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made, thought Sal.

    ‘They had quite a head start,’ Tom went on. ‘It was a day or more by the time we returned to the Haunted City and a fully equipped search party set out to follow them. Alcaide Braham is quite determined to get to the bottom of what happened.’

    ‘I’ll bet,’ said Shilly. ‘Something like this, right on his doorstep ...’ She shook her head. ‘Do you have any idea what it was that Highson made?’

    ‘Master Warden Atilde took a closer look at what he stole. That, combined with what we found at the site, led her to suspect that Highson created a Homunculus.’

    ‘A what?’ asked Sal.

    ‘An artificial creature designed to house a disembodied mind, like a ghost or a golem.’

    A chill went down Sal’s spine. ‘Does Atilde think he succeeded in giving it a mind?’

    ‘Yes. But what it was physically, she doesn’t know. It’s obviously something, something that walks.’

    ‘This doesn’t make any sense,’ said Shilly, frowning deeply. ‘Highson knows how dangerous ghosts and golems can be. Why would he want to make a home for one?’

    ‘Did anyone notice anything about him before all this happened?’ asked Sal. ‘Was he acting strangely? Was he still himself?’

    Tom knew what question he was really asking. If a Change-worker strained too hard, their minds could be pushed out of their body and stuck in the Void Beneath — the empty non-space underpinning the real world. The vacant body left behind could then be inhabited by a golem. The three of them sitting in Lodo’s old workshop knew from grim experience what horrors such a being could unleash.

    ‘He was still Highson,’ said Tom, with quiet surety. ‘No one doubts that for a moment. He wasn’t something other than himself.’

    Sal believed him. Golems weren’t known for their subtlety.

    ‘So where does everything stand now?’ he asked. ‘This all happened a week ago. Has anyone heard from Highson since? What happened to the search party? When did you leave?’

    Tom blinked under the barrage of questions. ‘The search party hasn’t returned. The last I was told, they were still following the trail. No one’s heard from Highson or been able to find him through the Change. I’ve looked too, but he’s either hiding or being hidden by something.’

    ‘Or he’s dead,’ put in Shilly.

    ‘I don’t think so. I left two days ago. My dreams have been unsettled since Highson disappeared. It’s hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t. There’s only one thing I’m sure of: you two are involved. Your faces keep coming up, over and over. There’s only one way you could be involved, and that’s if someone came and got you. So I did. I requisitioned a buggy and set off. I stopped to refuel and rest in Samimi, but apart from that I drove straight through.’

    That explained his haggard appearance, and reinforced something that had unnerved Sal ever since Tom’s unexpected appearance. Tom wasn’t interested in being a hero or standing in the spotlight; he was normally content to watch from the shadows as people played out their roles. He only acted when he felt he had to — when his dreams told him that something was important.

    This obviously was.

    ‘How did you know where we were?’

    ‘Where else would you be?’ Tom reacted as though Sal had asked why the day had begun that morning. ‘When you escaped from the Haunted City, you went through a Way to the workshop.’

    ‘But you weren’t there,’ Shilly said. ‘No one was supposed to talk about it.’

    ‘They didn’t need to. It was perfectly obvious what had happened.’

    ‘To you, perhaps,’ said Sal. ‘You’re the first visitor we’ve had in five years.’

    ‘And a very welcome one, too,’ Shilly added, ‘although the news you’ve brought is less than cheerful.’

    ‘Did you tell anyone where you were going?’ asked Sal, unable to hide the worry in his voice.

    ‘No. I — uh.’ An alarmed look crossed Tom’s face.