It was probably safe to pull out her light globe now, so she wrestled it from a too small pocket within her inner robes, relieved to have the bioluminescent moss give her a bit more to go by. A line of round pools ringed with stone bricks opened onto the floor – the sort that the Ghouls could be summoned into through mediation. Callie passed them carefully, feeling heat rise to her face as she realised that she would not remain undetected here if the red water Ghouls should come. She wondered if they would find her disrespect of the archives worth reporting to the other Yrati. The surface of the water in each pool rippled with concentric circles, as if some unheard tremor shook them from within. Despite that, they seemed empty. Perhaps the Ghouls were sleeping.
     After the pools, Callie ran into a wall. That was it? Would she have to go back to the last chamber of books? They hadn’t been unpacked yet, still boxed up in crates, so she had assumed they weren’t that important. She put one hand out to the wall and walked along it, looking for some other passage that wasn’t immediately visible. Her fingertips left the stone surface and felt cool air brushing against them. The globe of moss was actually obscuring her vision here, so she tucked it behind her back, and saw a narrow passageway through the wall. Something within was faintly glowing blue. As she moved forward, she saw that the pale light was coming from the inside of an empty brass triangle sitting on a narrow stone plinth. What was this? She had never seen anything like it. Why was this thing sitting here all by itself? How could it glow like that? It sort of looked like a prayer triangle, but was much bigger, had rounded points, and was missing the centrepiece, which usually carried some engraving. This was nothing more than a three-sided outline of metal. Overcome with curiosity, Callie leaned close to it, and thought she might have heard a soft, intermittent murmuring. Now then, was that actually sound, or was she just imagining it? It was mesmerising. She bent her head again, concentrating hard, until she slipped partway into a trance, resting her chin on the cold stone base. It was . . . an information stream . . . a connection to knowledge of . . . everything/body. Before realising what she was doing, her fingers had crept around the edge of the metal, then reached through it in her attempts to hear better. She felt an electric rush flood through her arm and up her scalp, along with a thousand voices all talking inside her head at once. She ripped her hand away and jumped back, deciding to leave the triangle alone. Her fingers felt numb, but she could still flex them, so the feeling should return soon. Had she disturbed anything? For a moment, nothing. Then the world pulsed blue, showing her straight lines and square angles in intricate patterns. Another moment of blackness, then a second pulse, this time the lines glowed red, with isolated sections of the lines moving in a quarter turn, leaving motion blurs sweeping across her retinas. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and rubbed them. The pulsing stopped, and looking around, nothing seemed to be moving, so she continued her sweep of the room.
     "You're a young one to be coming here."
     Forgetting about the book, Callie accidentally crushed the pages with her legs as she whirled around on her knees and fell prostrate in front of the Red Ghoul. She had never seen one like this, with clear, blue eyes fully round in his wide, red sockets, and a complete set of senior Yrati robes hanging from his skeletal shoulders. And never had she heard one speak so clearly.
     "So young. And so tiny. Normally they only sacrifice the older ones, when they can no longer serve without taking the next step."
     Callie was afraid to ask, yet the question spilled from her lips: "What do you mean?" She lifted her head and blinked up at the Ghoul.
     "Oh, dear dear dear dear. Look at your hand, little missy. You've gone and touched the other side in your search for deeper magic. Have you not had the training? Were you not told of the cost? You should have attempted to continue yourself first, for now you’ve lost your chance. You and I are now ‘We’ and We go to prepare the way for others. We stay between worlds, while others are permitted to leave. You're trapped here now, I'm afraid."
     Callie looked down at the hand she had reached into the triangle with, realising just now that the nagging itch she had been ignoring was turning into a painful burn. She pulled off the soft gloves and saw red welts were forming along her fingers and at the edge of her wrist.
     "You're quite determined. The transformation is proceeding more quickly than usual. Perhaps you have a week. I'd advise you to return to your Humani friends for the little time you have left." The Ghoul turned and shuffled off into the darkness.