But inside the beast still grows

Waiting, chewing through the ropes

-- Starset, Carnivore

The town of Kulbiram had very few shops. It was really not much of a town any more and had become a suburb of the capital city instead. Irímé and Shizuki had to hunt for quite a while before they found a café that sold ice cream.

It's just as well I brought some money with me, Irímé thought as he ordered a bowl of ice cream for Shizuki and a cup of gilnosnan[1] for himself.

Luckily Shizuki was in his fully-immortal appearance and not his normal in-between form. The people in the café didn't give him a second glance. They would been far more curious if he'd walked in covered with scales and with his eyes a brilliant shade of yellow-green. As it was the most attention anyone paid him was when the waitress brought their order to the table.

"There you are, sir," she said, handing Irímé his gilnosnan, "and here's the ice cream for your--" She paused, looked from the obviously half-Seroyawan Shizuki to the equally obviously fully-Saoridhin Irímé, and hazarded a guess, "--your nephew?"

"Cousin," Shizuki corrected her through a mouthful of ice cream. When she was gone he gave Irímé a slightly sheepish look. "Do you mind if I adopt you as my cousin? I've never had one before. Ilaran doesn't count. He's too old. And my siblings yell at me and threaten to kick me out."

Irímé almost choked on his drink. He gave Shizuki a look of wide-eyed horror. The younger boy continued eating his ice cream without giving the slightest hint he knew he'd said something shocking. It was just as well that there was no one sitting near them and the other people in the café made enough noise to drown out their conversation.

"Do... Do your siblings often threaten to kick you out?" he asked. Irímé had never gotten along very well with his own siblings, so he was no stranger to yelling at them, but threats struck him as a step too far.

Shizuki nodded. "When they remember I exist. They want to pretend their family's normal and I prove it's not." He saw the look on Irímé's face and added, "Dad keeps them away from me. They didn't listen much so I learnt to hide. But it's all right. Now I never have to see them again."

Irímé was seized by a sudden urge to track down Haliran's other children -- possibly in his dragon form -- and give them a piece of his mind. "Aren't they also Siarvin's children?"

Belatedly he realised that if they were, Haliran's crimes meant they had probably been born under... miserable circumstances.

"Five of them are, I think," Shizuki said. "The others are like me. I'm just the only one who's half-Seroyawan."

Irímé remembered the trial. He remembered Siarvin revealing that he had been drugged and... That he had been drugged. He and Haliran had five children. Irímé felt sick as the full implications sank in. For the sake of his sanity he tried not to dwell on that. It was time for a change of subject.

"What do you want to do when you grow up?" he asked instead.

Shizuki brightened up at once. "I want to be a detective! Like the ones in the books!"

Finally a subject that wouldn't delve into disturbing territory and that Irímé knew enough about to have a proper conversation on. "What's your favourite book?"

"The Case of the Singing Falcon! I love when the crooks' heads explode!"

...What.

Ever since the nightmares started Abi had been able to sleep less and less. The only way she could stay somewhat alert was by taking increasingly frequent naps during the day. Even this was becoming difficult. If she didn't sleep she wouldn't feel any better, but if she fell too deeply asleep she'd have nightmares during the day as well.

After Ilaran left she went back to her room and tried to doze on top of the bed. She opened her window fully in the hope the cold breeze would keep her relatively awake. It didn't work. Within a few minutes she fell fast asleep.

The sun shone down brightly. It glittered on the water's surface and cast reflections on the underside of the bridge. Abi sat on the wall at the lake's edge and idly skipped stones across the water. Something moved just beneath the surface. A flicker of unease warned her to beware. But this was the artificial lake outside her home in Seroyawa. Nothing dangerous could ever come here. It wouldn't make it past the wards.

She got up anyway and turned round. She wasn't overly surprised to see her servants setting out teacups on the table at the terrace. A little voice at the back of her mind told her that she should be, that this wasn't real, that there was something wrong about this whole situation. She ignored it. She ignored it when Kiriyuki arrived and she ignored it when the servants poured the tea.

The teapot was shaped like a Saoridhin one and the teacups were made of crystal, something never heard of in Seroyawa. The tea itself was bright red. No steam rose from its surface. It smelled funny. For the first time Abi felt a flicker of foreboding that she couldn't ignore.

She watched as Kiriyuki drank it without complaint. Reluctantly she reached for her own teacup. The tea was ice cold and had a bitter, metallic taste. It choked her when she tried to swallow. Kiriyuki didn't bat an eyelid when Abi coughed and spluttered. If this was real she would have thumped her on the back then told her off for being such an idiot. An inkling of the truth began to dawn on Abi. It disappeared before she could fully grasp it.

Kiriyuki helped herself to a biscuit. Abi looked down at the saucer. The biscuits were rotten and crawling with maggots. She looked up again. There was unmistakeably something under the water. The lake's surface turned first grey and then black. It bubbled like water in a kettle.

Abi looked at Kiriyuki. With a jolt she saw she was staring at her through eyes that were completely devoid of life.

Blood poured from Kiriyuki's mouth and nose. It streamed out of her eyes like a parody of tears. She lunged at Abi with her mouth wide open.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!"

Abi awoke with a scream. She stared up at her bedroom ceiling as her heartbeat returned to normal.

"Your Highness, wake up!"

With a groan she got up and opened the door. The servant outside took one look at her and recoiled. Apparently she looked as awful as she felt.

"What is it?" Abi snapped. After yet another nightmare she didn't feel like talking to anyone.

The servant gave her a bug-eyed stare then dropped her gaze to the floor. "There's a strange man outside demanding to see you, your Highness. He says you know him and it's an emergency. He has a foreign name I can't pronounce."

Abi blinked. As she followed the servant down to the front door she wracked her brain for any foreigners she knew who'd be likely to come to her in an emergency. She couldn't think of any. All her Seroyawan friends were still back home in Seroyawa, and she knew virtually no one in Eldrin--

Then she saw who it was. Her thoughts screeched to a halt. Never in their brief acquaintance had she seen him look so terrified. His hair was a mess, his shoes were covered with mud, and he looked like he'd just seen an entire haunted house's worth of ghosts.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Siarvin grabbed her arm and practically dragged her out of the palace before answering. Abi had to almost run to keep up as he led her towards Gihimayel Palace.

"It's Ilaran," Siarvin said shortly as they hurried along. "Something's wrong with him. He almost attacked me a few minutes ago."

The memory of Ilaran's visit came back to her. He'd looked terrible, yes, but he hadn't been violent. And if he ever decided to attack someone she couldn't see him lashing out at Siarvin.

Abi tried to make sense of this. "What do you mean? Did you have an argument?"

Siarvin shook his head. "He came in, saw me, and tried to attack me. Then he locked himself in his room. He said something but I couldn't understand him."

By now they'd reached Gihimayel Palace. The guards gave them curious looks but let them pass without question.

"Why do you think I can help?" Abi asked.

"Because this only started when you brought him back." Siarvin stopped and fished a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Read this."

Abi glanced at it. It was in a language she didn't speak and an alphabet that was similar to the Saoridhin one but with slight differences. "I can't. What is it?"

Siarvin groaned. Briefly he summarised its contents. Abi listened in increasing horror.

"He came to see me a while ago," she said. "He asked if I felt ill after... I never thought he meant something like this!"

Siarvin didn't reply. He stayed grimly silent as they approached Ilaran's front door. A series of loud crashes were audible inside the house. Mingled in with them were monstrous growls and roars.

"I don't think it's safe to go in," Siarvin said at last after they listened in appalled silence for several minutes.

What do I do? Abi thought, panicking. I don't know how to fix this!

You didn't know how to do necromancy either, a little voice whispered in her head. You didn't know how to bring Ilaran back. That didn't stop you.

Abi took a deep breath and tried to think clearly. For the first time she forced herself to think about her trip through Ilaran's memories. She'd done her best to erase them from her mind. But there was just a chance... All immortals were capable of telepathy to some degree. Its effectiveness increased with how closely related they were to the person they were trying to communicate with. Before the Incident Abi and Ilaran would only have been capable of the shortest and most basic telepathic conversation, and then only if they'd been right next to each other. But now they'd been in each other's minds. That might just have formed a stronger telepathic connection between them.

"I'm going to try to talk to him," she said.

She reached out with her telepathy. Through the front door, into the empty hallway, through the bedroom door... Her consciousness brushed against something that made her recoil in horror. It wasn't Ilaran. It wasn't even an immortal. It was a writhing mass of dark magic, a thing that was alive yet not alive, something so profoundly wrong that it should not exist. Being near her left her with the feeling that she'd just touched something dirty and needed to scrub off all traces of its existence.

Abi came back to herself with a shudder. "There's something in there."

"I know there is," Siarvin said grimly. "It's possessing Ilaran and brought here by your necromancy."

Whatever that thing was it did not feel anything like necromancy. It didn't even feel like Death's presence. It was something else entirely. Abi didn't feel up to arguing the point right now, though. She had much more important things to worry about. Like finding out if Ilaran was still there at all.

She tried again. This time she ignored the thing in the house. She pushed right past it. Dimly she felt its tendrils trying to grab hold of her. It fell back as soon as it touched her. And beyond it she sensed...

At first it was just a flicker, as if she'd brushed against the mind of someone who was asleep. Then it became much stronger and clearer. After being in Ilaran's mind she knew what his magic felt like. She heaved a sigh of relief at the discovery he was still alive and apparently unharmed.

Abihira? Is that you?

Yes! she shouted back. Where are you?

There was a pause. Then Ilaran said, I don't know. I can't see anything. What's happening out there?

Abi gave him a very quick summary of events. She could feel him growing more and more outraged with each word. When she finished he was silent for a long time.

At last he spoke again. I hope you know this is all your fault.

She winced. I know, but--

If you hadn't meddled with necromancy this never would have happened.

I know--

And you had damn well better find some way to fix it.

I will, she promised. I don't know how, but I will. Just give me time.

Ilaran fell silent again. She was just about to leave when he finally replied. Time is a luxury we don't have.