Somewhere out of sight, a door slammed, presumably Janaxia claiming one of the bedchambers as her own. Stathis took it upon herself to explore the house, just in case there were any demons or monsters left in a corner somewhere. Aside from the grand reception hall, everywhere was narrow hallways, high rooms and shuttered windows, heavy wooden furniture, old decorations, nothing but cold dust and empty shadows. It felt empty and unlived in, none of the contents personal, just the usual things that were expected, nothing individual or intimate.

Travelling upwards, after finding what could only be described as a cave of books, an abandoned alchemists lab and several empty bedrooms, and some abandoned garrets for servants, now home only to pigeons and rats, she travelled up another narrow, dark staircase, finding a doorway that refused to open, yielding only after harsh yanks, the hinge snapping. Outside was a rooftop terrace, dead plants still potted, a wooden table barely holding together. From here she could see onto the roofs of the neighbouring houses, all rather better maintained, lush greenery spilling forth, a few people enjoying the sun. A hand appeared on the lip of the wall, Semari hauling herself onto the roof, apparently having decided it was easier than exploring the inside.

She sprawled herself out on the wall, wriggling around to get comfortable, enjoying the sun-warmed stone. ‘Too dark inside, but it’s pretty nice up here. Anything interesting?’

‘Dark and cold.’ Stathis shivered, leaning on the wall herself. ‘It’s less grand than I was expecting. Surprised none of her family are here either, Redcastle’s a pretty major place to be at. No idea what’s up with the servants.’

‘Oooo, we going to go to fancy parties again?’

Stathis sighed. ‘We’ll probably get invited to some, at least. Although now we’re alone, I’ve been meaning to talk to you. Any idea what’s up with you and the lightning? That’s pretty unusual.’

Semari rolled over, scratching herself. ‘Dunno. Lightning makes me want to fight. Still stings though.’ She raised her arm, bright blue metal of the bracer catching the sun. ‘This thing’s handy to get zapped up, but it hurts! Get me some healing potions!’

‘So, you’ve no idea why lightning has that effect?’

Semari wriggled, in what would probably have been a shrug if she wasn’t horizontal. ‘Nope.’ She paused, face turning serious, tone vague. ‘Something in my mind. Chanting, screaming, pain, darkness cut by light.’ She shook her head, her usual smile returning. ‘This is far nicer.’ She stretched out in the sun, yawning.

Well, that hadn’t helped much. ‘Well, if you ever need to talk about it, let me know. I’ll look into some healing potions for you as well. For that demon, or anything similar, we’ll need everything we can muster! Those things are nasty.’

Semari made a drowsy sound of agreement. ‘Need some magic, even if it is a bit evil.’ She waved a hand, making blasting noises. ‘Maybe she can do some ritual here or something, boost herself up?’ The hand flopped down as she started to drowse.

‘Maybe, I hope she’ll be better soon. Actually, you think you could steal her book at some point? There’s something I want to try.’

Semari sat up bolt upright, enervated by the thought of petty larceny. ‘This sounds fun, but you’ll owe me. Back soon!’

She rolled sideways and just dropped off the roof, grabbing hold of a brick outcropping and shimmying along to a shuttered window, carefully opening it and slipping through. Shortly afterwards, she re-emerged, clambering back onto the roof, book in hand.

Stathis had never actually examined it closely before, but, even in the bright sunlight, it seemed rather foreboding, thick leather cover half-formed, edged with melted brass. As she reached for it, Semari pulled it back, out of reach.

‘You owe me - I want you to take me flying!’ Stathis’ first thought was to try and change the subject, but that seemed unlikely to work after such a direct statement. ‘It’s not fair that you took Janaxia flying before me!’

‘It wasn’t exactly by choice, she had just been eaten by that skeleton-dragon-thing! It’s something I try to avoid.’

‘That’s even less fair! I wanna fly and can’t, and you don’t even want to fly. Can’t you give me your wings? Let me have them, Stathis!’ Semari stared up at her, eyes glistening with tears, begging.

‘I can’t do that, they’re attached.’ Stathis sighed. ‘Fine. We’ll go outside the city in a few days, and I’ll carry you up. But only if you promise not to tell anyone about it.’

‘Yay!’ Semari hugged her, squeezing her painfully tightly, forcing the air from her lungs. ‘Here you go.’ She handed the book over, letting Stathis regain her breath. ‘Don’t forget!’

‘OK, sure.’ No wonder Kethys hadn’t been worried about Semari leaving, if she got hugged like that often, it was a surprise she was still alive. ‘Uh, aren’t you curious about them at all?’

‘Lotsa people have magic. Parth has green elf magic, Kethys has dark elf magic, you’ve got shiny rich-person magic, Janaxia has evil rich-person magic, I’ve got punch magic.’ She punched the air several times, fast enough to make a sound.

‘That’s… that’s not quite how it works. I’m pretty sure Janaxia didn’t buy her magic from a shop, and I definitely didn’t buy it.’

‘You get shiny, you stab things, and you get wings. Which is, like, totally unfair, that I can’t get them!’ Semari shrugged, apparently unconcerned with the precise nature of Stathis’ magical powers. Although Stathis preferred to keep her powers secret, for someone to be so uncaring about them seemed a little rude, almost.

‘Just, please don’t tell Janaxia.’

‘Ooooo, are you two destined enemies that must fight to decide the fate of the world?’

‘No. Why would you even think that? No, it would just raise a lot of questions.’ Janaxia hadn’t liked learning about Stathis’ mother and her rank, any other revelations would likely go down badly.

Stathis held the book gingerly, just in case it tried to eat her soul, then flipped it open. Every page was covered with dense, thin lines of text, all sorts of handwriting, all sorts of characters from different scripts, all hovering just outside meaning. When she flicked through, words would seem on the edge of comprehensibility, she’d catch a glimpse of some meaning, that became gibberish as she looked at it. It didn’t help that the pages were all melted and burnt, the aborted ritual having summoned it badly.

‘Huh, spooky!’

Stathis put it on the ledge, placing her hand on the page and concentrated, focusing her healing powers. A golden aura appeared around her fingers, bright enough to be visible even in the sunlight. She felt a chill energy reaching out, draining the heat and life from her fingers, like dipping them into a cold stream, an initial bitterness intensifying into a biting cold. The writing shone pale crimson, ink shifting as she watched, text changing into other, equally unreadable, symbols. The melted, frayed edges warped slightly, a little bit closer to its proper shape, a few gleaming motes now visible amongst the black ink.

She pulled her hand back, glad of the sunlight to warm her hand back up again. Semari looked on with interest, before drawing her fist back and slamming it into the book, hard enough for a shockwave of air to ripple, some of the brickwork reduced to dust beneath the tome, which mercifully seemed undamaged.

‘What are you doing!?’ Stathis asked.

‘Hey, it absorbed your magic!’

‘I don’t think your punches are magic, just really strong! Where did you learn to fight, anyway? I’ve not heard of anyone else that fights barehanded as well as you.’

Semari jumped onto the ledge, before throwing herself forward, latching onto the opposite wall and clambering up, mercifully at least choosing one where the roof was empty, before vanishing from view. She could just say that she didn’t want to talk about it! And now she’d have to get the book back to Janaxia somehow. She wreathed a hand in golden light, carefully poking it with a finger – the same chill energy, quickly overpowering the warmth, but the tome shifted beneath her touch, ink wriggling and twisting, still maddeningly unreadable.