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Rubbing her eyes, she recalled him telling her to rest for a while. She’d only meant to have a few minutes.

The doorbell rang. Trust him to be early.

Avoiding the sight of herself in the mirror, Rose stepped into the hall. She peered into Simon’s room. The cage was unlocked and the window open. She could hear the shower running and Simon’s muffled singing. He sounded happy enough.

The doorbell rang again.

Having shaken the worst of the crumples out of her dress and smoothed her hair, Rose opened the front door. It wasn’t Andrew. It was Rob with her mobile in his hand. He took in her appearance and raised his eyebrows a little.

Never explain , Sam’s words drifted through Rose’s head. ‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘Fancy that coffee?’

‘Well, if you haven’t anything else on,’ replied Rob. He had a slight smirk and his eyes were fixed on Rose’s.

‘It’s not what you’ve got on, it’s the way you wear it,’ said Simon over her shoulder.

Rose turned then followed Simon’s gaze and realised that while she’d slept, her dress had slipped to expose her left breast, barely covered in silk and lace.

Ignoring the heat rising to her face, she rearranged herself, took the mobile, lifted her head and turned towards the kitchen. ‘Do you take sugar?’

‘Artists,’ said Simon. ‘Disreputable bunch, the lot of you.’ Chuckling, he went to his room and shut the door.

‘Sorry,’ said Rob following Rose. ‘Changing the subject, I found your phone on the other side of the room from the stage altogether. Very strange. It must have fallen on the floor and been kicked across the floor. ’

‘And trodden on,’ Rose looked at the cracked screen and tried to turn the mobile on, but it remained dead. Either it was damaged or the battery was flat.

‘Higgins’ son fixes screens.’ Rob grinned at Rose’s incredulous glance. ‘Honest. He’s trying to bring things up to date. I gather his father’s making it hard going.’

‘I can imagine.’

Simon reappeared and filled a water bottle. ‘I’m going for a run.’

‘Andrew’s coming round for breakfast in a minute.’

‘He’ll have to wait. I’m just going up to the forest.’

Rose opened her mouth and remembering who was there, shut it again.

‘I’m surprised he didn’t take Sky with him,’ said Rob, once Simon had left.

‘Sky’s gone. She doesn’t tend to hang round much.’

‘Odd relationship.’

‘Very.’

‘A bit of a free spirit then?’

‘Something like that.’

‘Knows how to wear clothes properly?’ His voice was teasing.

Rose blushed, put her chin up then grinned. ‘Funnily enough, fashion’s not exactly her thing either. But believe it or not, I have a better grip on it.’

‘You looked lovely last night,’ said Rob, picking her phone up on the counter and fiddling with it. ‘You could maybe do with ironing this morning though.’

‘OK, hands up, I fell asleep fully dressed and have only just woken up. It’s not the sort of thing I usually do, but last night was a bit …

exhausting, I guess,’ Rose paused. ‘And, er, thank you for saying I looked nice. And, thanks again for bringing me home last night. I don’t know what got into me. I’m not usually hysterical.’

‘Apart from when you decide to climb trees in sandals?’

‘Mad possibly,’ amended Rose, ‘but not hysterical.’

They caught eyes and started to laugh.

‘Actually,’ said Rob, ‘last night, I felt panicked too. I didn’t have anyone to worry about except you.

I mean… what I mean is that I’d made you come out when Simon was ill and…

Well let’s face it, there was something in the air last night.

Everyone was spooked. If it made any sense, I’d blame those bloody women. ’

‘The Guild?’

‘Yes.’

‘Emmeline said something to me,’ remembered Rose. ‘She said I needed to be more careful. Something was “disgraceful”. I wasn’t sure if she meant the music, the power-cut or me.’ She shivered. ‘What happened to the crow?’

‘It drove me mad, bouncing about in that box like Houdini all the way to the rescue place. I don’t think many people worry about injured crows.

I wasn’t sure if they were touched by what I’d done or thought I was touched, but they said they’d put it somewhere it couldn’t hurt itself and check it out in the morning when it had calmed down.

After that, I went back to the community hall and helped pack up.

That weird humming … you did say you heard it too? ’

‘Yes.’

‘Well it sort of died down and then stopped and then the lights came back on.’

‘Same here.’

‘Rose…’ Rob started. His eyes were warm, his face open and she could see nothing else.

Something smashed. They both jumped. The sound had come from Simon’s room. Behind the door was a clattering and crashing. Rose rushed in without thinking and something rough pushed against her shins. ‘There’s a fox in here!’

She waved her arms to drive it back through the open window.

The fox leapt up to the sill and jumped over, then squeezed through the hedge to spook the heron in the meadow.

Simon was coming back across the grass and the heron took lumpily to the sky and disappeared out of view.

The fox, locking eyes with Rose for a moment, slunk off round the side of the house.

‘What is it with wildlife round here?’ Rose exclaimed.

Rob said nothing. She turned to see him looking round the room and she felt her face drain as he took in the cage where he’d previously seen a wardrobe, the sawdust, the open padlock.

‘It’s not what it looks like,’ she said.

‘How do you know what I think it looks like?’ said Rob. The warmth in his eyes was gone. ‘What’s wrong with Simon exactly?’

Rose opened her mouth and shut it again. What could she say? He’s a werewolf? His girlfriend’s a wolf? You think I’m mad, but seriously, I’m the one who’s positively normal .

The doorbell rang again. Rose didn’t move.

‘Perhaps you should answer it,’ said Rob. ‘It might be someone selling chains, in case you need to restrain your brother even more inhumanely. I need to be going anyway. ’

On the doorstep stood Andrew. He was holding up a carrier-bag. ‘Hope you’re ready for breakfast, I’ve got the bloodiest steak I could find!’

‘I’ll let myself out,’ said Rob.

‘Was it something I said?’ asked Andrew watching Rob march across the road. ‘Is he vegetarian too?’

Rose put her face in her hands and leant against the wall. ‘Oh God. He saw the cage. He saw the cage. Then you turn up with a bag full of animal parts. He must think… I can’t even begin to imagine what he thinks.’

‘Animal parts is a bit harsh,’ said Andrew. ‘It’s best Angus rump.’

‘It’s not funny,’ muttered Rose. ‘I’m going for a shower and to try to work out how to explain.’

‘Never explain,’ said Andrew.

‘Shut up.’

When she emerged from the shower, Rose found that Simon and Andrew had lit the barbecue and were poised to cook the steak outside.

She should feel grateful that they didn’t want her to have the smell hovering round the house, but all she could feel was mortification from the thought of Rob’s warm gaze and voice chilling into indifference and doubt.

Putting on the first pair of shorts and tee shirt she could find, Rose pulled back her curtains and looked out.

There was no sign of Rob in his kitchen and she wondered if he was in the studio.

Her fingers twitched across invisible strings and a thread of a new composition teased across the mind.

Angry, vanquished, confused. But she was too wound up.

Yanking a brush through her damp hair, she slammed out of her room and across into Simon’s, bracing herself to look round and work out how it must have appeared to Rob.

But it was clean and tidy again, the cage put away, a faint smell of disinfectant in the air.

‘Stop worrying, Posie,’ Simon murmured in her ear. ‘It’ll take more than the fact he thinks you’re insane to keep him away from you. What made you bring him in here anyway?’

‘There was all this crashing about and I knew you weren’t here.

’ Simon looked affronted that anyone would assume he’d be noisy normally.

‘So I burst in and there was a fox running around, sniffing about, knocking things over. Fortunately it decided discretion was the better part of valour and legged it. After that, we relaxed and that was when he saw the cage.’

‘Dog fox or vixen? Young or old?’

‘How should I know? I didn’t want it to stay long enough to inspect it. ’

Simon rolled his eyes. ‘It’s not that hard to work out. Anyway, stop worrying. Rob probably thinks I’m keeping wildlife in here. It’s the sort of thing people think I do.’

‘You wouldn’t keep a fox in a small cage in a wardrobe.’

‘You keep me in one.’

‘This is not funny!’

Rose slammed out of the room. The smell of hot fat wafted into the bungalow and she slid the patio door shut with a bang then went to the kitchen for more coffee.

Simon followed with his hands in his pockets. ‘Posie, seriously, I bet that’s what he’s thinking. That I’m some kind of weirdo who keeps wild animals in a cage in my room.’

‘No. Think about it logically. You’re a wildlife expert.

You give talks on conservation and campaign against mistreatment of animals.

You hate caged creatures and are vocal about it.

I am not an expert, but even I imagine that putting a fox into a small space is asking for trouble.

And even I know that even if you did do that sort of thing, the key thing about capturing animals and putting them in a cage is that you keep the door locked. ’

‘So tell him the truth. You’ll have to eventually.’

‘Why?’

Simon rolled his eyes and ruffled her damp hair. ‘Because he fancies you. Anyway, I’m going to get my steak before Andrew overcooks it.’

Rose grimaced and picking up her coffee went out of the front door and sat on the step. She put the mug down, then rested her head in her hands. She ground her bare toe into a crack in the paving and peered at a row of little mites marching off on some mission. It took her back to childhood.

Little girl angry. The whole world is against her. Somehow on the step, with the cold of the concrete warming under her skin, the world becomes so big, it’s not important anymore.

Rose is in the shelter of the door frame. The world goes by and it doesn’t notice her.

She looks up and she can see the sky beyond the porch roof and the other roofs. It is huge and curved and so far away she feels like she is under a huge blue bowl.

She looks down and small creatures go about their business,

Rose realises that to them, she is too big to be important.

After a while, someone comes to sit beside her.

Maybe it’s Dad who will tell terrible terrible jokes until she has to laugh and he swings her up and pretends to throw her into the bin for being bad-tempered.

Maybe it’s Mum, who sits and says nothing but after a while, starts to sing in a soft voice, tapping out a rhythm with her toes among the ants and beetles, until Rose has to join in and they hold hands until the world becomes the right size again.

Maybe it’s Simon who punches her and then puts his arm round her and holds out something in his hand to cheer her up, usually something revolting like a seven-legged spider or a squashed frog, but the thought is there.

The world goes back to its normal size.

Rose closed her eyes, the sun was hot and even though she knew they wouldn’t come, she listened out for tinkle of the ice-cream van and the sound of other people’s lives filtering out through open windows.

She waited, sitting on the step as it slowly warmed under her, waited for the movement in the air which meant someone had come to sit beside her.

She remembered Mum’s face and Dad’s and recalled Simon as a child, small and grubby and annoying rather than tall, clean and annoying.

Then she visualised herself now, grown up but being childish and Rob, raising his eyebrows at her and then grinning and winking.

But there were no city sounds, no jokes, no one coming to pull her out of her mood.

Looking up again, Rose saw Rob on his own doorstep, watching her.

She stood, walked across the road and stood by his car with her arms crossed.

‘I need to explain,’ she said.

‘You don’t need to do anything,’ he said. ‘It’s your life and your business. Nothing to do with me.’ He didn’t quite meet her eyes.

‘Yes but …’

‘By the way, you might be interested, that crow I took to the rescue place—’

‘Yes?’

‘It must have been more intelligent than we’d thought. They have no idea how it did it, but it managed to bend the wire enough to get out of the cage. Or something. They’re completely baffled but said that the injuries were not so bad it couldn’t survive as long as the shock didn’t get it.’

‘That’s good. If weird.’

‘Everything seems weird at the moment.’

‘Rob—’

‘Anyway, I’m going away for a few days. It’s not because… It’s been organised for ages. It’s been a while since I saw Saoirse’s family and I could do with a break. We haven’t got another gig for a week or so. ’

Saoirse’s family. Of course.

‘Which part of Ireland do they live in?’ Not that she knew anything about Ireland.

‘Wexford. Anyway, I’ll be gone for a few days.’

‘Do you still want me in the band?’

A shadow of a smile. ‘Why wouldn’t I? You smell better than Craig and Patrick and you certainly add an air of … unpredictability.’

Rose laughed with effort.

Rob nodded towards the bungalow. ‘Is Simon better now?’

‘If he’s eating steak, he’s on the mend,’ Rose said, pulling a face. ‘I think it rebuilds his energy levels or something. Not sure why a bowl of spinach couldn’t work but then I’m not the doctor.’

‘You still look worried.’

‘Andrew ran some tests. He’s going to tell us what he found in a bit.’

There was a pause. Birds mocked overhead, the sun scorched a gap between them.

‘If you need someone to talk to, I don’t have to go to Ireland,’ said Rob. ‘It’s just that I need to clear my head.’

‘No really, that’s kind, but go. I don’t need you, I mean, I’ll be fine.’

‘We’ll have that coffee when I’m back. In the meantime, don’t let the wildlife or the witches get to you.’

‘Witches?’

‘You know what I mean. Just take care, Rose. You’re mad, but against my better judgment, I don’t think you’re as mad as you seem.’

He patted her arm. Like a brother.

‘Posie!’ called Simon.

‘I’ve got to go.’

‘Me too.’

She went back across the road, imagining Rob, going back inside to pack, forgetting her. The top of her head thought it remembered a soft kiss the night before and her face burned.