She thought she was going to need them. How could she have been so stupid as to go to Igor’s house? She’d lost so much time, and she had an awful feeling she’d said or done something there that had betrayed Mama irretrievably. She’d been so foolishly confident, believing that finding out the truth about her mother would solve all the problems. All that talk of Ivana Kupala and her heart’s desire had distracted her into thinking that the whole puzzle was going to unravel to its conclusion, laid out as neatly as the church and the dovecote had arranged themselves in her dream. Oh what an idiot she was! She sat on the seat as if on prickles, willing the bus to move faster through the sticky heat. There was no one to help her now; nobody wanted her any more. Like Mama, she had to get to the island. She had to hide. When the bus finally reached her stop she jumped off and sped towards the market. She wheeled round the corner and was halfway across the road when a great black shape seemed to materialize out of nowhere.
