CRISTINE WAS UNDERSTANDABLY excited as we headed along the path towards Coffinwell. She'd grown up there, after all, and even though her parents had died nearly four years ago I knew she still felt an attachment to the place. She was a lot different than me. Ten years in my home city and five of visiting a variety of others and I still had no idea what I considered my home. I envied her, a little. But then, I wasn't sure I could ever feel at home staying in one place. Even as a little kid, I'd had a strong sense of wanderlust.

"Oi, watch out!" I said, grabbing Cristine's arm as she nearly stepped into a hole in the grass beside the road. She jumped – back, fortunately, not into the hole – and managed to step on my foot. "Ow…"

"Sorry, Tammy," she said, looking at me. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," I told her, ignoring the urge to rub my foot. The bottom of her thick black high heel had stabbed right into the top of my leather boot. It would probably leave me with a bruise. "Just watch where you're going. You nearly twisted your ankle in that hole."

Nick and Erik had stopped to wait for us. Erik was standing several metres ahead on the path, arms folded, little faerie light at his side. Nick followed Cristine's example in asking if I was okay.

"Fine, really," I said. "Let's keep going. Off to Coffinwell, right?"

"Correct," Erik said. "Let us not dally." He turned and started walking down the path again. It was impossible, knowing now what he was, not to see the evidence. The strange, formal way he talked – nobody talked like that except for Guardians. How had I missed it before?

And, whether it was because of the benevolessence or just because I was watching for it now, I could make out a pattern to the air shimmers behind his back and above his head. Behind his back was a small pair of wings. Above his head was a halo.

They do seem a little more defined now, I decided. A little more solid than shimmer. Stella was right. That benevolessence is giving him his powers back.

But what had taken them away in the first place? That was the question, and it was driving me a little crazy. I kept going back to it, feeling rather like a dog chasing its tail. How did a Celestrian lose his wings and halo and become visible to humans?

"Don't you dare," I snapped at a leafy larrikin, uncoiling my whip with a flick of my wrist. It flinched back, and when I cracked the whip in its direction, it ran off.

"Oh, don't be so mean, Tammy!" Cristine said. "It was just being friendly."

"You do realise what that was, don't you?" asked Nick, amused. "I thought you grew up around here. You of all people ought to know that larrikins are never friendly! More likely he wanted a bite of Tammyflesh."

Cristine laughed. "Well, can you blame me for having a bit of hope?" she asked. "Things are finally starting to perk back up again after that earthquake. I'm in a nice mood."

How was she to know how quickly that mood was to be punctured?

The silence as we approached Coffinwell made me feel uneasy. Cristine and I had been there loads of times, and I knew that the place was usually bustling this time of day. It was strange that the place was so quiet.

"Jeremy," Cristine said to the young man sitting by the entrance. "What's going on here? Why's everything so quiet?"

Jeremy looked up at us, and when he recognised Cristine and me, his blonde brows drew in compassion. "Leave," he told us. "Now. Unless you want to go down with the rest of us."

"What the – what are you talking about?" I demanded. "Almighty, Jeremy, you make it sound like Coffinwell's a wrecked ship."

"It might as well be," he said. "I'm serious. Get out of here."

Erik slipped between Cristine and me – I supposed his shape, more slender than Nick's, was an advantage. "Do not fool around, boy," he said sharply. "Tell us what is happening here."

Jeremy looked at him, and I could tell by his expression that he didn't think much more of Erik than I did. He looked at me, eyebrows raised. All I could do was shrug and roll my eyes.

"Fine, then," he said. "Coffinwell has been infected with a contagion. It's spreading like wildfire through the city. There have been thirty deaths already, and it's only been after us since the earthquake. Half the people still alive are sick – some of them closer to death than you would believe possible. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes. The contagion spreads through the air. The victims cough. Then they cough up blood. Then they're taken with fever and headaches and cough still. We've got a dozen so feverish that they're delirious. Some people died of blood loss from the coughing. Some people died because they couldn't breathe. Some died of the sheer heat of the fever." He stared around at us, at the stricken expressions on our faces. "Now will you get the bloody hell out of this doomed city!?"

"Almighty, Jeremy," Cristine whispered, her pretty green eyes wide in horror. "What…isn't anybody trying to do something about this?"

"They can't," he said bitterly. "People have tried. Nothing eases any of the symptoms, and those who try to help just fall ill themselves. That fool Phlegming has holed himself up in his laboratory even more, convinced he's going to find the answer to this bloody thing in musty old books. Poor Catarrhina's been worrying herself sick about him. I swear the git wouldn't notice if she caught the contagion herself."

"Jeremy!" I said.

"It's true!" he said, folding his arms. "I don't know much about this aside from the obvious. If you want to know more, maybe you ought to go talk to Mayor Laria. But if you're smart, you'll take my advice and leave before you set foot in this cursed place."

Nick, Erik, Cristine and I looked at each other. Stella bobbed in the air next to Erik, babbling something about bunches of benevolessence if we could help out the people of Coffinwell. It took an incredible amount of self-control to keep from glaring at her. Fortunately, Erik did it for me, and the faerie stopped.

Even without talking, we seemed to be managing a conversation. I could see the question in everybody's eyes: what do we do? If we stayed here, we risked catching the contagion ourselves. But then again…these people needed help. We could talk to Mayor Laria and figure out if we could do anything useful. If we couldn't, then most likely we could leave quickly, before we caught anything.

It was the determination in Cristine's eyes that answered it. This was her home, after all. And Nick was a healer as well as a priest; I knew it wasn't in his nature to leave suffering untreated. Erik had his powers to think about. And I… Well, I was there to help in any way I could. I didn't have any ties to this place other than compassion and the concerns of my friends, but it was enough.

"Thanks, Jeremy," Cristine said, turning to him. "For telling us." She gave him a hug. "Good luck and good health."

Jeremy snorted, but his cynical expression – one I'd not seen on him until today – softened slightly. "Good luck to you as well," he said. "I should have known that telling you wouldn't get you out of here."

"Never," I said, and smiled grimly. "'Bye."

We headed up through the town. It really was eerily silent, aside from our footsteps, the hurried sounds of the few out on the streets, and the occasional noise of a hacking cough. I shivered and said a quick prayer for our safety and for theirs. We were all going to need it.

I paused outside the weapons and armour shop. My wayfarer's tunic was a bit shredded from our recent battles, and, my low concern for modesty notwithstanding, I felt a little exposed. "Would you guys mind if I popped in here for a moment?" I asked. "I need to find some clothes that haven't been destroyed."

"Go on in," Nick said. "We'll talk to Laria."

Erik didn't say anything. He just started walking again.

I ducked inside the shop and started browsing. In all honesty, I hated shopping; I just wanted to find something serviceable and get out. Fortunately, luck was with me. I found a sturdy-looking iron cuirass and some kneecaps, too. I scooped them up, along with a pair of denim pants and a green shirt, and went to the counter to pay. The man behind it looked at me a little oddly – he must have been surprised to see an outsider here, with Coffinwell in such a state – but he didn't say anything except the price of the goods and "Have a good day". I changed quickly, chucked my old tunic, and hurried outside to catch up with the others.

As I headed up the stairs to Laria's library, following the maid's directions, I coughed to try to loosen up my chest. All the iron I had on was weighing me down. I wasn't used to wearing such heavy clothes. But I supposed they would be quite useful in battle.

"…passed them on to Phlegming in the hope that he might be able to make some sense of them," a man was saying. "I imagine it won't be long before he turns something up, but I'm afraid I'm rather loath to go and ask him in person."

I got to the doorway of the library just in time to hear him say, "Of course! You care about what's been going on here, don't you? In that case, perhaps you could pop along to Phlegming's place and see how he's getting on? His house is just to the west of my mansion. Sorry to trouble you, but I really would appreciate it if you paid him a visit."

"It would be no trouble," Erik said. As he and the others turned, he spotted me and said, "Oh. Good, you are here. We are going to speak with Dr Phlegming."

"Yeah, I heard," I said, falling into step with them as we headed away. "So…why?"

They explained as we walked. Mayor Laria had told them that this same disease had hit Coffinwell about a century previous, and he had started looking through old manuscripts for solutions. Since he couldn't understand them, he had given them to Dr Phlegming, his son-in-law. But, as the two of them didn't get on well, Laria wanted us to ask if Phlegming had found anything.

They hit the end of the story about the time we reached Phlegming's house. Erik knocked on the door once. Then, when we got no answer, he knocked again. Then he tried the knob, found it unlocked, and led the way inside.

Catarrhina, Phlegming's new wife, was lying on the bed, clearly fast asleep. Her pretty green hair, tied back from her face with a pink bow, was coming a little loose and was sprawled out on the pillow.

Nick cleared his throat loudly.

Catarrhina didn't move.

"Erm, excuse me, Miss Catarrhina…" Cristine said. But she was a quiet person – her voice was hardly louder than the throat-clearing.

"Miss Catarrhina!" I said loudly. She started, eyes popping open, and sat up. When she saw us, she blushed.

"Oops!" she said, getting up hastily and smoothing down her dress. "Sorry, I must have dozed off. …I seem to be doing that an awful lot lately…"

She was such a sweet woman. I'd only met her once or twice, but I liked her.

"…Oh! Ahem, are you looking for Phlegmy, by any chance? Oops!" she said again, blushing deeper. "I mean Dr Phlegming, my husband." Then she giggled. "Eek! Husband! I feel all silly calling me that." She giggled again, and then looked at us sheepishly. "Do excuse my waffling! I'm afraid Phlegmy's at work now in his laboratory."

"Mayor Laria asked us to talk to him," Cristine said.

"Really?" Catarrhina asked, her brows drawing together. "Well, in that case, I'll go along with you and let you into the laboratory. Phlegmy's a bit shy around strangers, you see." She started for the door, and then stopped. "Oops! Where are my manners? I haven't introduced myself to your friends, have I?" She smiled at Erik and Nick. "I'm Phlegmy's wife, Catarrhina. I'll go on ahead!"

I stifled the urge to cough again as we headed out the door and down to the laboratory. As we walked, Catarrhina murmured, "I can't believe Daddy would ask a stranger to visit Phlegmy. Does he really find him that hard to talk to?" She coughed quietly.

We got to the door. "I'll get him to open up, then," she said, and then knocked in an odd pattern.

A man's voice from inside said, "Catarrhina? Is that you? What are you doing here at this hour?"

What hour? I wondered. It wasn't even noon yet.

"Sorry to disturb you, Phlegmy," Catarrhina called. "You have a visitor. Daddy's sent a messenger to find out how you're getting along with deciphering the old manuscripts."

The voice harrumphed. "Well, I suppose you'd better come in, then."

As we entered, I saw a man in a white jacket with a scruffy ponytail sitting at a desk. He was facing away from us. "I have a million and one things to do at the moment, but I suppose a messenger from Father-in-law takes precedence." He turned and stood up, revealing a pair of bright blue eyes behind white-framed spectacles, and a set of whiskers, scruffy to match the hair.

"So, what can I – ah, that's right," he said. "You've come to find out how I'm getting along with those manuscripts, haven't you?"

"You're forgetting something, Phlegmy!" Catarrhina said, throwing Cristine a look of joking exasperation. Phlegming looked at his wife and blinked, like he really hadn't the slightest idea what she was talking about. "You haven't introduced yourself yet."

"I don't see how that matters," Phlegming said, adjusting his spectacles. "Silly, time-consuming formality, in my opinion."

Catarrhina looked at him, head tilted to the side. Phlegming sighed. "Oh, very well," he said. He looked at us. "Pleased to meet you. The name's Dr Phlegming. I study archaeology and the like. And you are?"

"We've met, sir," Cristine said. "Briefly, at least. I'm Cristine; this is Tammy, and Nick, and Erik."

Phlegming nodded once, a sharp, no-nonsense motion. "Well, I'll try to remember your names, but I can't guarantee I'll be successful. Anyway, never mind that," he said, laying a hand on the mess of books and papers on his desk. "I think I've found a clue in the old manuscripts as to the nature of the illness that's been going round."

Catarrhina's face broke into a beaming grin. "Oh, Phlegmy!" she cheered. "I knew you could do it!"

Phlegming smiled slightly at his wife's praise. "Around a hundred years ago," he said, "some old ruins were discovered to the west of town. The people who discovered them rather rashly decided that it would be a good idea to venture inside. Little did they know that terrible misfortune lay in wait in the form of a deadly contagion. It's this contagion that lies behind our current epidemic."

He turned to the desk. "According to the manuscripts, it's actually more accurate to refer to it as a curse than a disease. The townspeople were able to break the curse by sealing the contagion away in the ruins and blocking up the entrance."

"But for some reason the disease has managed to escape again?" Catarrhina asked.

Phlegming turned to Catarrhina. "It's possible that the recent earthquake may have caused some damage to the seal that was keeping it contained." He shrugged.

"So all we have to do is go to the shrine and seal it away again?" asked Catarrhina. Her eyes were bright with excitement.

"Indeed," Phlegming replied. "Although it's not quite as simple as it sounds. I'm probably the only one who'd be able to do it, in fact."

Catarrhina beamed. "Ooh!" she exclaimed. "So you're going to fix the seal and save us all, Phlegmy?"

"Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt," Phlegming said, reaching out to tousle his wife's hair. She giggled. "It might even encourage your father to finally think me worthy of you. It would also be a good opportunity for me to explore the ruins, so I'm certainly not averse to the idea. The only problem is that monster activity there is reportedly rather heavy, and I don't want to get hurt…" He made a face and adjusted his spectacles again.

There was a brief paused, which I managed to interrupt with another cough. Then Catarrhina cleared her throat. "Well, perhaps you could report back to Da – um, I mean the mayor, and tell him what you've learnt. Now we know what's causing the disease, that's a huge step forward. You really are amazing, Phlegmy!" She hugged him, and then coughed. "Sorry, I must have –" cough – "got something caught in my throat in all the excitement." She blushed.

I followed Catarrhina's example coughing as we headed up to the mansion. As I took my arm away from my mouth, I saw red on my arm, and I froze, my heart stopping for a few beats before it started up again, faster. That was blood, and it wasn't from a cut. I'd just coughed that up.

"Tammy, you okay?" asked Cristine, pausing and looking at me. "You look like you've just seen a ghost!"

I wished I'd just seen a ghost. Ghosts were easy to deal with. I wouldn't have reacted like this if all I'd seen was a ghost.

"Ta…oh, no!" Cristine's eyes went wide. "That blood…"

The others had stopped, and all three of them were staring at me in horror. I couldn't breathe properly. No. No, no, no, no no no no!

I had caught Coffinwell's contagion.

I made sure to sit downwind of the others when we stopped to discuss our options. It was probably a useless effort, since the contagion was all through the town, but I didn't want to take the slightest risk of infecting them. I sat about a metre away, too.

"Don't be stupid, Tammy," Nick said, looking at me. "It doesn't matter where you sit."

I shrugged. "It matters to me."

Nobody argued.

"So what do we do?" I asked then. "Helping Phlegming looks like our only option now." My voice stayed perfectly steady, my years of acting helping me to conceal my panic.

Erik nodded once. "But I think it would be best if all of you stayed away from these ruins," he said. "If it is indeed the source of this contagion, the risk of illness would be far higher in there. I shall go with Phlegming alone."

He was immediately peppered with objections. It was too dangerous – what if he caught the contagion himself – we weren't going to sit around while there was work to be done – it didn't make any difference whether we were in the illness-ridden town or in the ruins.

"Enough!" Erik said sharply, glaring around at us all. I tried to stifle another cough and only half succeeded. He spared me a glance, and then resumed his argument.

"I have never been ill in my life, and I do not intend to begin now," he said. "And the risk is higher there. It would be safest if you stayed outside the city, though Tammy ought to stay in to try to find treatment."

"Like flip I will!" I snapped, glaring at him. "I'm not going to lie here waiting to die while you and Phlegming go off and play the antisocial heroes. I'm going with you whether you like it or not."

"And so am I," said Nick and Cristine almost simultaneously. Erik and I both glared at them.

"You will stay out of it," I said. "Neither of you are sick yet. I'll believe that Erik will be okay, but you, Cristine, are too prone to accident and incident for me to even think about letting you go to the place where this thing started. And I'm trusting Nick to make sure you don't follow us."

"Who's to say I won't follow you myself?" Nick asked mulishly.

"And who is to say that I will allow you to accompany me?" demanded Erik.

I crossed my arms and glared around, daring them to argue with the sick girl. Then I broke into a coughing fit.

"Oh, Tammy…" Cristine murmured. I held up a hand to tell her to stay back.

I managed to get my coughing under control and straightened back up. "Go," I said. My voice sounded weird. "Get out of the city and stay there until we get back." Cristine and Nick both hesitated. "Now!"

Cristine bit her lip. Then she dashed in and crushed me in a hug before dancing back and touching Nick on the hand. "Come on," she murmured. "Let's go." She led the way back towards the city gate. I stared after them until they both vanished from view.

Then I turned and found Erik watching me, violet eyes inscrutable beneath his silver brows. "What?"

"You are a strange being, Tammy," he said. "Are you not the slightest bit frightened?"

What did he care? The prat, he was probably just asking so he could snort and turn away when I said –

"Of course." The words slipped out almost of their own accord. "I'm terrified! But it doesn't make much difference, does it? It doesn't change what needs to be done." I shrugged. "I know better than to ask you whether you're scared or not. Is that no-sickness thing just you, or is it a Celestrian thing in general?"

Erik froze, staring at me. "What?"

"You heard me," I said. I was suddenly feeling weirdly bold. "Is it just you who doesn't get sick, or is it a Celestrian thing?"

"A Celestrian…" Erik was still staring at me. He seemed almost lost for words. Unfortunately, Stella didn't seem to be.

"What!" she squawked, expanding to her full size and peering at me curiously. "Well, how in flap did she ever figure that one out? You don't look like a Celestrian anymore, that's for sure. I don't –"

"Oh, shut it, Stella!" I snapped. She reeled back, eyes wide.

"Flapping flip!" she exclaimed. "You can see me?"

"I can see you, I can see ghosts, I can see Erik and the rest of the Celestrians too!" I said. "Honestly, it's usually Celestrians who're the worst to deal with, but I think you're well on your way to taking the prize yourself, you mouthy little faerie."

Those words managed to spark what was most definitely the strangest argument I had ever been in. We all began shouting over each other at once.

"Celestrians worst to deal with – you insolent, upstart little brat, you have not the slightest idea –"

"Taking a flapping prize! I'd like to give you a slice of my mind and I hope you choke on it –"

"Condescending prats, the whole lot of you, all bloody formal and polite but the absolute most high-and-mighty creatures I've ever encountered – act like you're as far above us as the Almighty Himself, honestly –"

And then my chest seized up and I broke into another coughing fit. As the coughing grew thicker, I started panicking. Every time I tried to draw breath, the air tickled my throat and made me need to cough again. I couldn't breathe!

Erik whacked me on the back, hard, and I managed to hack up a disgusting combination of blood and phlegm. I spat it out on the stones, and wiped my mouth. "Yuck," I muttered. "Thanks."

He nodded, watching me. I cleared my throat (there was still a little phlegm sitting there) and turned away, heading up the stairs towards Laria's mansion. When I didn't hear his feet behind me, I paused and glanced back. "Aren't you coming?"

For a long moment, he looked at me silently. Finally, he said, "You truly are a strange being, Tammy."

"Not really," I said. "Everyone has their little quirks. When it boils down to it, I'm just like everyone else." I shrugged. "I'm only human."

"Ah, I was wondering where you'd got to," Mayor Laria said. "So, what did you find out?"

I let Erik do the explaining and tried to keep from coughing. When Erik finished, Mayor Laria sat back in his chair.

"Very well," he said. "The situation is clear to me now. Hmm…"

He looked us over for a moment. "Well, you look like you can take care of yourselves fairly well. I don't suppose I could interest you in going along with Phlegming?"

I half-laughed, half-coughed. There had never been any question!

"Safety in numbers and all that," Laria continued, oblivious. "If he thinks that the shrine is hazardous, then I'm sure he'd appreciate some bodyguards. Naturally, I'd make it worth your while. What do you say?"

The corners of Erik's lips pulled into something that could almost be seen as a smile. "Sir, there was never a question as to whether we would help. The only question was how, and now you have answered that for us."

"Excellent, excellent!" Laria said, smiling. "Much obliged and all that. Well, we'd better not waste any time. Take this key to Phlegming, won't you?" He handed Erik a strange-looking key. "That's the key to the shrine west of town. You should be able to open it up with that."

"Thank you," Erik said.

Stella popped up to full size, beaming. "Sealing away a deadly disease is the perfect way to help people!" she cheered. "Imagine how grateful they'll all be if we succeed! We'll have barnloads of benevolessence! You'll be a fully fledged Celestrian again in the wink of an eye!"

When we finally got out of the mansion, I let loose a hacking cough which had been building up the whole time we'd been in there. Erik looked at me as I finished.

"You truly ought to stay out of this," he said. "You are in no state to be fighting. It would be best if you remained here and allowed me to take care of Phlegming."

I shook my head. "No. I'm not going to lie here and wait to die while someone else does the dangerous work. I'll be well enough. As long as I have a hand to whip with, I'll fight. Come on. Phlegming's waiting."

But I had to send up a quick prayer. Give me strength, Almighty. I know I'm talking big, and I really should stay here, but I just can't. Help me to do this.

Phlegming looked at the key Erik held out to him. "Hm?" he asked. "What's that key you've got there?"

"The key to the ruins," Erik said. "Mayor Laria gave it to us for you."

Phlegming took it and examined it. "Well, I'd better go, haven't I?" he murmured. "I don't want the old man to think I'm all mouth and no trousers."

"Um, I'm not sure it's quite like that, Phlegmy…" Catarrhina said doubtfully.

He smiled and pulled her into a quick hug, kissing the top of her head. "There's no time to stand about discussing the whys and wherefores," he told her. "I need to leave for the shrine right away." He glanced over at us. "Don't keep me waiting!"

As we left, I heard Catarrhina cough again. I glanced back at her, concerned, but she just smiled and waved me on. So I let the door swing shut, holding back a cough of my own. Not that Phlegming would be likely to realise I was sick, but if he did, he'd probably send me back to Coffinwell. And there was no way I was going to put up with that.

Fortunately, we didn't have much trouble with monsters on the way to the ruins. Phlegming was clearly impatient, and I wasn't at all convinced that he would have waited for Erik and me to finish fighting before he kept going. When we entered the ruins, we were faced with a wall which had crumbled in the centre. "See here?" Phlegming asked, gesturing to it. "It's just as I said. The shrine wall collapsed in the earthquake, and the entrance has been left wide open. It doesn't bode well for the seal that's supposed to be keeping the contagion contained." He turned to look at us. "We'd better head inside. Make sure you do what you said you would. I can't afford to get injured."

"Yes, sir," I started to say, but he turned and headed in before I could get the words out. I'd been right earlier when I'd talked about him and Erik playing the antisocial heroes. That's exactly what they would have been doing.

We hurried after him as he strode into the ruins proper. Inside, we found that he'd paused in front of a rock. It was carved with a verse:

When the sages reawaken,

Comes crimson light and blue,

Travel right, oh guiding light,

And make the doors swing to.

Phlegming pointed to the stone doors behind the rock, which were set with blue and red stones. "That's one of the things the townspeople used to keep the contagion contained. We'll have to figure out how to open this."

He examined the words for several moments while Erik and I stared around warily. The ruins were dark, creepy, and heavy with the stench of sickness. I had to bend over and cough violently several times, despite my best efforts to the contrary. Then I wiped the blood off on my cuirass, hoping the scent wouldn't attract the monsters that were bound to populate this place.

Then Phlegming straightened, said, "This way," and headed off down the path to the right. Erik and I went with him, taking up positions just behind. It would have been better if one of us had been in front of him, instead, but neither of us knew where we were going. We'd just have to hope we spotted whatever was in front of Phlegming before it attacked.

Phlegming led us to the end of the path and then turned north, past several tarnished mirrors and finally to the statue of a man holding a wand. He examined it for a moment, and then pressed a button on the wand. A beam of crimson light appeared, streaming from the statue and bouncing off the mirrors.

"The next should be over here," he said, pointing down the corridor leading left, and started walking. I snapped my whip into the wrappings of a mummy boy who had gotten too close for my liking, and then hurried to catch up to Phlegming and Erik. My chest was feeling incredibly tight, and I was starting to develop a headache. Maybe this had been a stupid idea. I was ill. I wasn't sure I'd be able to fight much longer before the sickness got worse.

By the time we reached the blue sage, my breathing was fast, but shallow. I gritted my teeth and tried not to let it show. I wasn't going to give into this stupid contagion. Maybe stubbornness couldn't beat a sickness, but I was sure going to give it a shot.

When Phlegming pressed the button on the blue sage's wand and the light shot out, there was a loud grinding noise and the ruins shook.

"The doors," I murmured hoarsely.

Phlegming nodded and started down the path. Erik looked at me.

"You can stop if you must," he said. "Phlegming may not notice how ill you are, but I am not quite blind. You are in no state to be doing this."

I shook my head and tried not to be too conspicuous about the fact that I was leaning rather heavily against the wall. "I'm fine," I said. "Let's go."

I'd lied, of course. Whether it was the proximity to the source of the contagion or just the illness taking its course, I felt worse every moment. I was close to exhausted by the time we reached the now-open doors to the inner part of the ruins.

On a dais inside, a jar lay on its side, a large part of it cracked and lying on the ground. A strange symbol was drawn onto the front.

"Fascinating!" Phlegming said, approaching it and looking around. "It's just as the manuscripts described. The jar over there must be where the contagion was sealed away."

He kneeled down and examined it. "And just as I feared," he murmured, "it was damaged in the earthquake." There was a pause while he looked it over again. Then: "Ah, we're in luck! The section with the seal drawn on it is still intact. Patching this up should be a piece of cake for a top archaeologist like myself." He started rummaging around on the floor by the jar, collecting the broken pieces. "I just need to get all of the pieces together…" He gathered them in his arms and moved them closer to the jar. "And then take my special glue…"

As he began patching up the jar, something started gathering above it. It was accompanied by a stronger stench of illness, which intensified as the thing grew more corporeal. Finally, it revealed itself to be a hideous pink monstrosity with three eyes on stalks and green slime dripping from its mouth. I almost retched, and couldn't help backing up a pace. I managed to run into Erik, who put a hand on my arm to move me slightly out of the way.

"Are you no-good, nose-pokin' buckaroos here to try and cram me back into that teeny-tiny little ol' pot?" it asked in a voice that sounded like congestion and phlegm and coughing. It had a thick drawl, like Patty, but where it sounded friendly and endearing in her, it sounded threatening in this thing. "Well, I ain't gonna let y'all, y'hear? Uh-uh, no siree! The Ragin' Contagion's gonna keep a-ragin'! Ragin', ragin', ragin'!"

Phlegming scrambled back, disgusted and frightened. "S-so this is the contagion that's been troubling the town? Drat! I haven't finished f-fixing the jar yet." He looked at Erik and me. "Don't just stand there!" he cried. "If you don't do your job and fight that abomination, I can't do mine! I need more time! Go on, keep it occupied while I get this jar back together!"

The Ragin' Contagion turned to look at Erik and me. Erik stepped up beside me and pushed me back a little.

"Sakes alive, ya pesky critters!" it said. "I'm gonna have to send your sorry hides to the bone orchard once and for all!"

Erik didn't bother saying anything – he just sprang at the Contagion and lashed out with his right fist. There was a disgusting squelching sound as it made contact. He had to yank his hand out of the Contagion's soft flesh as he landed.

I uncoiled my whip and cast a quick spell, knowing it would drain me less than trying to fight outright. A huge icicle formed above the Contagion and came crashing down on its head, driving its central eye stalk down into it. As the icicle disappeared, the eye stalk came out again with a weird popping noise. Gross.

Then I stumbled back as the Contagion lunged at me, opening its mouth wide. Its nasty jaws only caught part of my right arm – not my whip hand, thankfully – but it ripped several gashes into my skin and left behind the green slime, which burned at the gashes and left some fume drifting up to my nose which had me coughing when I breathed it in. My whole body shook as I coughed, unable to stop. I felt dizzy. Then I stumbled – or I thought I did; I couldn't tell which way was up or down – and fell against the wall, still coughing. I went hot all over, and then cold; I shivered, and then slumped down against the floor. I was still coughing. There was something hot and thick in my throat. I couldn't inhale past it.

"Tammy!" yelled Erik, but I couldn't see him. There were black spots swimming in my vision. There was another nasty squelch, and then I heard feet drumming on the stone, running towards me. "Almighty – I told you that you ought not to have come –"

He kept talking, almost sounding panicked, but I stopped being able to focus on the words. The lack of oxygen going to my brain made it impossible to pay attention to anything except getting a breath of air. And I couldn't do that.

Something hard pounded against my back, almost making me choke on the blood in my throat. A sudden increase in the stench in my nose made my stomach turn, but I couldn't throw up. I couldn't even retch.

The Contagion's voice sounded from almost directly above me. There was another pound on my back, and I choked up a glob of blood and phlegm and what I thought might have been a bit of bile. I gasped, finally able to breathe again.

Then I looked up and found the Contagion looming over Erik, who had slipped away from me after whacking the blood out of my throat. His rangy shape looked small against the bloated bulk of the Contagion's pink body. The wing-shimmers behind his back were pressed hard against the stone wall. He was crushing himself back, straining away from the Contagion, which seemed to be getting bigger.

My head was pounding. I was flashing between hot and cold. I was shaky and could barely move. But somehow, I found the strength to raise my uninjured left arm and crack my whip deep into the Contagion's flesh.

It shrieked, reeling back, and turned to glare at me out of all three of its eyes. "Y'all won't never stop my ragin'…" it growled. "Ragin', ragin'…ragin'! Yeehaw… I'm a ragin'…contagion…"

As it spoke, though, it moved back towards the dais, almost like it was being pulled. Then I saw why: the jar was fixed and sitting upright.

"I've done it!" Phlegming exclaimed. "It's fixed! And not a moment too soon."

The Contagion was struggling against the pull of the jar. Erik touched my arm like he was going to help me up, then drew his hand back like he'd been burnt. "Tammy, you are burning up…"

I knew that. I could feel it.

"Now, sacred jar, seal away this evil beast!"

As the Contagion screamed, being pulled down again, I felt myself go even hotter all over. A shudder ran down my spine, shaking my whole body. Then, all of a sudden, it all vanished. The pressure in my chest eased, the heat died down to normal, and the pounding of my headache disappeared. The Contagion was sealed away.

Phlegming looked at us, his blue eyes bright behind his spectacles. "Did you see that?" he asked excitedly. "Did you see what I did? I sealed that confounded contagion away!" He laughed, a sound halfway between shocked disbelief and triumph. "Now Father-in-law will have to change his tune and show me some respect at last!"

I swear the man looked about ready to dance. He laughed again, ran a hand through his scruffy hair, and then shook his head like he was trying to clear it. "Well, we've done what we came to do," he said, still smiling. "Now I can finally explore the ruins at my leisure." He glanced over at Erik and me. "You can head off now. I'd rather not be distracted, if it's all the same to you. I'll have a look around and see what's what. Perhaps you could report back to Coffinwell and let them know how it all went."

Then he turned and hurried down the stairs.

Erik held out a hand to help me up. "Thanks," I said, taking it and then wrapping my whip back around my arm. "I mean…yeah. Thank you."

He nodded, expression returned to its usual inscrutable, neutral configuration as he looked me over. "Good," he said. "You are not too badly injured."

"No," I agreed, shaking my head. "Nothing a little bit of bed rest won't fix. You?"

"I am fine," Erik said. He turned abruptly and started for the door. "Come. Let us return."

Neither Erik nor Tammy spoke much on the return to Coffinwell. Erik was not sure whether that was good or bad. Certainly it left him time alone with his thoughts, something he had not been granted much of in the Protectorate. But at that moment, he was not entirely convinced that he wanted that.

Doubtless the benevolessence they would have earnt from the people of Coffinwell would return enough of his Celestrian powers to him that he and Stella could make the Starflight Express work. That was a good thing. No Celestrian should have to spend so much time as a mortal. It was degrading – particularly when he had to spend so much of his time with not only mortals but with such a one as Tammy. The others he could deal with. They were short-lived and blind, but they treated him with some measure of respect. Tammy, however, had been nothing but scornful.

And how, he wondered, was she able to see Stella? How did she realise I was a Celestrian?

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. The mortal girl was walking along the path with her hands shoved into her pockets and her pieces of armour tied on over her denim pants and shirt, nothing like her feminine fellow minstrel, Cristine. She had strength, certainly; Erik did not imagine many mortals would have been able to fight as she had while battling such a contagion from the inside as well. Whether the strength was physical or simply something in her stubbornness, he did not know.

She must have followed behind when Stella and I went to the Starflight Express, he decided. But then his thoughts circled back around. How could she have seen it? And Morag – that curse was powerful. I do not understand how she is able to do these things.

Tammy realised then that he was looking at her. "That really is annoying, you know," she said. "You keep staring at me. Either tell me why or look someplace else, would you?"

Erik looked the other way and slid his hands into his own pockets. Yes, the girl had no respect. It irritated him. Yet somehow, it was a bit refreshing. He had been training his whole life as a Guardian, the highest post a Celestrian could have. From early on, he had been treated with respect and had learnt to respect others in turn. Somehow, things were different in the Protectorate. It was strange – stupid, in all probability, for the mortals surely must offend one another a thousand times a day with their behaviour – but so much different from what Erik had been raised with that it was…interesting. He certainly never would have admitted it, particularly not to any of the other Celestrians, but these mortals were nearly fascinating. Perhaps there was something to Aquila's desire to continue watching over the Protectorate after Erik had taken over his post – something aside from his master's natural inclination to be strange. With luck, Aquila would be there when Erik returned to the Observatory…

When I return to the Observatory. It was something that simultaneously relaxed him and caused a strange knot inside his chest. The Observatory was his home, of course; it was where he, as a Celestrian, belonged. He certainly preferred the elegance and reserve of its stone walls to the loud emotion of the Protectorate. Yet after spending time as a mortal, he was not sure it would feel as familiar as it ought. He was not entirely sure he had been unchanged by being in the mortal world.

He glanced back at Tammy, who, aside from her strange abilities, was the very picture of a mortal: emotional, brusque, stubborn, fragile. He shuddered to think that he could be changed into something like that, and yet…he was not certain. The mortals had a way of surprising a being.

Cristine and Nick were waiting for them outside the city gates. "Tammy! Erik!" Cristine called, rushing towards them as soon as they came into view. "It worked, didn't it? Everyone seems to be better."

"Yeah," Tammy said. "Phlegming sealed the contagion back up." She smiled. "Come on. I think Catarrhina should be the first one to hear how her husband saved the whole town, don't you?"

Cristine smiled. "Definitely."

She danced ahead with Tammy. Nick fell into step next to Erik.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

Erik shrugged. "It went," he replied. "We discovered that the Contagion was a monster, so Tammy and I distracted it while Phlegming repaired the jar which had kept it sealed. I suppose the rest of the city has recovered as well as Tammy?"

Nick nodded. "Cristine and I decided to go in and try to help out," he said. "At one point, the girl I was taking care of went over in the highest fever I'd ever seen, but it broke very suddenly. I guess that's when the contagion was sealed up."

"Yes. The same occurred with Tammy."

When they reached Catarrhina's and Phlegming's house, they did not even knock. Tammy and Cristine hurried in first, followed by the boys.

"Miss Catarrhina!" Cristine said excitedly. "Miss Catarrhina, wake up. Dr Phlegming did it! He sealed away the contagion!"

"…Miss Catarrhina?" Tammy said, more quietly. She crossed the room, making nearly no sound in her soft-soled leather boots. "Oh, no…" She knelt down and laid several fingers across Catarrhina's wrist. Then she looked up at the rest of them. "She…she doesn't have a pulse."

At that moment, Phlegming's voice sounded from outside. "I'm home, Catarrhina!" he called. "I'll be off again soon, though. I'm just back to fetch a few papers to help me explore those ruins."

He entered and looked at all of them standing there. Erik saw his gaze flit over each of them, and finally to Tammy and his wife. Tammy bit her lip and her face went a strange shape.

"…Catarrhina?" Phlegming whispered. "You're very quiet."

Tammy moved out of the way as Phlegming sprinted over to his wife's bedside. "What's wrong, Catarrhina? Answer me!" He shook her gently. "You're not…?"

There was a quiet sob from Cristine as Phlegming fell onto his knees. "No!" he cried. "No! Not you! The contagion can't have taken you! It doesn't make sense. I sealed it away. Everyone's better now!" He stared down at her limp body in horror. Then he closed his eyes. His head fell. "I was too late, wasn't I?" he murmured. "Even as I sealed it away, you were already gone. Why?" He opened his eyes and looked at her. "Why didn't you tell me you were ill? If I'd known, I would have worked harder, faster. Perhaps I could have saved you…"

His shoulders shook. Tammy moved away from the bed and wrapped her arms around herself. Erik could see the tears in her eyes – hers, and Cristine's, and even in Nick's. He bit his tongue and tried not to break his own reserve. But it was difficult. The pain in the room was tangible.

Then Phlegming's sobs became audible. He cried, head down on the edge of the bed. When he looked up, his face was streaked with tears, and there were still more pouring down his cheeks.

"Oh, Catarrhina!"