"Is he going to be alright? Are they going to be alright?" I ask almost as soon as Mr Wystan steps away from the couch he's placed Holly on. Kat is on a table, which has been cleared very hastily of a lot of junk, and I'm sitting on a very uncomfortable chair. "Why's it affected both of them? I don't get it — and why was it hurting me?"

There's old-looking burn scars all across my arms now, and I don't really get why they look like I was in a fire several years ago and received a shedload of third-degree burns.

"I think I know the answers, but I do have to ask," the man says slowly. "Did you breathe anything in before this started?"

"Yeah. Oh, is it like a special kind of poison?"

"Sort of. I imagine it was ziasel, or what Kat and Holly would call 'void fungus'. Well, Holly would. Kat might know the scientific name..."

"What does ziasel do?"

"It's a fungus that grows in Tralor. Different part of Faerie, Kat won't have told you about it. And you don't want to know about it." Mr Wystan frowned for a moment, giving his son a strange look. "It's toxic to fairies and only fairies in a specific way, targeting their magic."

"So that's why Holly passed out?"

"Quite possibly."

"Okay... so why was Kat affected? He's not got magic, right? And why did I get affected? I'm not a fairy."

"How old are you?"

"I turned twelve in May."

"Alright. So you probably know Newton's laws of motion."

"Of course!" I couldn't say I enjoyed science if I didn't know these things. "An object that is moving will keep moving and an object that is not moving will keep not moving until a force acts upon it. Uh, the heavier an object is, the more force is needed to move it. And for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."

"Excellent," he said with a nod. "It's the third law, of course, that this concerns."

"About the equal and opposite reactions? Is that how magic works?"

"Not... really. It's when something is used against magic that isn't magic itself."

"So... I don't get this."

"Do you understand the concept of a power vacuum?"

"Not really."

"Alright. Well, when someone in a place of power has lost control of something and no one has replaced them, people rush in to take control of that thing."

"Alright..."

"Imagine magic circuits — the things that allow us to use magic — as the person that lost the 'control', which is our magic."

"Ah! And then the magic needs somewhere to go, but because the magic circuits are blocked off in a way, so it tries to find somewhere else to go." I pause, still not quite sure about what was going on. "So what does that have to do with me and Kat?"

"You don't have magic circuits, Anya," Mr Wystan explains. "Katriel does, but they're heavily damaged. He won't be able to handle what magic this has given him — especially not when you consider those burns it gave you."

"Hold on, any magic that's been stolen by this ziasel has been forced into Kat? And he... what?"

"His magic circuits exist, because he is a fairy. But they're not right, if you want to put it simply. All knotted and such, I imagine. But since the magic couldn't find anything in you, not that it should have expected to, it decided to cling desperately to Kat instead."

"So... again, is this all magic or...?"

"Any fairy close enough to you three when the gas reached the area would have lost it and 'given' it to him. Not in the whole city, that would kill him."

"Holly's, though, definitely."

"Absolutely. Now, I need to go and tell Adalia we found Kat," he said with a tiny smile. "And that you kept your word, I suppose."

He leaves, and I'm left alone.

The strangest thing about this is the realisation that Kat's father understands Newton's laws of motion. Even with the knowledge that Faerie is a lot less... based on the incomprehensible, it seems weird.

God, now I have so many questions.

Sparks fly from Kat's fingers as I try to work out which questions deserve the most thought, but I try not to pay much attention to them.

What are we going to do now?

A big one, but it's not one I can answer alone.

How on Earth are we going to take down MALIS and save Mercury if what we knew to be true when we started the plan might not be in a few hours?

Again. That's a whole-group talk.

Why wouldn't Kat want to explain the different parts of Faerie if he could?

That one's probably something I can chalk up to 'bad experiences'. Even if it's not really helping us... I understand where he'd be coming from if that's the case.

Does this mean Cira and Vaeri are fine? They're elves, and he did say toxic to fairies only...

God, I hope so.

What is the point of removing a fairy's magic if you can't use it?

And that's something I might know the answer to.

I leave Holly and Kat where they are, since they're not really in too much danger right now, and follow the sound of arguing until I find Mr Wystan and Adalia.

"Um, sir?"

"Yes, Anya?"

Adalia huffs, looking distinctly unhappy with everything.

"Can humans have magic circuits?"

"Of course not," Adalia laughs. "What a stupid question."

"Well, if—"

"I know a woman who does magic."

Which... is only a partial truth. I don't know her name, after all.

"That can't be right."

"Kat will back me up. He felt it."

"If it's one of your witches," Mr Wystan said, stopping the squabble before it started, "then not quite. Their magic isn't the same as Azaevelum's magic. Demons and spirits, I believe..."

"Oh. Well. I just thought..." I hesitated, unsure whether I really wanted to make the suggestion. "What's the use of stealing magic if you can't use it? Maybe there's a way to give humans magic circuits?"

"Stealing... what is she on about?"

"Void Fungus."

Adalia blanched.

"Hollyann Mulreth was with them when they got caught in the fumes," Mr Wystan sighed. "Kat's not going to—"

"Is he alright?"

Lani's very righteous anger at Adalia's actions sprung up in me at the worry in the older girl's voice.

"Now you care."

"Shut up! I couldn't just throw him down the well! Where is he?"

(In fairness, she did have a point.)

"Downstairs—"

Before her father had even finished speaking, she'd grabbed my wrist and was dragging me out of the room — almost sending us both flying down the stairs.

"Let me go!"

She ignored me.

What was it with me getting dragged along like this nowadays?

Holly was awake when we entered the living room, staring at her hand with a dull sort of acceptance on her face, but her face brightened a bit when she noticed me.

"Thank Xiasis, you're alright... what in Tralor happened to your arms?"

"Xiasis?"

"Goddess of luck," she shrugged, standing up and pulling me away from Adalia with ease. "Not many believe in them nowadays, but I like having names to put with things. What happened?"

"Void... Fungus? I, er, we all..."

"Wow."

"Kat? Kat, wake up," Adalia instructed, incredibly enough. "Please, Kat."

"Maybe try touching him?"

"I'd rather not, Holly."

Bluish sparks flew from his fingertips this time, and he actually opened one eye before wincing.

"No, don't you dare go back to sleep!" Adalia snapped, crossing the room in several quick strides and whacking his shoulder so hard the two of us both grimaced in sympathy.

"Don't... Lia, I'm fine. I'm... ugh."

"Do you feel that?" she asked quietly, as if she was trying to keep Holly and I from hearing.

"Everything hurts. What is it?"

"Can you sit up?"

She pulled him up anyway, even when he protested, and then forced him to stare at his hands.

"Adalia, you're hurting!"

There's a wild gleam in her eyes, and suddenly I know that she's not actually concerned at all.

Kat is not meant to be part of whatever this plan is.

"Look, kiatsin."

Holly says something I think is a curse, and I make a guess as to what a kiatsin is.

"Let go of him!" I shout as Kat stiffens, eyes wide with horror. If he's feeling the darkness radiating off his sister, so am I. The evil she's not bothering to hide is almost palpable, almost visible as a cloud around her, and it is terrifying.

"You can't make me do anything."

And with that, a wave of something dark and red and crackling like electricity sweeps across the room, and the next thing I know is darkness.