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The voice of the Kah-Gash whispers tosilence You can join with the others

I pause, startled by its sudden and unexpected reappearance Then, not wanting to let Beranabus know-he erness to make enquiries of the Kah-Gash-I carry on as nor it internally "What do you ic inside Bec and Kernel calling to you?

I have been feeling a strange tickling sensation since I stepped through theI put it down to che you can&039;t say about the demon universe is that it&039;s polluted I&039;ve become accustomed to fume-free atmospheres But now that the Kah-Gash has cluedis the force withinto unite with Bec and Kernel

"What would happen if we joined?" I ask

Wonders

"Care to be a bit ly I&039; off me, or if it&039;s woven into my flesh, a part of me like my heart or brain But its voice bears echoes of mine I&039;ve used that smart-alec tone more ti ain What would it do if I gave it free rein? Could we trust it?

You are the control mechanism, the voice says, the first ti about the nature of itself With my help, you can unify the pieces and unleash jour full power

"But could we control it," I press, "and ?"

To an extent, the voice answers cagily

"What does that rumble, but there&039;s no reply "Hello? Are you still there?"

Unite us, it says impatiently Unleashwhat I&039; myself in for? No bloody way!" I snort

Coward, the Kah-Gash sneers, then falls silent I feel the tickling sensation fade I continue up the stairs, brooding on what the voice said and wondering ould have happened if I&039;d given in to it

On the roof Another Disciple, Shars areon the stu and patch her up She&039;s unconscious It doesn&039;t look toon a hospital trolley Meera&039;s sitting beside hi the door to the roof, to turn back any curious hu to her story

She tells us about Juni Sho&039;s somehow come back to life in a cancerous mockery of a body Bec says Juni is insane, but more powerful than before Dervish blasted her fro her by surprise when he recovered from the coo after her, to finish her off, but Bec is adept at sensing where people and dee will have to wait for another night

I thought it would be aard being around Bec, that she&039;d remind me of Bill-E, that I&039;d feel resentful When he died, she took over his corpse, cae In effect, she stole his body But there&039;s nothing of esture I have no trouble thinking of her as a separate person with the saht to exist as any other

Bec speaks quickly, detailing hoolves attacked our houns She tells us she can absorb people&039;swith a olf, she learnt it was a Grady boy who&039;d been handed to the Lambs to be executed But the Lambs-executioners set up to dispose of teens with the lycanthropic family curse-didn&039;t kill him Instead they kept him alive, and found a way to use him and other olves as trained killers

"You&039;re sure the Lambs masterminded the attack in Carcery Vale?" I ask

"I can&039;t be certain," Bec says "We didn&039;t see any huo after the Lambs once Dervish was safe, but we decided to wait until we&039;d discussed it with you The olves roup"

"But they were definitely teenagers who&039;d been given to the Laht about this, we have a known ene, I don&039;t want to waste ti of humans

"Yes," Bec says "At least the one I touched was I don&039;t know about the others"

"They must have been," I mutter "I&039;ve never heard of anyone outside our falance at Dervish "Have you been rubbing Prae Athi way?" She&039;s the head honcho of the Lambs Her and Dervish don&039;t see eye to eye on a number of issues

"I haven&039;t seen her since she paid us that visit before Slawter," Dervish answers, looking bewildered "I&039;ve got to say, I don&039;t have much time for Prae, but this isn&039;t her style I could understand it if they were after so-you, for instance, to dissect you and try to find a cure for lycanthropy-but there was nothing in this for them Those who set the olves loose wanted us dead The Lahter"

"But if not the Lambs, who?" Kernel asks

"I think Lord Loss was behind the attacks," Bec says "Maybe he realised I was part of the Kah-Gash and wanted to eliminate the threat I pose, or perhaps he just wanted to kill Dervish and ht by Juni Swan makes me surer than ever that he sent the olves It can&039;t be coincidence"

"Juni Swan," Beranabus echoes, with the guilty look that crosses his face whenever talk turns to his ex-assistant "I&039;d never have thought poor Nadia could turn into such a hideous creature I don&039;t kno she survived" He looks at Bec "Your spirit flourished after death, but you&039;re part of the Kah-Gash Juni isn&039;t Lord Loss must have separated her soul from her body some way, just before her death That&039;s why he took her corpse when he fled But I don&039;t understand how he did it"

He mulls it over, then curses "It doesn&039;t ht-Lord Loss sent the olves I cast spells on Carcery Vale to prevent crossings, except for in the secret cellar, where any demon who did cross would be confined Even if he found a way around those spells, he would have been afraid to risk a direct confrontation If he opened a , the air would have been saturated with ic You and Dervish could have tapped into that You were powerful in the cave, stronger than Lord Loss in soht hu you But that doesn&039;t explain why the Lareed to help hiot their hands on the olves"

"Maybe he struck a deal with them," Dervish says "Promised them the cure for lycanthropy if they helped hiree to such a deal?" Beranabus asks

"Possibly"

"Prae Athihter turned into a olf," I say softly, recallingwith the icy-eyed Lao to all ths when fauing mystery," Beranabus snorts "But we can&039;t waste any more time on it We have ood health of Dervish and Miss Mukherji-they&039;ll both be dead soon if we don&039;t take theerly sets to work on aHis eyes have held up so far, but they won&039;t last indefinitely The proble body parts in the demon universe is they don&039;t work on this world If he stays too long, Kernel will end up blind as a bat again, with a pair of gooey sockets instead of eyes

"I&039;," Dervish says

"You can&039;t stay here," Beranabus replies quickly, angrily

"I have to They attacked me my home my friends I can&039;t let that pass I have to pursue thee"

"Later," Beranabus sniffs