak to make much noise, I shouted for help. As soon as I started calling out, Sophie launched herself at me. She knocked me to the floor with surprising energy, and lay on top of me, covering my lips with her skinny fingers.
‘No,’ she croaked in my ear. ‘No, we mustn’t make a sound. They’ll hear us.’
‘What the hell are you doing?’ I mumbled, my voice muffled beneath her hand.
I did my best to throw her off, but she found the strength to cling to me. Her fingers felt like chicken bones pressing against my mouth. Clearly she was as insane as her mother. But already we were too late. Everything had gone quiet overhead. I was about to despair, when we heard faint scrabbling and a distant frantic barking. Bef
