A/N: Did anyone watch the Oscars? Martin Scorsese was robbed. Robbed! But I'm glad Jamie Foxx won Best Actor, he was amazing in Ray. Although, Don Cheadle was excellent in Hotel Rwanda, too. I think Morgan Freeman had it right when he said the pinnacle of achievement was to be nominated, and that the choosing of a winner was arbitrary, because everyone nominated deserved the award.
Okay, now on to Abarat-related topics. I'm working really hard at writing a bit of the chapter every day instead of all in one go late at night, because my lifestyle has changed such that all-night writing sessions are no longer a possibility for me(except sometimes on the weekend). So far, I've been doing pretty good, I can write for a bit in the evenings before I go to bed(which means I often dream of Carrion, which is always a good thing), and I've been staying on schedule. Preparation for the Renaissance Faire I'm involved in(I'm Molly Pucker, the Kissing Wench) are beginning to take off, and next week I'll be starting on sewing the garb for myself and my non-sewing friend, so that's going to cut into my spare time(and wallet) significantly, but I'll try very hard to keep up with this story. I promise I won't abandon it, but I might go a couple of weeks without an update again. And of course, if anything changes, I'll notify everyone.
Things have gotten pretty hairy for our heroine and her family, and they're most likely going to get worse before they get better, but we're approaching a turning point in the story. The situation is going to change drastically over the course of the next few chapters. I've tried to write about the more fantastical elements of the Abarat as though they were the most normal thing in the world, considering our characters have known nothing else, but we're going to be heading into some truly strange places soon, so I hope you're all game for a wild ride(I know you are, my readers are fearless!).

This chapter is dedicated to E.R.M. Griffin, because she's been having a rough time lately and because she's a survivor, like Yseult.


My best friend was alone in the alcove,
Does anyone still see her there?
Such a sweet face, trapped in the staircase
By the smell of her own burning hair...

For a moment, I floated in a sea of pain. There was no light, no sound, no sensation other than searing pain. Then the smell of burning flesh reached my senses and I realized I was still alive. Cautiously opening my eyes, which felt like they had been sealed shut, I looked around me. I was still sitting against the stone wall, shielded from the remains of the store by the back of the bookshelf, the only part of it to survive. I pushed against it, and it crumbled into bits of charcoal in my hands. My hands themselves were red and blistered, as was most of my exposed skin. A fit of coughing overtook me, and I was doubled over in pain until it passed. I had no idea how long I had been out, but the fire was still raging in parts of the building, although the smoke wasn't so oppressive now that the roof was completely gone. There were dark shapes moving among the flames, and I shrank back against the wall in fear.

"Yseult!"

I turned in the direction of the voice. Fina? I shook my head. I was hearing things in my death throes.

"Yseult, where are you?"

"Fina..." my voice sounded like sandpaper, I doubted she could hear me. I kicked at a nearby timber, causing it to fall and crumble into dust.

"Yseult!" my sister gasped. "She's over here. Oh, Yseult!"

Fina's dear face materialized before me like a vision, her hands fluttering over me nervously. "Oh my God..."

Another shape joined her, tall and strong, his pale head gleaming in the red light. I heard him take a sharp breath, before settling his face into a mask of indifference. Must be worse than I thought...
I was bundled up in a soft blanket, and I drifted in and out of consciousness as Carrion wove back and forth down the lesser traveled alleys. Once or twice I thought Carrion was talking to me, but he was probably speaking to Fina. A few times we paused, and through the haze in my head, I heard the sound of soldiers marching and calling cadence. Fear would take me when I heard those things, and I would turn my head in toward Carrion's chest. Once we reached the house, Carrion set me on the bed and pulled the blanket away. I heard Xandra cry out in alarm as the extent of my injuries was revealed. Fina silenced her with a gesture and fetched her sewing tools.

"I've got to get you out of these clothes, or what's left of them..." Fina began cutting my shirt off with a pair of sewing shears, and I turned my face toward the wall, embarrassed that Carrion should see me like that.

"Xandra, bring me a basin of water and a rough towel." Fina said, softly. The familiar sound of her rich voice was a buoy in my sea of pain. She used the scissors to gently separate the legs of my pants from my skin. The skin there wasn't burned as badly as my face and arms, but my shoes had melted around my feet and had to be completely destroyed in order to remove them. I opened my eyes and looked at Fina as she assessed my injuries. She smiled at me as though nothing was amiss and whispered reassurances in my ear. I felt an overwhelming sense of shame. Once again I had failed my sisters and the burden of responsibility fell squarely on Fina's shoulders. I squeezed my eyes shut against the tears that threatened to fall down my cheek.

"Ugh, that's disgusting!" Letheo's voice cut through the haze in my brain. My embarrassment deepened. I had forgotten he was in the room. I tried to lift my arms enough to cover myself, but they were stiff and unyielding, and Fina pressed them back down on the bed with a soft shush. I looked at the beast boy, who was staring at me with a mixture of disgust and curiosity, and choked back a sob. Carrion took the boy by the arm and hauled him out of the house in the space of two strides. Neither one returned, and some of my anxiety was reduced.

Fina took a pair of tweezers and began removing the thousands of tiny shards of glass embedded in my skin. After the first fifty were pulled from my arm, my nerves were pretty much on overload and I didn't feel anything beyond a light pressure. Xandra soaped the towel in warm water and followed Fina's progress, gently washing the blood away after the glass was removed. It was very slow going, and the pain returned anew when she began pulling the glass from my scalp, the sensitive nerve endings screaming. An eternity later, I was glass-free and Xandra was washing away the last of the blood oozing from the many tiny cuts crisscrossing my body. She continued to run the cloth over my forehead in a comforting manner, singing softly, while Fina mixed up a viscous, milky concoction in the kitchen. She began massaging the scentless lotion into my skin, which immediately started to feel numb. Once the pain had receded enough for my mind to clear, I realized how completely exhausted I was.

Fina, in an attempt to make me more comfortable, brought me a silk rose-patterned robe that had belonged to our grandmother and helped me slip into it. The cool smoothness of the robe felt incredibly good against my skin, and I was relieved to be clothed again. My eyelids felt too heavy to keep open, so I let them close as one of my sisters pulled the quilted coverlet over me. A feeling of safety settled over me, and the sound of their soft voices as they spoke to one another lulled me to sleep.


Glow, baby, glow, as the
Embers, they died there.
Nobody knows what
We saw inside there.
Twisting and burning,
The girls' fine young bodies.

Fina reapplied the lotion to my skin several times in the Night that followed, and to my immense relief, I was able to move my arms and legs again. My skin was still red and blotchy, but no longer screamed when I shifted position beneath the quilt. I still wore the loose robe Fina had put me in, I was not yet healed enough to wear anything more constraining than that. Carrion and Letheo had come back inside some time the previous Night, while I slept, but Letheo had apparently been warned against staring or commenting on my new appearance. I didn't know who I had to thank for that, but I was grateful all the same. Letheo was busying himself in the kitchen while Carrion sat at the table, reading. He was avoiding looking at me, as well. I was filled with a burning desire to know what my face looked like. I tugged on Fina's shirt sleeve as she passed.

"Is there something you want?" she asked, softly.

I couldn't make my vocal chords work, so I mouthed the word mirror.

"Are you sure?" Fina paused. I nodded. "Alright..."

She walked over to Xandra's corner and took the small hand mirror out from under the mattress. I waited as she came back over to me, sitting down on the bed beside me. "Here."

I gingerly took the mirror from her, and braced myself before holding it up to meet my gaze.
It took an immense amount of effort not to look away from my reflection. Letheo was right, I was disgusting. My skin, which had always had the pale, porcelain look of those raised in the Night, was now red and mottled, several blisters marring my once smooth face. I turned my head to the right, where the damage was not so great. My right ear and jawline looked only scalded. I faced myself fully, again. Tilting my head down, I examined the top of my head. The part which fell naturally down the middle of my scalp was lobster red and quite shiny. I would have to cut several inches off my long hair, which I had privately been so vain about, since much of it had been singed and burned. I hadn't had shoulder length hair since I was a small girl. I wondered if it would be easier to take care of. The only feature which remained unchanged were my eyes. Xaver used to say I loved sailing so much because I had the Izabella inside me, you could tell because the stormy color of the sea shone out through my eyes. Now, their soothing steel blue was the only relief I could find on the painful expanse of tortured red flesh that was my new face. I felt like I was trapped inside this unfamiliar body, and my eyes were the only way I could reach out, prove that I was still me.
I handed the mirror back to Fina, my hands shaking badly. She took it and set it aside.

"Are you alright?"

I nodded, mutely.

"Everything will be fine, Yseult. I promise. The burns really aren't that bad, it just looks that way now. In a few nights the burnt skin will start peeling off and I'll keep helping you with the lotion. The blisters might leave scars, but they won't be too noticeable. I bet in a few months, you won't even be able to tell you were in a fire."

I merely nodded again, forcing myself not to cry.

"I'm going back to the bookshop. I need to tell Rangsey I'm taking some tome off." Fina said.

"You're not going to tell him about Yseult..." Xandra began.

"No, no. It's best if Yseult's presumed to be dead. The last thing Pixler will want is word getting out that he's sanctioning murder to further his ambitions." she replied, donning her jacket. "I'll think of something. I'll be back soon."

Xandra poured a large glass of water and brought it to me as Fina left. "Here, maybe this will help your voice."

Thank you, I mouthed. I took a long drink. It helped.

"Tell me what happened." I whispered.

"It was awful. Fina ran home and told us all what was happening. She was so afraid for you, I've never seen her look so frightened. Carrion immediately took off for the bookstore, and Fina went after him. Letheo and I waited here, it seemed like it took forever for them to come back, and I was so worried, but then Carrion came in with you wrapped in a blanket. Fina said when they had reached the building, the roof was already collapsing. Carrion killed the guards and went straight into the fires looking for you. Fina said it was a miracle that he wasn't killed by the falling roof." Xandra's voice was laced with awe.

I listened as I finished drinking the water. Cautiously I cleared my throat, testing my vocal chords.

"I shall have to thank him." I said, my voice so quiet I wasn't sure Xandra had heard me. This was going to take a while.

Xandra asked if I wanted her to cut my hair for me while we waited for Fina. I nodded, and she retrieved the shears Fina had used to cut my clothing off. I sat up while Xandra draped a towel around me to catch the falling hair. There was no sound in the house save the snip of the scissors. I felt lighter, as the long tresses I was so accustomed to fell away. I couldn't keep a tear from falling down my cheeks as Xandra finished. She folded my hair up carefully in the towel before standing to take it away. I lifted my hand hesitantly and ran my fingers through my newly shorn locks. It felt strange, my fingers coming in contact with air before I was ready for them to. I shook my head, and my hair danced lightly about my shoulders, mocking me with it's gaiety. I looked up as Fina entered the house, her hair dripping about her shoulders. She stood in the doorway a moment, staring at me.

"It's raining." she said, shaking her head slightly. She took off her coat and laid over the back of one of the chairs. "Xandra cut your hair?"

"Yes." I said.

Fina sat down beside me and carefully peeled back the rose colored silk from my skin, her smooth fingers probing gently. "Can you feel that?"

"Yes."

"Does it still hurt?"

"It's more of a dull ache." I whispered. "Don't worry, it's getting better. What did you tell Rangsey?"

"He didn't really ask questions. He said I could have as much time as I needed." Fina replied.

"That's very nice of him."

"Well, he does think my sister just died. He said if there was anything I needed just to ask for it." she frowned. "I feel guilty for lying to him."

"I know." I said. "Fina, I'm sorry about everything. I'm supposed to take care of things, and I know I keep letting you down."

"Yseult, don't worry about that. I was angry when I said those things, I didn't mean them." she took my hand. "We're family, we do for each other. It's not your fault."

She picked up the hand mirror and held it out to me. I took it and held it up. My hair now fell just to my shoulders. I sighed. "I miss my long hair already."

Fina laughed softly. "It will grow back."

I hadn't had my hair cut in twenty years. It figured it would take a disaster to make me change it. My thoughts went back to the bookstore.

"Fina, what happened to Lazlo?" I asked, already fearful of the answer.

"He didn't make it, Yseult." Fina said. "By the time we got there, the fire had gotten so hot in the back of the store...there was nothing but ash."

I nodded. I knew it wasn't her fault, or Carrion's fault, or my fault, but the guilt was still there. I had been right there, beside him, and I had made the decision to leave him and save myself. I knew, I knew, that there was no way I could have done anything for him, but I would always feel responsible for not having tried.

Letheo cleared his throat. We looked over at him. "Uh, sorry to interrupt. Dinner's ready."

"Thank you, Letheo." Fina said.

I ate in bed while everyone else sat around the table. There wasn't much dinner conversation that night. After dinner, Xandra took my plate and helped Letheo clean up in the kitchen while Fina went outside to take the laundry down from the line. Carrion stood from the table and walked over to me.

"Ah, feeling better, Yseult?"

"Yes, my lord, I am." I replied.

"Excellent. Your sister is a passable doctor." he sat on the edge of the bed. It occurred to me that I had usurped his sleeping place. I wondered where he had retired to last night, or if he had even slept at all. "Pixler's fire did quite a number on you. I'm surprised you didn't succumb to the flames. You are very strong willed, aren't you, Yseult?"

The way he said it, I didn't know if it was a good thing or not.

"That's the second time you've saved my life, my lord." I remarked. "I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you."

"You can't. You're mine, for life. I have plans for you Yseult." he replied. "I would appreciate it if you would cease getting yourself into these kinds of situations. I am not your nursemaid, I cannot always be there to save you. In fact, this whole business is getting rather tiresome. I'm beginning to wonder if you're not more trouble than you're worth."

He leaned close to me, his hand coming up to catch my chin. I swallowed thickly as his eyes fixed on mine. "You're going to have to prove your worth to me, Yseult." he said, softly. "Find some way to convince me that I need you."

I nodded, mutely. Carrion released me and sat back against the wall. "We have been far too complacent, I think, Yseult. It's time to begin. You can make yourself useful to me again, I want us gone. Quickly."

"Yes, my lord." I replied. The fact that he kept using my name did not escape me. It made me uncomfortable; he was almost creating an intimacy on his side, while I continued to call him "my lord" and such. Another way he could assert his dominance over me. The sound of my name on his lips, so casual, did other things to me that did not bear thinking about at the moment, or at all. "I'll take care of it."

"Such a good girl." he smiled, his eyes remaining cold. He stood and beckoned to Letheo, who immediately went to his side. They left the house, and Fina walked over to me.

"What was all that about?" she asked.

"I need you to do something for me, Fina."

"Of course."

"Go to the docks, ask for Brosh, tell him Yseult wants to charter passage for five to Hobarookus." I instructed in my strained voice. "We're leaving this island."