Harvey was over us now, the air darkening as he took shape. He didn’t look like a particular animal now, or perhaps he looked like several. He had the broad, emaciated head of a starving bear perched on shoulders that were almost ape-like—except that they terminated in arms that were closer to entwined branches than flesh and bone. His hands, thin and well-articulated bits of clay and stone, reached out to Rusty’s face even as the man let out a pig-like squeal of terror. I smelled something foul and realized he had shit himself, and I couldn’t help but feel some dark satisfaction at the depth of his well-deserved fear.

I looked up at Harvey and grimaced. “Do it. End him. End both of us if you need to, just let me get you out first. I accept the price that has to be paid.”

Harvey’s gaunt countenance seemed to frown slightly at that. “No, Tommy. You misunderstand. Death is not the price. Death is no punishment at all. And Rusty’s price is for him alone.” Rusty had sank into petrified silence, but his mind wasn’t gone, at least not yet. He was listening carefully to what we were saying.

I looked at Harvey in confusion as I checked my grip on Rusty’s neck and wrapped my legs around his own. “What then? What are you going to do to him?”

Harvey looked almost sad. “My kind call it being made Dim. It is the worst punishment we have. Rusty will be bound to this place forever. Here, but not here. Seeing, but unseen. Knowing, but unknown. A shadow that can never leave, never die, never rest.”

I swallowed. “That’s his price? For all he’s done?”

Harvey nodded. “It is. Can you accept that? It will only take a moment, but I need him held still and I’m still too weak to do it myself.” I didn’t know what to say. I knew he deserved it, but the enormity of condemning someone to that kind of hell…

That’s when Rusty spoke up.

“You can fucking talk? All this time, you could fucking talk? I dedicated my life to you, taught you so much, and you never said a word to me. But you talk to him? Like I’m not even fucking here?”

Harvey’s gaze flared as he regarded Rusty, and I felt him begin to tremble again under the creature's glare. While I wasn’t afraid exactly, I couldn’t help but hold my breath. Even in his diminished state, Harvey looked somehow…regal. “You were never worth speaking to. Never my friend. You were nothing, and you'll soon be less than that.” His eyes went back to me. “Are you able to help in this?”