THE good news is, I don't think he heard my conversation with Martha.

The bad news is it's because he's too busy taking in the fucked-up state of the barn.

"I can explain," I stammer.

Akai pushes open the barn door and steps inside. The sound of frenzied chicken clucking enters my ears and I feel something inside me shrivel up and die.

"It was an accident," I blabber hastily, "you see, the cow, it uh, didn't recognize me and freaked out, going on this ... this rampage! All around the barn! That's what cows do, right? Charge at things."

"You're thinking of a bull."

Akai has his back to me so I can't see his face, but his voice seems calm enough. For a second I feel relieved, hopeful even that I can somehow explain my way out of this.

Then he turns around.

I've never seen quietness look so angry.

"Leave." It's a single, short word, but it slaps me with the same force as my sister's lecture.

"Look, I can explain – "

"I don't need to hear it. I've seen enough." With every sentence, he moves forward. "You are not a farm helper. You have not the slightest clue what you're doing. I suggest you take your leave this minute, Miss Monet."

One more step and I'm pushed out the barn door. I hold my ground, but that doesn't stop him from coming close.

"Don't call me that," I snap.

"Call you what?"

"Miss Monet! My name is Iris."

"What I call you doesn't change the fact that you lied."

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I lied, but I'm desperate!" As I say the words, I realize how true they are. "I need this job. Please. I – I need the money."

Akai is unmoved. "There are plenty of other jobs in Ryefair. The dressmaker's for example, or the diner. I hear the Ecclestons need a babysitter. Though looking at you, you probably have about as much experience with that as you do animal care."

Any other day I might have risen to the jibe, but today is not that day. "No, it has to be here!"

"And why is that?"

I can't handle this. Not Jared, not my sister, not the tabloid article. Certainly not Mr-Supposed-Heir-To-A-Company-Yet-Still-Spends-His-Time-Traipsing-Around-With-The-Geese. When he speaks, his cool breath ruffles my hair and tickles my ear; I can smell summer on him: the scent of freshly cut grass, leafy trees, and clean sheets drying in the wind. His eyes too, burning like the sun, giving me no escape, boring down on me, pressing down as they tear through my lies –

"Because I want you!" I blurt out.

Akai freezes. I freeze. Time vanishes.

Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, the Iris Monet Guide To Hooking A Man crumples up like an old newspaper before throwing itself off a cliff.

Oh. My. Fuck.

I could have said anything else. I could have argued no other jobs provided free lodging. I could have pointed out the Satohs paid a generous salary. I could even have claimed some wild childhood dream of always wanting to work with the animals, which couldn't be fulfilled due to strict parents, so I ran away from home and this is my only shot.

I could have said absolutely anything – but of course I said that. And not even the prettified version of it. Just straight-up, whack-in-the-face, bam-and-slam!

A shocked second passes where neither of us speaks. Akai coughs, breaking eye contact, and it occurs to me how different he suddenly looks. His whole bearing is now incredibly awkward.

"What, you've never had a confession before?" Jesus needs to shut me up before I do more damage.

"You ... " He stops. "It doesn't matter. You need to leave before you harm these animals. Further."

"I'm a quick learner, I swear. Just give me the week and I'll learn the ropes, you'll see!"

Any effects of my sudden confession are already fading as rapidly as they come. I can see apathy clouding back Akai's features.

"The fact that you thought you could get away with it tells me how dumb you are. Saying you can learn everything in one week shows me you're arrogant. There's no worse pairing than those two adjectives – so please, save your breath." His voice hardens. "You can either walk out or be dragged out."

Rude. "You're wrong," I huff. "Insensitive prick is a worse pairing, and that's what you are."

Akai's eyes narrow and he's about to unleash a whipping comeback when suddenly Chihiro runs up. She's panting, hands on her knees as she stops in front of us.

"Oniisan!" she wails. "Maiko is missing!"

Maiko ... that's a familiar name. "The pregnant mare?" I ask.

"Mama and I went to the stable just now. She's not there, and the latch of her stall is broken. Mama thinks she broke it to escape." Chihiro's entire body is trembling as she speaks. She must have run the whole way here. "It's going to be dark soon and Anita says there are wild snakes out there! If Maiko gets bitten – "

Here the little girl breaks off and bursts into tears.

Crouching down, Akai places a hand on Chihiro's shoulder. The eyes that flamed righteous anger one moment ago now hold nothing but mellow softness. And when he speaks, his voice is gentle.

"Hey, it's okay. Maiko's a strong girl, she can handle herself. Besides, she can't have been gone for long. I'll get Inu right now and we'll search for her. She'll be fine, I promise."

Chihiro looks tearfully at me. "Will you help too?"

Now, usually I'm pretty impervious to the wide-eyed wheedling of a small child. But as Chihiro turns her puppy-dog-eyes on me, I find my lips forming the word yes – something I didn't even get to say before Akai cuts in.

"Unfortunately Miss Monet is leaving immediately. She won't be able to help us with Maiko, or anything else, for that matter."

I fold my arms. "Okay, now you're just being immature."

"You don't think you've done enough damage around here?"

"So I messed up the barn a little – "

"I'm not talking about the barn. Horses don't run unless they feel threatened. I wonder, what could Maiko have thought to be so dangerous, that she was willing to abandon shelter despite being pregnant?"

There's a pause as his words sink in. Akai looks the most loathing I've ever seen him.

"Like I said. Leave, Miss Monet, before you cause permanent harm."

£

I'm standing in the stable, staring at Maiko's empty stall. I'm not entirely sure why I'm here. Between you and me, I blame my own two feet, but I think my therapist would say I was driven by a strong sense of responsibility.

Okay, so maybe I feel a bit guilty.

... Alright, I feel extremely guilty. Guilty to the point where I hid behind a tree, waited until Akai left, then sneaked in. The other two horses aren't all that pleased with my presence and one of them rears up like it wants to kick a hole in my face.

"Hold your horses," I snap. Ha! Good one. "I'm just trying to help."

But help how exactly? It's not as if I've got a bloody tracking nose like Inu. Or animal whispering ability like Akai.

The tiny bottle of lavender oil is still sitting on the shelf where I last saw it. On a whim, I grab it and tuck it into my jeans pocket. There's a minute of aimless wandering around the stall, and then I go outside.

"Now what?" I ask aloud. The night air doesn't respond.

Maybe I really should leave. It's not as if I'm getting on stupendously well with the inhabitants of this farm. I've ticked off the cows, pissed off the geese, chased away a horse and murdered a member of the chicken family. And pretty much ruined all chances with Akai, who's the only reason why I'm here in the first place.

Moodily, I kick a pebble on the ground. It flies off into the night, and I stare at the spot where it vanished, lost in thought.

It takes approximately three seconds before I realize a pair of eyes is staring back at me. I yelp in surprise. Oh, no. They're familiar.

"Hello Gacho," I say nervously.

The goose flutters out of the underbrush, looking at me as if we're both players in a game of Among Us, and have found ourselves coincidentally alone in a room. Here I am, outside during a beautiful summer's dusk, having a Mexican stand-off with a goose. Maybe if I don't move, it won't attack. Or should I lie down and play dead?

Gacho waddles off a few feet, then stops and looks back at me. Honk, honk.

"You want me to follow you?" I ask uncertainly. Gacho gives me a look that's the goose-equivalent of well, duh! Or it could have been no I want to get you lost in the woods so I can murder you. I've never been an expert on facial expressions of fowl.

In the end, I follow anyway. Gacho takes me on a northeast tangent away from the stable. For ten minutes I traipse on with nothing but the light of my mobile, the grass growing increasingly unkempt around my ankles. Then Gacho stops.

She points her beak into the darkness of a thicket. Honk, honk. I shine the flashlight of my mobile but see nothing except for the outlines of thick trees. Behind me, the sun has all but sunk down fully into the horizon. Anita has put the lights on in the Satoh house, where they glow in tiny pinpricks.

I look back at the silent thicket. "Are you sure about this, Gacho? You didn't drag me out here for nothing, did you?"

A single honk. Which could have been no – or yes.

Gingerly, I attempt a single jeaned leg into the undergrowth. Something winged takes flight above my head and I screech, my mind jumping immediately to vampire bats! But no, it's just an owl, who shoots me a look of contempt.

A few more steps and now I'm fully in the trees. I do a wide sweep of my surroundings with the flashlight. Absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, Gacho seems to have lost interest and is now foraging among the grass.

"Gacho," I say, taking one step further into the dark, "I don't think there's anything – aiiyyeeeeeeee!"

My foot has gone right through empty space and the rest of my body quickly follows. It's a short but painful slide through dirt that ends with the utter bruising of my coccyx. As I lay there groaning, Gacho pokes her head through the hole. Honk, honk. That's when I hear something else. A distinctly anxious whinny.

I sit up. "Maiko!" I exclaim.

The chestnut mare is huddled in the corner of the cave. She's lying on her side, and immediately I can tell something is wrong with her. Not only does her breathing seem labored, but there's also something that looks like a whitish water balloon hanging out from her backside.

Maiko snorts aggressively. I back away, raising both hands.

"Okay. Alright. I'm not going near." Shit. I know I should have paid more attention while Akai was teaching me about the horses. How much of this lavender oil should I be using? Five drops? Six?

Maiko tosses her head without warning, and I jump. Half a bottle of oil hits the ground and instantly the cave is filled with the overpowering smell of lavender. As the flashlight of my mobile swings around, I suddenly see what's inside the whitish balloon.

"Oh sweet Jesus, you're giving birth." I try not to gag. "Oh dear. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. This is so not my scene. I cannot handle this. Gacho!"

The last word is spit out in a hiss. Gacho the goose tilts her head at me quizzically. The hole is about five feet off the ground – short enough for me to stick my head out like a game of whack-a-mole but not short enough to climb out.

"Get Akai," I say, enunciating the words. "A-kai. You know, that moodily handsome man with the resting bitch face who feels only one emotion – utter apathy? Yes, him. Go now. Shoo, shoo!"

Gacho fluffs her feathers, clearly offended by me ordering her around. That's when I remember I have Akai's number; I finagled it out of Hayate yesterday by using the excuse of asking work-related questions. There's but one bar of service on my mobile, but one bar is all I need. The dial tone starts ringing.

And ringing.

And ringing, and ringing, and – it cuts off. I dial again. This time it only rings twice before it goes dead. I stare at my mobile in disbelief. He's declining my calls! There's no way a dial tone is this short!

Maiko's strained breathing is now bouncing off the walls. Gacho has disappeared. Inside the whitish balloon, there's the tiny body of a baby foal, and it's not moving. I stop trying to dial Akai and switch to a different number.

A new voice crackles over the phone. "999, what's your emergency?"

"Hi!" My voice is breathless and way too high-pitched. "I have a birth. I mean, there's a birth."

"You're giving birth, ma'am?"

"Oh god no. No no no no. Not me. I mean someone else. I mean – "

"Okay ma'am, I need you to calm down. Is the patient breathing?"

"Yes, but she sounds bad. I mean, can you hear this?" I point the mobile out at Maiko.

A pause. "That sounds ... unusual. Patient conscious?"

"Yeap." I start vigorously nodding. "Yeap yeap yeap ... I can see the baby, and it's not moving!"

"The baby's out?"

"Not exactly. I mean he – she – it ... the point is, we're missing two legs."

"I'm sorry?"

"The hind legs. The front legs are out, but I can't see the hind legs."

Any moment now I'm going to burst into hysterical laughter and I won't stop.

There's a long pause at the other end of the phone call. "I'm sorry ma'am, but who exactly is giving birth right now?"

"Maiko!" I burst out, panic finally bubbling over. "The horse!"

"You called 999 because a horse is giving birth?"

"Yes!" I wail. "I don't know what else to do!"

Something rustles from the other end of the cave. A low sound, like a growl, and then the teensiest flicker of a moving shadow. I go cold.

That ... that looked like a wolf, didn't it?