I saw that girl still watching and Vivek did too. So we sat and Vivek arrived. They sucked me in, pushed me between galaxies and universes, tore me through black holes and spat me out in bursts of X rays and radio noise, They plucked me, pulled me, spun me around, and dropped me in a whirlpool where everything I’d ever known, everything I’d ever been, spun around and through me. Please, Marcilla, I said, I love you, but don’t treat me as if I were a daftie. And yet she never hesitated an instant in helping me, or thought even for a moment of calling the authorities. You might change your mind, she said. Don’t worry about a thing. At first I watched her so that she couldn’t see me, and then I watched her so she could see me, but others wouldn’t unless I wanted them to. Then I ran down to the front door, but it was locked from the inside. So I took what she said, almost nothing except my papers, dressed in a trackie and trainers, and we’re about to leave. Is that clear?”
“Yes. I was about to run to check the back door when I heard her behind me, saying Why, Enid, what’s the matter?
