There were dark lines across the sky, a grid pattern burned into my vision. I blinked. No. I was lying underneath the bench and staring up through its grated surface. I turned my head to the right and it felt as though a puppeteer was yanking at the cords in my neck with vicious abandon. Cool mud pressed against my cheek, but it wasn’t much of a salve for my aching jaw or the teeth which felt like they’d been knocked loose.

I crawled out onto the open grass with one good arm. Blood was crusted down the side of my nose and neck, and a tremor shook my fingers so bad when I tried to reach for it that I couldn’t peel it away. I inhaled a breath full of grass and phlegm and stood up. The ground tilted dangerously around me, Koshmar having pulled all the screws out from the globe when he turned off the lights, and I was sure some of my bones weren’t slotted in correctly to their sockets. Surely if they were then they wouldn’t be hurting so damn much…

There was a red-haired woman sitting on the bench. I rubbed at my eyes. “Philippa?”

She seemed to see me for the first time. I didn’t believe it for a second—but it was a good act. “Starling. What a pleasant surprise to run into you so early in the morning. Are you well?”

“I, um…” I must have looked like I’d been dragged up from the gutters. I ran a hand through the mats and tangles of my hair, trying to pull it into some semblance of order, and I smoothed out my jacket as best I could over my torn and filthy shirt. She watched me do it with a gleam in her eyes and a smirk tugging the corners of her mouth—like hell she’d just stumbled across me. “I’ve been better.”

“That’s a shame, to know you’re not at your best.”

“You-” My voice had a crackle to it that I didn’t like. “What are you doing here?”

“The park belongs to the city. I am merely taking my early-morning walk here.” She shifted to the left and patted the empty space beside her. “Come, Starling. Sit beside me. Or it will be dreadfully unfortunate when you collapse again.”

My pride rebelled at that, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I limped to the bench and sat down, sighing with relief as it took some of my weight. Up close, Philippa smelled of sweet citrus, a heady aroma that hung around her. “I—I don’t believe you,” I said. “You know too much. You’re always in the right places when I’ve spent all day hunting them down. Who are you, Philippa?”

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“I told you before. Or didn’t you listen?”

“Don’t try and hide behind that. You didn’t tell me anything.”

She shook her head and clucked her tongue in mock disappointment at me. “I know exactly as much as I need to. I am an informant, an informer, whichever you prefer—I deal secrets to whoever will pay for them, whenever they want them. I can only be in one place at once, I am truly walking through Red’s Park because I enjoy the atmosphere. And still the information comes to me.” She leaned forwards and held her hand out, close to the ground. After a moment’s pause, a rat the size of my shoe crawled out from the grass and began to nibble at her palm.

I stared down at it. “You’re not hiring them out, are you?”

“Don’t be stupid.”

“No.” She had sharp teeth, which she bared at the edge of her lip when she was angry. “No, course.”

“Enough about me.” She closed her fist and the rat scampered off. “I know what you are pursuing here. How far do you plan-?”

“How far?” I laughed as best I could manage. “This far. I’m getting up…” It was somehow worse trying to regain my feet. I had to grit my teeth to keep from shouting in pain. “I’m going home. And I’m breaking out whatever’s the strongest drink I have until I stop hurting all over. Koshmar—Koshmar made his goddamn point and I’m not fool enough to ignore it a second time round. Chesnes didn’t pay me enough to be worth any of this trouble.”

“Are you really?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Really?”

“What are you trying to do here? I’ve made up my mind.”

“No. You haven’t.” She left the bench and stepped close to me, forcing me to look up into her eyes. “Don’t you think I know how to see it, Starling? You don’t believe a word you’re saying.”

Could I really let it go? I should. I knew that I should. “I’m done,” I told her, and it sounded pathetic even to my ears. “I’m done.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Why are you doing this? What do you care? First Anjular, now you’re helping me here?”

She frowned. “I am not helping you here. Not really. I am talking to you, letting you realize what you already know. But you spend so much time wrapped up in your own head, talking to yourself, that it twists you up in knots. You are desperately lonely, a human fallen down among nightmares, and you wear it like a badge of pride, a way to hide the wound and paper it over.” Her face was tantalizingly close to my own now. “It cripples you,” she whispered. “Perhaps I can be a salve, when fortune throws us together. But not more than that.”

“What should I do then?” I whispered back.

“I won’t give you that.”

“Tell me there’s something to find. That I’m not chasing empty air.”

Now there was sadness in her expression. I hated to see it there. “You keep needing me,” she said, “to tell you what’s already obvious to you.” She stepped away. “Goodbye, Starling. I hope you find what it is you’re looking for.”