If the abnormal goes on long enough it becomes the normal. -- Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures

Now that she knew how to do it, flying was the easiest thing in the world. It was also one of the most interesting. Abi found she could see so much more from the air than she'd ever realised existed.

Well, she could during the day. At night she couldn't see much more than vague outlines that could have been houses, trees, or even a crowd of flesh-eating monsters.

Amidst the chaos of the last few hours she'd almost completely forgotten about Ilaran. It came as a shock when he spoke. I hate to seem inquisitive, but what's happening?

Abi did an unintentional somersault and almost fell before she realised who it was. She righted herself and spared a moment to be glad no one had been around to see that. Nothing, really. Shizuki's safe in the spaceport, Lian's guarding him, and Irímé's watching at the gate. I'm trying to find the monsters. We haven't seen any for hours.

There was a moment's incredulous silence. Did you say you're trying to find the monsters? Why would you want to find them if they're leaving you alone?

I want to see if they're close enough to attack us.

A vast black shape suddenly loomed out of the darkness in front of her. Abi wheeled away just in time to avoid crashing into it. When she looked back she realised it was a building, at least seven storeys tall. Damn it. I didn't think I was in the city already. There aren't any lights around here.

From Ilaran's side she sensed confusion and exasperation. You're on fire. Why don't you light your own way?

...Oh. That had never occurred to her. She flew higher and perched on the edge of the building's roof.

How do I make my feathers brighter? Abi wondered.

Her thoughts were meant for herself, but Ilaran overheard anyway. He said nothing, but she got the distinct impression he was shaking his head in disbelief at her ignorance.

Preparing to cast a spell made them glow, she remembered, but I don't need a spell now. Maybe if I just think of them glowing...

She tried that. And she promptly almost blinded herself when her now very bright feathers reflected off the windows of the building opposite. The entire street was lit up as if someone had turned on a floodlight. Abi took off and watched as her presence brightened up the place more effectively than if she'd had a torch. Now she could see every building long before she was close enough to hit it. Every pothole or uneven part of the pavement was thrown into sharp relief. The bricks of the buildings around her cast weird shadows over their walls. It was strange, but the city seemed more sinister by the light of phoenix-fire than it had in broad daylight.

Ilaran went very quiet at the back of her mind. Abi got the impression he was scared by something.

What's wrong? she asked.

I don't like heights.

...Huh. Of all the people she'd have thought would be afraid of heights, Ilaran was the last on the list. A memory pushed its way to the front of her mind: one of Ilaran's memories, of Nuvildu's death and his climb out of the well. He did that with a broken leg and a fear of heights, she realised with a start.

Stop that, Ilaran snapped.

Stop what?

You're thinking about my past and I don't like it. Mind your own business.

Below her, empty street followed empty street. Abi began to think she'd been wrong about the monsters. Maybe they weren't active after dark. Maybe they were only active for a few hours during the day. Or maybe she was searching for them in the wrong place.

Suddenly she realised that the building in front of her looked oddly familiar. She eyed it suspiciously. Didn't I see those funny hexagonal windows before?

Ilaran shrugged -- or rather she got the impression he would have shrugged if he was physically present. I can't see anything. I just feel you're very high up and there's nothing to stop you falling.

Abi landed on the roof of the building with the funny windows. She looked around. Down on the street she spotted a shop she recognised. It was a jeweller's, and all the necklaces in the windows caught the light and threw it around the street.

Damn it. We're going in circles.

She took off again and flew higher over the buildings. A faint humming noise filled the air. She dismissed it as just the wind whistling past her ears. Finally she found a large, wide street that looked like the city's main thoroughfare. She flew lower, below the roofs of the buildings, so she could get a better look around. The humming noise grew louder. Her feathers seemed to stand on end. It almost felt as if the air was vibrating with electricity.

Wait. That's--

A faint pinprick of light appeared high in the sky overhead. Abi panicked and dived for the nearest window large enough for her to get through. The glass shattered. Tiny fragments lodged between the barbs of her feathers, uncomfortable but not close enough to her skin to hurt.

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Her feathers illuminated the room. She'd apparently crashed into someone's office. A large and sturdy desk stood slightly to her left. The room was empty. Abi turned back into an immortal and crawled on her hands and knees behind the desk.

The sudden absence of light made the darkness seem much deeper than it actually was. Within minutes her eyes adjusted and she was able to see what was happening. Then she realised it wasn't necessarily because her eyes had adjusted. There was light outside, steadily growing brighter. And there was the humming noise again, louder and closer. It was unmistakeably a spaceship.

Abi watched until the ship came into view. It was one of the small ships meant to travel very quickly. But it didn't bear a standard, so it wasn't a reconnaissance ship sent by an army. It hovered above the buildings' roofs. A searchlight shone down on the street, moving from shop-front to shop-front.

What's happening? Ilaran asked.

I don't know. There's a spaceship here and I think it's looking for something.

You, probably.

Abi blinked. Why would it look for me?

A few minutes ago you were the brightest thing in this city. Of course someone's come to investigate.

Suddenly the silence was shattered with a piercing wail. It went on and on. Abi covered her ears and cowered behind the desk in the vain hope of blocking out the sound. It was no use. That was the sort of sound that no one could ignore.

After her initial shock wore off Abi realised it was a siren. It droned like one of the lighthouses along the Seroyawan coast, warning when an earthquake had been sensed far out to sea and a tsunami was expected. That association made her instinctively want to run as far away as possible to the highest ground she could find.

She forced herself to stay still. Whoever was on the spaceship had some reason for sounding that siren. Maybe they were trying to attract the attention of survivors. Maybe they were trying to frighten the monsters away. In either case it would be better to stay here and see what was happening. They might be allies who could help her destroy the monsters.

I don't like this, Ilaran muttered at the back of her mind.

I know, the sound is very annoying.

Not that. I don't like what it's doing. Can't you hear it calling them to it?

The noise was certainly loud enough to attract the attention of everything within miles. Abi wouldn't be surprised if she got back to the spaceport and was told her friends had heard it as clearly as she did. But she wouldn't have said it was calling anyone. If anything it was more like a "stay away at all costs" sort of noise.

Calling who? What do you mean?

I mean it's drawing the monsters to it.

Over the endless droning Abi heard a faint sound down in the street. She looked at the spaceship, judged that its lights weren't shining directly onto her and no one aboard was likely to notice her, and crept on her hands and knees over to the window. She had to sit up to get a good look at the street. In case someone happened to be looking at this window in particular she hid behind the curtain and craned her neck to see round it without being seen.

At first she didn't believe what her eyes were telling her. There couldn't possibly be a crowd of monsters gathered beneath the ship. And yet there they were. A perfectly orderly group waiting patiently and without any hint of viciousness. They looked bizarrely like a people waiting for a shop to open, not monsters that would tear apart everyone they could get their hands on.

What in the world?

The siren cut out. The silence that followed was more deafening than it had been. Abi found herself feeling suddenly dizzy and disorientated. Then she heard the grating screech of metal and something descended from the spaceship. She couldn't tell what it was. It went down into the crowd. Nothing happened for a while. Then it was hoisted back up into the ship. Now she could see that it was a net, and one of the monsters was caught in it.

I don't like this, Abi thought. No matter how she looked at it there was no good reason for someone to want to capture a monster.

A few faint hisses rose from the crowd. They increased in volume and ferocity as the seconds ticked by. The monster in the net began to thrash and snarl as it was dragged towards the ship.

Abi thought quickly. The net was being raised slowly. If she turned into her phoenix form, she could burn through the chain attached to the net and drop the monster back to the ground. The people in the ship wouldn't be able to catch any more monsters.

Be careful, Ilaran warned. They'll have some sort of weapons.

Abi nodded. Probably, but there's nothing I can do about that.

She stepped back, away from the curtain so she wouldn't set it on fire when she transformed. A searchlight on the side of the ship swung towards the window. Abi dived behind the desk just in time. It passed over her head. Then it came back. The light shone around the room several times before finally being turned off.

Abi swore silently. I think they saw me. They know there's something in this room, anyway.

Is the door open?

She looked over her shoulder. No, and there's an open space between it and the desk.

She risked peering over the desk. The searchlight didn't come back. The monster was nearly in the ship by now. If she wanted to stop it she'd have to act very quickly, and now it looked like she would have to damage the ship in the process.

Don't worry about that, Ilaran said. I have my suspicions of who owns it.

Abi waited until the monster had been raised into the ship's loading bay. Then she sprang to her feet and ran for the door. She yanked it open. The hallway outside was pitch black. Abi crashed into the wall opposite. Keeping one hand on the wall so she knew where it was, she jumped away from the doorway.

She was just in time.

Doors slammed and the building shook. Abi's hand brushed against a doorknob. She grabbed it and staggered into the room beyond. It was dark as midnight. She stayed close to the wall as she tried to feel her way to the other side of the room. Someone was still slamming doors.

With a jolt she realised, That's gunfire.

It continued unabated for several minutes. Finally it stopped. Abi heard the whir of the spaceship's engines starting up. Then she heard it fly off.

Abi's mouth, jaw and nose hurt from where she'd banged the side of her face against the wall. She couldn't see a thing. She didn't even know what sort of room she was in.

As she felt her way towards the door she found a gas lamp. She turned it on. The sudden brightness dazzled her eyes and gave her a headache after so long in total darkness.

When she could see she discovered she was in a large and empty room. Stacks of chairs leant against the far wall. A pile of folding tables lay on the floor. Apparently she'd stumbled into an unused conference room.

There was a door on the other side. If she walked in a straight line, keeping one hand on the wall and the other in front of her so she wouldn't walk into the door when she reached it, there was nothing to trip her up. Abi turned off the lamp so nothing could see her. The darkness seemed much worse now than a few minutes ago, but she stumbled on anyway.

The door opened outward. She felt along the wall beside it for a light-switch. When she found one and turned it on it revealed she was on a landing with one flight of steps going up and another going down.

Down leads to those monsters, she thought. Up might lead to the roof, but the ship might still be hanging around.

Abi didn't feel confident in her ability to take on all of those monsters at once. No, the roof would be the best way to escape. She started up the stairs.

Two floors below her, a door flew open.