My stepsisters leave. The decanter goes with them. I wrestle with the knot on my ankle but panic has made me clumsy. My fingers fumble, too scared to slow down.

"Please – please!" I whisper. I have to escape now! But the knot does not slide and my fingernails shred. Through the murmur of conversation downstairs my ears pick out a man's voice, soft and pleasant, and my heart jumps right in my throat. I have to get out! I don't want to think of what Edgar might do if he finds me alone and tied to a bed. No, no, no....

I hear a soft scuffling by the wall and snap toward the sound. One of my rats! Stepmother and Loony ransacking my room must have scared him out. He pauses and looks up at me as if asking if I'm all right.

"Toil! Come here!" I wave him over, desperately happy. "Can you chew through this rope on my ankle? They trapped me."

Toil doesn't hesitate. He springs onto the side of the bed and claws his way up. It takes him only a minute to chew through the knot on my ankle.

"Thank you, darling!" I slide my hand over him, flattening his silky fur. Then I peel the rope off my ankle where it leaves purplish dents in my flesh. My foot tingles as blood begins to flow again.

I hurl myself off the bed and out of the room. I have no time to pack. It means leaving barefooted with the clothes on my back, but what choice do I have? I will not marry that cheater, beater, murderer.

I creep down the narrow back staircase that Cook uses. I'm near the kitchen now. A long corridor leads to the front of the house where the immaculate white sitting room is. I hear Stepmother speaking. "She'll be down shortly, she just wanted a few minutes to get ready. Lunilla, why don't you go and fetch her?"

I shouldn't have waited. I dash into the kitchen, planning to slip out the back door. But the room is dark and in my haste I kick the coal scuttle sitting by the stove. It clatters across the floor and hits the wall with metallic fanfare. I don't believe this!

"Cook?" I hear Loony say.

"Cook is out!" Stepmother's voice is sharp as a battle cry. She knows who's in the kitchen.

I wrench open the back door and spring out to the yard. It looks the same as the night I prepared for the ball, except now the pumpkins are gone, stored away in the cellar. I dash across the courtyard, hoping to reach the street beyond. There I have a chance of losing myself among the alleys.

No such luck. The back door bangs open and moments later Loony crashes against my back, toppling me onto the cobblestones. I land with her arms under my stomach and the air is punched right out of my lungs.

Pain. Pain. My mouth is wide open, trying to pull in air that won't come. My chin is scraped against the stones. After several seconds I wheeze out, "G-get off me!" But Loony is bigger, heavier, bulkier. She simply laughs in my ear. "Not a chance, sister."

I wriggle but it's like being under a cow. I hear commotion behind me, more running feet. Loony is warm on my back but the ground feels cool below me. I can't hear much with her breath in my ear, but the noises soon settle. And then, with soft, steady clops, a pair of shiny black boots steps in front of my face.

"Hello, little crow."