As I changed into a nightgown, a burst of birdsong lured me back to the window. I leant against the sill in the wan but welcome sunlight and listened for a time to the birds and the sounds of people talking and the distant ring of hammers on metal, which I guessed to be the sound of preparations for the moon fair. At last I went and climbed into my bed, thinking what a wicked indulgence it was to lie down in the middle of the day and simply give way to sleep.

I yawned widely and for a time memories of the previous night flowed sweetly through my body as much as my mind, making me long for Rushton despite my weariness. Then my eyelids grew heavy and I sank into sleep, dimly aware that somewhere, someone was laughing.

I had shielded my mind so that I would not dream and I sank like a stone until I was hovering over the mindstream. I had not intended immediately to assume a spirit-form, but in truth I felt stronger than I had expected, given how tired I had been. Perhaps it had something to do with the residue of the dark power, which I had drawn through me to chain Rushton’s knowledge of me inside him. I had thought it would pass away but now that I was not distracted by my body, I could feel it still.

Curious to find out what effect it might have on the mindstream, I summoned a tendril of its bright matter and drew it into me. I rose up through the layers of my mind until I was above consciousness and then I let it flow through me into a spirit-form. So far, all was as it had ever been as I transferred my will to it, then rose above my body and looked around me. Now the walls of the chamber were dark, save for the rush of red and orange etheric energy from the fire and a flood of violet and blue that lay around the window. The sky, too, was a whirl of violet and blue. I had intended to seek out the dreamtrails and Atthis, but the plight of the twins was still fresh in my mind.

Almost before I had decided upon it, I found myself drifting purposefully along the halls of Obernewtyn towards the Healing Hall, passing people who moved like dark shadows, oblivious to me, their spirits dim inside their waking bodies. The cord that connected my spirit to my flesh played out behind me, glowing softly white and silver, but I could not now see the golden cord. For a moment I feared it had vanished, but thinking about it allowed me to feel the light tug of it and then I saw it unravelling away but not in the same direction as the silver cord. That puzzled me until I realised that since it connected me to Rushton, it must lead to him.