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Can you smell anything? she asked.

Are you kidding? He sneezed.

That’s a yes, I’m guessing.

Are you saying you can’t? Count your luck. It’s putrid.

I can’t smell a thing. Are you sure you’re not imagining it? Maybe they cleaned up.

Unfortunately, ‘they’ did not clean anything down here, whoever ‘they’ are.

Most likely ‘they’ would have been you and me!

Exactly. But these tunnels are just as rank as ever. He sniffed the air. I do pick up on rat, which might be a good time-passer.

Hungry?

Very.

I’m not.

Maudi, I don’t think the five senses are going to apply quite the same to you.

Forever?

I don’t know. For now.

Sorry, my lovely. I know you don’t. I’ll deal with it, I promise.

He sneezed again. I’ve got to hunt, and find fresh water.

I’ve got water in my pack…She automatically turned to look behind her.

It’s gone, Maudi. Everett Kelly has it.

In a whirl Rosette realised what she’d left behind. Drayco, we have to go back!

Back where?

Back to that other place, where my body is.

What?

My DNA. My blood. We can’t leave it for that man to examine. We don’t know how advanced they are. We can’t let them get hold of Jarrod’s CPU, the key-codes.

Maudi, we went through all this.

We did?

We’re meeting Kreshkali first. And I wouldn’t worry too much. They weren’t advanced enough to save you and there wasn’t anything wrong.

But that’s just it, Drayco. There’s nothing wrong with me. I shouldn’t have died.

But you did. Drayco sat and curled his tail close to his body, away from the drain.

Not by natural causes, Dray.

By what, then?

I don’t know. A spell maybe? It felt like we were being followed through the corridors.

Her temple cat stood up and shook. We will go back. Straight back. But first we need to wait for the others. We need their help. I couldn’t get into that world, remember.

I can’t wait. It was a mistake to leave that way. It’s what they wanted.

Who’s ‘they’ now?

I don’t know, but I’ve got to go. Rosette felt like she was trying to climb out of her skin—skin she didn’t have.

Easy, Maudi. One thing at a time. Let me get a bite and a drink, and then, if Kali hasn’t shown up, we’ll head back. We’ll figure out a way to get your body out of there.

With me in it!

That would be preferable, yes.

She wanted to rough his neck and kiss the top of his head. She wanted to feel the deep texture of his fur as she sank her hands into it and the thrill of his sandpaper tongue as he licked her arm. The sensuality that had been her vessel, her first contact with reality, was gone, and she had panicked. The fear was passing with the reassurance of her familiar. What would she do without him? Thank you, Dray. Go hunt now. I’m fine. I’ll wait here.

Are you sure?

I am. Pan has left me—the god of panic is banished.

Good. Shan’t be long.

His aura turned a dark red as he stalked down the sewer. Her heart’s desire was to follow, but she waited by the portal. Kali might come through. Would she know what to do? Would she sense her? Hear her? Rosette needed some way to let her sadness out, but she had no eyes to fill with tears, no body to weep.

Kreshkali stepped out of the portal, her long cloak billowing behind her as she strode into the sewers, her high-laced boots splashing in the water that pooled in the uneven concrete.

‘Can you see him?’ she asked, taking in the north and south aspects of the underground causeway. Tiny shafts of sunlight beamed down from manholes, illuminating the tunnel with intermittent spots. Murky water flowed along a central channel, but it didn’t reach the higher ground on either side. She was relieved. Sometimes these sewers were flooded, though now that the rains had backed off, there was more solid ground. She led the group up to a platform directly under one of the manholes.

‘Demons, it stinks down here,’ Teg said.

No one disagreed.

‘She’s found Drayco.’ An’ Lawrence tilted his head towards Scylla. His familiar dashed down the tunnel, disappearing around a corner.