The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure - By Storm Constantine Page 0,147

over it.’

‘I know. So was I.’

Ulaume laughed and wrapped an arm around Flick’s shoulder. ‘We know each other too well now.’

Domestic crisis awaited them at the boat. When they went below deck, they found Mima comforting a distraught Lileem in the main salon.

‘What’s happened?’ Flick demanded.

Mima indicated he and Ulaume should go above deck with her. Lileem had not even acknowledged their arrival. She appeared inconsolable.

Out in the crisp night air, Mima hugged herself. Her expression was pinched.

‘Well?’ Ulaume said.

‘Something’s happening to her,’ Mima said. ‘She told me what she learned from the Unneah Rofalor. She thinks this feybraiha thing is happening to her.’

‘I’m sure it isn’t,’ Flick said. ‘She’s just afraid it will. I think she’s likely to manifest symptoms because she’s scared of them.’

‘What’s feybraiha?’ Ulaume asked.

‘You explain,’ Flick said to Mima. ‘I’ll go talk to her.’

‘You?’ Ulaume said. ‘I think we both should. What’s going on?’

‘Let Mima explain,’ Flick said. ‘I’m sorry, Lor, but this something Lee and I have talked about before. I’m sure she’ll talk to you too, but for now, just let me handle it.’

Lileem was a pathetic sight, appearing more like the child she really was than the young har whose origins it was easy to forget. Flick sat down next to her on the couch, where she was sprawled face down, her head in the cushions. He put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Hey, it’s me.’

For a moment, Lileem didn’t move, although her sobs subsided to snuffles.

‘We’re going to Galhea in the morning,’ Flick said. ‘That’s where Terez said Cal went to after Saltrock, remember?’

Lileem turned over. Her eyes were swollen, her face red and blotchy. She’d clearly been crying for hours. ‘Why?’ She rubbed her eyes and nose with her hands.

‘For work, but Ulaume wants to do some detecting too.’

‘Will it be safe for us?’

‘I think so. It’s a big community and therefore it’ll be easier for us to stay invisible.’

Lileem wriggled up the cushions into a sitting position. She clasped her knees with her arms. For some moments, she was silent, her expression intense as she stared at her hands, then she looked up and said, ‘Flick, I think it’s happening.’

‘OK. Why?’

Lileem’s face and neck had gone scarlet. ‘I had a weird feeling today. My body went all hot, and… I don’t want to say, it’s so vile. I hate it.’

‘Have you told Mima?’

‘Not really. I don’t know if I can. Is she like me or is she something else? I don’t know what to do.’

‘Have there been physical changes?’

‘A bit. Sort of.’

Flick lowered his head and pressed the fingers of one hand against his brow. He sighed. ‘Lee, we can’t mess around like this. We have to know. You’re going to have to show one of us, and tell one of us everything, then we might know how to proceed.’

‘I can’t,’ she said. ‘It’s just so embarrassing.’

‘Lee, it could make you ill if you don’t start helping yourself. None of us know how to deal with this, and we need more information. Yes, it’ll be embarrassing, but it’ll be over in a moment. We are your family. You don’t have to feel ashamed or scared. OK?’

Lileem writhed uncomfortably on the cushions. Fresh tears spilled from her eyes. ‘Why is this happening? Why? I don’t want it!’

‘We don’t know if it is yet,’ Flick said gently. ‘Now, tell me what happened.’

‘It was so sudden,’ she said. ‘I was just sitting on deck in the sun and I was making a new model of Lunil. It was going really well too. Then this pain just shot up my body, like I’d been stabbed or something. Some liquid came out of me. I knew at once it was something to do with… well, growing up, I guess. I’d read in books about puberty in humans and how girls menstruate. Do you know about that?’

Flick nodded, repressing a smile. ‘I think I can just remember.’

‘Well, at first I thought it was that, and it would prove I was female, har but female. And that would be good, wouldn’t it? Because I might not need aruna, but… Anyway, I went below deck and looked, thinking I’d find blood, but it wasn’t blood.’

Flick was silent.

Lileem put her hands against her eyes. ‘By Aru, Flick, it was awful. Just strange stuff, almost like the elixir you made for Terez. Does that make sense?’

‘Mmm, a little.’

‘I was all swollen and sore, it was so weird. And this is the worst…’ She uttered a nervous giggle. ‘I touched