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shrugged, sliding his hands back to his sides. Old habits.
    Levec looked like he was about to say something worse, and Finch lifted a
small hand. "It's not a normal illness."
    "Very good, ATerafin. No, it's not."
    "Not poison, not the water?"
    "Not, as you must suspect, poison."
    "Then… what is it?"
    Again, Levec's glance turned to Adam. Adam shifted restlessly on his feet.
After a moment, he said, "I think it has something to do with dreaming."
    "Dreaming?"
    "Adam," Levec said.
    He cringed. "I don't know
why,"
he told her softly. "But some of
the… ill… are dreaming."
    "They're asleep?"
    "They're unconscious. They can swallow. They can't eat." He swallowed, his
throat bobbing. "I—" Again his glance went to Levec. Levec nodded.
    "I can see some of what they see."
    "When you heal them, you mean?" She had heard of this.
    He looked pained. "We
can't
heal them. Not really. We can… fix the
things that have gone wrong because they can't eat. But we can't… heal them."
    "Adam."
    "I… can wake them up."
    Levec snorted. "What he won't say, ATerafin, is that he is the
only
one who can wake them."
    "They don't stay awake," Adam added, defensive. "But I can wake them, for a
little while." His frown deepened. "My mother—"he began, and then after
a moment, corrected himself. "My sister might understand what's happening."
    "Your sister?"
    "She's—the Matriarch of Arkosa."
    This was supposed to mean something to Finch, but it was clear to Adam that
it didn't; his brows bunched together in frustration.
    "There are four… families… in the Dominion."
    "There are a lot more than four."
    "There are four that wander," Levec continued. "And Adam's sister appears to
be the leader of one of them."
    "And she would know something about this?"
    Adam shrugged again. "If anyone would, a Matriarch would. Maybe Yollana. Of
Havalla," he added, hopefully.
    "I'm sorry," she told him, "but I don't recognize that one either." She would
have squeezed his hand, but her fingers had gone numb. "Levec, do you think this
is the same thing that The Terafin suffers from?"
    "Almost certainly," he replied grimly.
    "But The Terafin isn't sleeping."
    "No, ATerafin," Levec said quietly. "Not yet."
    Not yet. "This is magic, isn't it?"
    "We don't know." Levec's heavy hands slid behind his broad back. His eyes
narrowed. "The magi have been summoned, and as they can, they assist us. If
magic is at work here, it is not a magic that most understand."
    Jay
, Finch thought. "Do any?"
    "Some branches of magic are old," was his careful reply.
    "And some," Gregori added, "are forbidden."
    The day, she thought, couldn't be any darker. "You think this is forbidden
magery?"
    "We are not certain
what
it is, ATerafin. If we were, we would be
more open. We don't need witch hunts; a plague brings its own demons in its
wake."
    She didn't like the use of the word demon. At all.
    "Do they have anything in common?"
    "The victims? Not that we can trace. And we have been working these three
weeks on
nothing
else."
    She asked the only question left to ask. "How many have died?"
    "A dozen. But if we cannot work our way through this puzzle, many more will
follow."
    "No one has recovered?"
    "None. But the people that Adam have treated seem to gain strength for a few
days before they lapse into sleep again."
    She turned her gaze upon the young healer. "You need him here," she said,
testing the words.
    "Yes. But not so much as you will, if our understanding of the illness is any
indication. He is to go with you, ATerafin, when you leave."
    "But—"
    "The Kings may second him. We have made it clear that he owes service to the
Healing Houses, and not to the Crowns, but our relationship with the Crowns has
always been one of cooperation in the case of epidemics."
    She swallowed; her throat was dry. "Adam?"
    "I'd like to go with you," he said.
    "Good."
    But Gregori ATerafin seemed far less pleased, although he did not say a word.

CHAPTER TWO
    25th of Corvil, 427