Deborah’s friends became increasingly worried about her behaviour as it became more bizarre and erratic. Taking her aside one day after she had been found soaking wet and covered with mud, Ralph said, ‘Deborah, where have you been? It isn’t safe, wandering off like that. Look at you! You’re going to catch pneumonia if you keep this up. What have you been doing out there?’
Deborah had smiled as though there was no cause for concern. ‘I’ve been watching things change.’
Ralph was perplexed. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘You know,’ she replied, as though explaining something obvious, ‘in the reflections.’
‘What reflections?’ he asked.
She smiled conspiratorially. ‘The only ones I could find. In the water. Sometimes, if I stare at myself long enough, I change too.’
Ralph was becoming very concerned now. ‘What do you mean, “you change too?”’
There was an unsettling gleam in her eyes as she said, ‘I see myself changing into something free. One day, they’re going to show me how . . . one day.’
Deborah was not permitted to wander off again. Something was very wrong, something Doc had missed.
Surprisingly, it was Éha who seemed to know something of Deborah’s affliction. Ralph was working at the new forge when he noticed a small figure watching him from a corner of the shop.