Ralph thought for a moment that she wasn’t listening, because she kicked her feet absently, staring at nothing. But finally she replied in a sullen voice, ‘I will help your friend. But I do not need anybody’s help.’
Ralph frowned. ‘Why do you say that?’
She shrugged. ‘The bad voices always promise that they won’t leave me behind. They know-’
She gasped as Ralph took her by the shoulders, forced her to look him in the eye. ‘Look at me! Éha, I am not a bad voice in your head.’
She looked away, a pale, sick expression on her face.
‘It’s so . . . hard to tell . . . sometimes,’ she said in a small voice. ‘That has become my greatest fear . . . that if help was ever to come . . . I would not be able to recognize it for what it was.’
As Éha’s words sank home, Ralph and Malina exchanged a long look. Eventually, Ralph nodded and muttered sombrely, ‘No wonder Pran is so willing to go to such extremes.’
Malina looked a question at him, but Éha actually managed to smile.
‘Pran I have learned to trust, and he is your friend. I will stay with you, I think.’