The Night Guest

[Dark things can happen on a long, cold Icelandic night…]Iðunn is in yet another doctor’s office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something’s not right, but physicians dismiss her symptoms and blood tests don’t reveal any cause.When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same — have you tried eating better? Exercising more? Establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps.Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on, and wakes up to find she’s walked over 40,000 steps in the night . . .What is happening when she’s asleep? Why is she waking up with increasingly disturbing injuries? And why won’t anyone believe her?Translated by Robinette Kowal