The ghouls took the most powerful ... Seemed fitting - he yelped, reaching into his shirt to pull the chain away from his skin. He went to the mirror. There was a red blister on his chest - he didn't need to ask. His attitude needed a sharp adjustment. The most powerful got that way because the ghouls possessed them. The stone went cold. Darm took a deep breath. Best not to get things backward.

He could hear Kiata talking now and he slipped out of his room and down the hall.

Sledge's eyes were on him as if he'd been waiting. "You think the stone heats up when you're off track?"

Darm nodded.

Gemma's big, blue eyes got even bigger. "I didn't know it would do that! It's a translating stone. I've never known it to do anything else." She looked across at Sledge from the living room couch. "Have you ever heard of this?"

He sat up a little in the armchair and rubbed his eyes. "No. I'm guessing. Since the stone allows translation, a thinking error might qualify as a miss-translation - a misunderstanding. Probably more important that it gives you a kick in the pants -"

"Hey! Not like I'm the only one who misses things -"

"Sorry, sorry - it gives you a head's up. But what the Others are doing here is what we have to concentrate on."

"Did you find out what time the spaceships showed up?"

"Mid-morning, about ten."

"That's about when I had to take the chain off. I thought it was going to melt! The idea that they're real - when I think this, I have to pull the thing off me. I need to make a shield for it. I'm going to wind up with scars."

Sledge had his hands up. "When you're making a mistake, it gets hot?"

"It heats up if I'm doing the wrong thing, thinking the wrong way. Believing the wrong thing -" Frustration had him - he couldn't find the words -

"It's dark enough," Sledge said. "I wish I didn't have to leave now - it can't be helped. A messenger came. Visherel is going to Lunam's place and she expects us to be there. We can discuss it when we're all together."

"But what about the monitors?" Gemma wasn't looking too happy but Sledge seemed unconcerned.

"All I know is we're to meet there. I'm sure Lunam has it under control. Let's go!"

She got up and grabbed her bag. Darm ran for his pack, then they followed Sledge out the door.

He was as shocked as Gemma appeared to be when they ended up at the zip station, but neither of them said a word as they boarded the car.

***

"They haven't come since the ice started to melt back -"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Visherel, but I really don't think these spaceships are real. And whoever's behind the farce has nothing to do with the Others you're talking about," Darm said. The Master's deeply concerned expression shifted to surprise, but Lunam didn't seem the least bit fazed.

"I agree that they aren't the Others, but whoever they are, they have come because of the ghouls," he said.

She straightened from where she leaned in the doorway of the tunnel entrance, giving the port on the cellar storage shelf a dirty look.

"The machine is a necessary evil." Sleg squirmed on the large box he was using for a seat and stared at the floor. "We have to keep track of what's happening somehow."

"Yes, yes, even the Apkallu have resorted to the nasty things," she said, her voice dripping with disgust.

"Have they given some direction? Some idea of what we should do?" Lunam asked, sounding hopeful.

Visherel walked to a crate that was marked 'flour', and sank down on it. "At the moment, the reputation of the Masters is no better than mud on the bottoms of the Sage's feet." Her tone was flat, and the usual sparkle in her eyes wasn't there.

That would put his rep lower than the dirt under the mud, wouldn't it? What were his chances of getting his things back now?

***

"For every action, there's an equal, and opposite reaction." Sleg paced the stone floor, his wings shimmying with each step, sending little red flashes all over the room.

Darm stared at the rows of bottled vegetables and tried to concentrate. "Yes, but we don't know all the variables. Just because the ghouls have gone somewhere else, we can't assume it's why these phony ships are here. I'm sure there's more to it. If we could convince them -"

"Listen to me! There's no convincing the Apkallu. You either prove it or you keep your mouth shut."

"This is ripping Visherel's heart out -"

"Don't underestimate her. If she couldn't stand up to them, she'd have fallen apart eons ago."

"Then if I can prove it, there's a hope?"

"Maybe."

Darm went to the makeshift desk, a couple of boards resting on two storage containers, and sat down, opening the book. "Then that's what I'm going to do. Ow!" He leaned forward quick to get the fire off him, then pulled the chain out of his shirt.

Sleg stopped halfway through the pantry door and looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"I won't be doing it without my real book."

"That's inconvenient. Have you figured out why you have to have the original?"

Darm touched the little red gem."Because this says I need it. It's cold again."

"Ruled by his rocks ... Specks in the universe and he finds me," Sleg muttered as he walked out.

***

Visherel's face was in her hands, her elbows on the boards. Darm perched uneasily on his crate. It hadn't occurred to him that she didn't fly here ... "It isn't safe to go?" he asked.

"It's spring - the water table is high. The tunnels are rarely used and it's only allowed in dry season. I risked it due to the emergency. I had to beg all day for permission to have the pumpers dry things up. And even if I made it back, I doubt the Brethren would give your things to me."

"We can fly. Those saucers aren't real -"

"The Apkallu say they are, and we're not to be in the skies for any reason."

"Is there any other way to get there?"

"Overland, but it would take days. I'd have to wear a suit the whole time - oh! Have Sleg and Lunam disarmed those cursed monitors?" Visherel shifted on the large woodbox. "Ow!" She reached under her leg, coming back with a large splinter pinched in her fingers. "Barbaric conditions!"

"They're trying it at Sleg's first, to make sure it works. They had to walk, so they'll be a while. If even one of us could get to the First City - don't you think they'd help? It's really important."

"I think that before we worry about that, you'd better tell me of the dream you had while you were away from Sleg." She patted her hand beside her.

Darm couldn't help the smile. A wing around him would make doing that a lot easier ...

***

Sleg pushed his plate away. "That was delicious, Kiata. Thank you."

"So much better to have a real kitchen. Now if we could make sure our signals wouldn't be intercepted, we -"

Lunam and Visherel both looked out of sorts at this, and Kiata didn't go on.

Sleg cleared his throat. "There might be a way to secure communication, but there's no time to find someone who knows how. You say it's him, Visherel?"

"Unfortunately, yes. And this will only make the Sages even more cantankerous."

"Who?" Darm asked. What he'd dreamed would make things even worse than they already were?

"The daemon you encountered in your vision -"

"Daemon? That thing wasn't a daemon -"

"Yes, it was," Sleg barked. "All children of the Apkallu are created daemons, but some are renegades. These are the ones the humans call demons or devils - and routinely get the rest of us mixed up with."

"But it didn't look like you -"

"He can change how he looks. The one you dreamed of is called Pazuzu - and don't call him by his name. It's been a long time since he made any trouble - directly, at any rate - so I'm assuming that the ghouls leaving has somehow put him off his feed. And your dream might simply be a warning - from yourself, Darm, not because he's figured anything out -"

Visherel frowned at Sleg. "Better to take it for granted that he has figured it out. And I wouldn't be so sure it was a dream."

Darm was out of the chair, his head swirling. "Not a dream?" He forced himself to stay grounded. "What do you mean -"

"I thought it was an intuitive guessing session on your part. But Visherel has a point. It might have been a direct communication from him. Not that he was interested in informing you - only in gathering knowledge for himself. You'll need protection, Darm."

"Could this Paz -"

"Don't use his name!"

"Could snake-dick be responsible for the imaginary flying saucers?" Darm asked, exasperated.

Visherel was trying not to laugh. The others started to snicker, then they all cracked up.

Darm wasn't sure what was so funny, but he wasn't about to ask - for fear of spoiling it.