Jack woke with a spasm of cramps in his legs. It was still dark. He rubbed at his calf muscles and swung them over the side of the bed. And froze.
His fever seemed to have gone. But so had Ava. If she were still lying down, his feet would be in her face right now.
He switched on the bedside light, and his uneasy feeling grew stronger. Ava's rucksack had vanished with her.
Suddenly wide awake, the twinge in his legs forgotten, Jack pulled on his shoes and opened the door a crack. It gave on to the little living room. The clutter and bric-a-brac made strange shapes and shadows in the orange gloom spilled by the streetlamps outside. 'Ava?' Jack whispered.
Nothing.
'Ava!'
The toilet flushed. Jack relaxed a little and waited for her to return. But it was Patience who shuffled into the living room through the other door, wrapped up in a robe, her feet buried in fluffy slippers.
