Crippling anguish paralyzed Jacob. All he had a chance to glimpse was a vague humanoid shape, warping the violet light around it like a black hole, before Tanaka barked at him.

"Don't look directly at it, idiot!" The transfer student looked scared. A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead.

Jacob managed to rivet his gaze to the floor. Clouds rippled across the surface, rolling over his ankles. God, it hurt so much. The anguish. Waves and waves of it radiating through him. At the centre of it was the thing there, in his periphery. A darkness. It made him want to fall to his knees and scream.

"This isn't what's supposed to happen. What the hell is that thing?" Tanaka whispered.

"I want to go back to sleep." The voice was needles in Jacob's brain. He clutched his head. He wanted to curl up into a ball and wait for it to pass. How could anyone live feeling like this?

"Focus, Jacob!" Tanaka hissed. "It's not real! It's all in your mind."

What the fuck was he on about? Was he insane? It was right there standing in the middle of the room. That void...

"Let me go back to sleep." The room darkened.

Tanaka grabbed him and shook him roughly.

"I'll do the magic, but I'm not doing your trade for you." He hissed.

Jacob clutched the transfer student's shoulder for support. Just in his mind? All this pain? all this anguish? He searched for the source of it within his body. Tanaka was right. He couldn't pinpoint it.

Jacob swallowed and pushed everything to a corner in the back of his mind. It wasn't real. It wasn't real. It wasn't a rogue mage. It couldn't actually hurt him.

Could it?

"Okay. Okay okay okay." Jacob turned back to half face the shade. He was sweating and shivering. "Is your name Laura Tannehill?"

Blinding pain exploded out from the void. "What do you want with me?"

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Jacob cringed back, the words sharp in his mind, dragging against his conscious. For a blank time, all he could sense was that pain. How was he even supposed to speak to these things? Was it just a human? Or...

He managed to push through. "We want to find your murderer. Can you tell us what they looked like?"

"Let me sleep!"

Jacob cringed back but held firm. "We will let you sleep if you tell us what they looked like."

"I did not see whoever stole my life."

Jacob froze. He looked at Tanaka. The transfer student shook his head.

"She must have been attacked from behind or something."

"Should I ask?"

"I'm surprised she volunteered that much. If you think the confirmation is worth a bargain, then go for it, but I think we've got all the information we need."

Damn it. Tanaka was probably right, but they'd come all this way already. Hell, he was risking expulsion or maybe legal action. Another question couldn't make it any worse.

"Can you describe how you were attacked?"

"I was walking to Schumann Hall after studying in the Richter Building. I heard something behind me and then everything went black. Let me sleep."

Jacob shared a look with Tanaka. That was something, at least. They'd found her body in the Vanderbilt Building. How had it gotten all the way there from the path to Schumann?

"Okay, let her sleep," Jacob said.

Tanaka let the spell drop. The void dissipated, the room brightened, whitened, and the dread sensation vanished. Jacob shoved Laura Tannehill's locker closed.

"Why didn't you tell me I couldn't look at it?" Jacob asked. He was breathing heavily, his heart pounding.

Tanaka looked sickly. "I don't know what that was, man. I've never seen a shade like that. That's not supposed to happen. It was just... nothing."

"What's it supposed to be like?" Jacob asked.

Tanaka shook his head. "It's supposed to look like the person, not whatever that was. It's supposed to bargain, not offer up information for free."

Jacob wasn't sure if they'd made off better or worse because of that. He was suddenly weary. The morgue chill had seeped into his bones. The hollow memory of those terrible emotions radiating out of the void made him feel like he'd been through a hydraulic press. He couldn't believe she hadn't seen her attacker. What a waste of time. What the hell had he been thinking, coming here, doing this?

"Let's get out of here." He had to be up tomorrow for classes at an ungodly hour. Even earlier if he wanted a shower. Suddenly that seemed the most important thing in the world. He was almost glad they hadn't gotten any information. He didn't feel like chasing this any further. Let the faculty deal with it.

They hit the lights and closed the door and placed the lock back on, then moved back through the thankfully mundane hospital in silence. Jacob almost hoped they ran into someone, just to see another human face.

Tanaka was silent the whole way back to Harrison Hall. If the transfer student was half as shaken as Jacob he honestly couldn't blame the guy.

Tanaka grunted a goodbye on the first floor and then Jacob was on his own slumping through the halls. He got back to his room, fumbled for the keys, opened the door, and shut it behind him. He fell on his bed fully clothed, with a faint hope that he didn't have any nightmares.