Weaveworld

VI

HELLO, STRANGER

1

he hated leaving the city, knowing she was also leaving Jerichau behind somewhere, but whatever she felt for him – and that was a difficulty in itself – she knew better than to linger. She had to go, and go quickly.

But alone? How long would she, could she, survive like this? A car, a carpet and woman who sometimes was not even certain she was human…

She had friends around the country, and relatives too, but none she knew well enough to really trust. Besides, they’d ask questions, inevitably, and there was no part of this story she’d dare begin to explain. She thought about going back to London; to the flat in Battersea, where her old life – Finnegan and his out of season Valentines, the pots, the damp in the bathroom – would be waiting for her. But again there would be questions, and more questions. She needed the company of someone who would simply accept her, silence and all.

It had to be Cal.

Thinking of him, her spirits lightened. His eager grin came to mind, his soft eyes, his softer words. There was probably more danger in seeking him out than in returning to London, but she was tired of calculating risks.

She would do what her instincts told her to do; and her instincts said: