"If he doesn't wake up soon then he's going to have so much Demonologie homework to catch up on. It's been, like, three days. That's three lessons!"

"Emmy!" Lee's voice came through the fog, sounding aghast. "He'll have more on his mind than a couple of Demonologie lessons! Give him some time! Heavenly fire is nasty stuff, even though he's got his runes."

"I know, I know, Lee. I do study Demonologie." There was the scrape of a chair. "I'm gonna go do some homework. Want me to bring you anything back from the dorms?"

"No, I'm okay."

"Not even some Nurofen? It might help, y'know. Humdrums are good at medicines."

There was a short pause. "Yeah, all right," Lee said in a small voice.

                                                                        *                *                *

The dreams had Edgar in such a firm grip that he couldn't break free, even though he knew his parabatai was suffering along with him. They came one after another, keeping him in their grasp as tightly as a straightjacket.

He saw Lee, with ears like one of the murdered fairy boys, lying on a bed of flowers and surrounded by tendrils of ivy. Emmy and Joy, holding their stylographs like wands, surrounded by glimmering flames of conjured heavenly fire, as though they were trying to banish animated corpses – sepultae, the result of dark enchanters and thaumaturgists. Pale fairy corpses flickered just beyond their ring of fire. He saw Noah, lying on a blanket of snow; blood had soaked into the delicate flakes, so it looked as though he was lying on the crimson silk that sometimes lined coffins. His eyes were closed tightly, and all colour was gone from his cheeks; he was paler than the tainted snow.

And there were the ravens. Their inky feathers fell around him like black snow, tickling his skin, getting caught in his hair. The beat of their wings filled his ears, their caws echoed in his head. Their bodies crowded around him, surrounding him, smothering him...

                                                                          *                 *                 *

Edgar's eyelids were firmly stuck together with sleep. It took more effort than it should have done to unpeel them, so he could look around, but they were so dry that he had to blink several times. It was too bright after the darkness of his dreams.

His eyes adjusted to the sunlight after a moment, and he blinked the blurriness away. The infirmary came into focus – a beautiful room, with an arching ceiling covered in frescoes. Angels smiled down at him from their seats amongst the cotton wool clouds, strumming golden harps and twanging carved bows, their wings made of snowy white feathers. Their robes billowed around them in an imaginary wind.

He tried to push himself up, but there was a sudden ache in his joints – they were too stiff for comfortable movement after being kept still for so long. A hand touched his shoulder, pushing him back on the soft, fluffed-up pillows that felt like he imagined the painted clouds would. He blinked, and then Lee was leaning over him, his light hair looking paler in the sunlight, and worry pinching at his face. "Edgar?" His face broke into a smile. "It's been ages. You've missed so much!" His voice sounded croaky, perhaps from disuse, and Edgar heard footsteps as more people crowded around his brass-ended bed. "Are you feeling all right?"

Edgar blinked up at him, and he returned his smile tentatively. A low burn was starting up in his left leg, but it was nothing compared to the intense inferno of his fuzzy memories. "Yeah, I'm okay." His voice was even croakier than Lee's, and barely had any volume.

He glanced around – Noah was sitting on the bed next to him, atop the linen sheets, looking as healthy as ever, and with his beanie covering his messy hair. Emmy was perched beside him, her ponytail tickling his bare arm, and she was watching Edgar in an apprehensive sort of way behind her glasses. Joy had her head in A Feast for Crows, but was obligingly sitting in a chair at the end of the bed next to Edgar's, so she was next to Emmy. She had none of her parabatai's interest.

Edgar's eyes rested on Noah. He was wearing a short-sleeved black t-shirt, with a blue-eyed white tiger staring out from his chest. A glance at his arm told Edgar that his wound must have been deep, as there was a scar there, something which healing runes usually didn't leave behind. "What happened t'you?" He looked back at Lee, whose expression had relaxed a little. "What's with Marcus?"

Lee cleared his throat, and he shared a quick glance with Noah before beginning to speak. He was wearing a lower cut top than usual, so Edgar could see the parabatai rune that he himself had drawn on his collarbone – it looked red raw. "Marcus has been arrested," he began, and he glanced back at Noah. "It looks like they're gonna strip his runes. They had Noah testify already."

"Yup." Edgar glanced over at Noah with a raised eyebrow, and his friend held out his hands – they were covered in healing burns. "Verity's blade and everything." He shot Edgar a small smile, though it faded quickly. "The Sunder was furious. Well, they are furious. They can't quite believe that a bunch of teenagers were the ones who ended up with such a serious case. They're gonna start reviewing policy."

"Finally," said Emmy in a small voice. "We shouldn't have got it. It's lucky that Marcus thought we were thick and got arrogant, otherwise we might never have found you in time." She slipped an arm around Noah, and she gave his shoulders a quick squeeze before turning to Edgar. "We've got a bunch of Demonologie homework, by the way. Lesley's taken Marcus' job, and she's got us keeping our noses to the grindstone to try and catch up." She offered him a small smile. "So I got the notes for you."

Edgar rolled his eyes, and he glanced over at Lee once more. He slipped an arm behind his head, feeling the knots in his chestnut hair, and he managed a little smirk. "Sorry for the heavenly fire thing. Can't have been nice for you."

His parabatai opened his mouth, but then he sighed. "It's fine," he said as Joy turned a page of her book. "I'm just glad you didn't get burnt to a crisp or something." Edgar saw Noah nodding enthusiastically out of the corner of his eye, and he rolled his eyes again. He leant into the soft pillows before glancing up at the painted sky above him, periwinkle blue, free of ravens, and free of demons, too.