She turns off the alarm and forces herself out of bed. If she doesn’t get up straight away, she will just go back to sleep. She has slept badly, slipping in and out of the fox’s consciousness. He is very close now to what he has been looking for in the forest. He wants Anna-Karin to come. At some point in the small hours of the morning, she made up her mind. She will play truant and go into the forest to join her fox. The door to Minoo’s bedroom is open and her bed is made. When Anna-Karin comes down into the kitchen, Farnaz is there alone. She sits at the kitchen table, leafing through a medical journal. The smell of freshly made coffee fills the air. ‘Where is Minoo?’ Anna-Karin asks. ‘She texted me to say she’s off on a long walk,’ Farnaz replies. ‘She left before I woke up.’ Anna-Karin nods and wonders how Minoo feels after everything that happened yesterday. What must it be like having to face whatever awaits her in the manor house? She makes herself a mug of tea, then a bowl of cereal, and sits down.
