Sarafina listened to the sobbing coming from the darkness at the bottom of the stairwell. There was a note of animal fear to it, like the sound of a dog caught in a fox trap, which made her feel like ants were crawling across her skin. She ran her fingers down her arm and shivered. 

Forester chewed his thumbnail and glanced back up the way they had come. 'There might be another way out.' 

Bennet shook her head. 'We can't go back.' 

Forester took an agitated step and ran a hand through his hair, but he didn't argue. 

Bennet unstrapped the spear from her back and adjusted her grip on the shaft. Sarafina followed her as she started to move down the stairs. They took each step slowly. Sarafina felt like she was slipping into a pool of ink as the darkness gathered around her. As they descended, the crying became clearer. Sarafina started to be able to make out the sound of mumbled words between the sobs. It sounded like someone was pleading. 

They paused on the landing at the top of the final flight of stairs. The blackness at the bottom was like velvet, and Sarafina's eyes adjusted slowly. Whoever was crying was just below them now. She felt like she was intruding on a private moment. She could hear a woman's voice in the darkness. It sounded like she was trying to calm someone. Her words came in short, hurried streams that were overtaken by the breathless sound of tears. It sounded to Sarafina like the woman was talking to someone else that she couldn't hear. 

'It's going to be all right,' said the woman. 'No. I know you're scared. Please, don't be afraid. Please, don't hurt me.' 

Sarafina leaned against the railings to peer down into the darkness. She could make out the outline of the stairs and the faint line of light that ran along the edge of the plywood sheet covering the doorway. For a moment, she wondered if there was even anyone there -- perhaps the noise was just a disembodied voice floating through the empty shell of an abandoned building -- then she saw her crouched in the corner. She was easy to miss. She had folded herself down into a tight ball facing the wall beside the door. Even in the darkness, Sarafina could see that she was terrifyingly thin. Her bony arms were wrapped around her knees, and her shoulder blades protruded out of her back like fins. Her thin, grey hair was a tangle of matted clumps that looked like it had been cut with a knife. 

She was begging now. Her whispers came in an unceasing stream that had taken on a note of panic, which hadn't been there before. 

'Please, please, please,' she said. 'It's okay. We're okay. We're going to be okay.' 

'She's scared,' Forester whispered. 

'How did she get here?' said Sarafina. 

'We could try talking to her.' 

Trevellian shook his head. 'I would suggest that's a terrible idea. Her grip on sanity sounds tenuous already.' 

'One way or another, we need to get past her,' said Bennet. 'As long as she stays there, I don't care if she's nuts.' 

'Should we try to sneak past then?' said Forester. There was a nervous energy in his voice. He sounded like the strands of calm holding him together were at breaking point. 

'I suspect sneaking is going to be rather difficult,' said Trevellian. 

He inclined his head, and Sarafina turned to follow his gaze. 

The corner where the woman had been crouching was empty. 

Sarafina felt a cold sickness swirl up from her stomach. The woman was standing at the foot of the stairs watching them. Her eyes shone in the darkness like polished metal. Sarafina felt herself stop breathing. 

'I hear the whispers,' said the woman. 'I hear them.' 

It sounded like she was trying to assure someone. 

'Forester,' said Bennet. 'Get a good hold on Trevellian's chair, and get ready to run.' 

Forester wiped a hand on his pants and adjusted his grip on the handles of Trevellian's wheelchair. 

'I'm not sure about this,' said Sarafina. 'I think we're making it worse.' 

'We don't have time to second guess,' said Bennet. 

'Calm down, they're just whispers,' said the woman. 'Please, Bastian. It hurts.' 

The woman started to make soothing noises, like she was trying to calm a baby, but they failed to mask her rising panic. She started to sway from side to side, and let out a low, deep moan. 

Bennet looked at the woman, then looked at Sarafina. 'Run!' 

Everything seemed to happen in the same instant. Bennet's shout was like the crack of a starter pistol. The woman screamed as spines burst out through her flesh, splattering the walls with blood. They pierced through the skin of her face and arms and torso until she looked like a nightmare porcupine. Her screams rose to a fever pitch as blood streamed down her face. 

Sarafina ran without thinking. She followed Bennet as she sprinted for the door. She could hear the sound of Trevellian's wheelchair bouncing down the stairs behind her. 

The pitch of the woman's screams continued to rise until they sounded like a diamond on glass. Sarafina felt the sound invading her mind and wiping her thoughts. She stumbled on the stairs and felt herself pitch forward. She began to feel dizzy. It felt like a power-drill was being jammed against her eardrums. 

Someone pushed her from behind, and she ran into Bennet's back. The two of them hit the sheet of plywood covering the door together and fell through it in a tangled mess. Sarafina felt her chin smack the concrete of the carpark outside and tasted blood. She turned to look for Forester and Trevellian, and saw them reach the bottom of the stairs. 

The woman turned and snarled. Her fear was gone now. There was something primal in her eyes. She reached for Trevellian, but Forester shoved him through the door, and away from her grasping fingers. His wheelchair spun through the doorway and rolled, spilling him onto the ground outside. 

Forester was left alone in the stairwell, with the woman blocking his escape. He tried to push her out of his way, but she was already lunging for him. She jumped at him with animal ferocity, and slammed into him, forcing him against the wall. Forester screamed in pain as the long barbs on her body pierced his flesh and tore at his skin. He raised his arms to protect his face from her spines as she came at him with frenzied slashes aimed at his eyes. Sarafina saw a lattice of deep gashes open up on his forearms, as the wicked barbs tore away chunks of flesh and skin. 

Sarafina pushed herself unsteadily to her feet. The screaming had stopped, but she still felt disoriented and hazy. She took a step forward to help Forester, but Bennet was ahead of her. Sarafina saw her run past into the stairwell and hook the shaft of her spear under the woman's chin. She pulled the woman against her body, and used the spear to drag her, screaming and snarling, away from Forester. The woman squirmed and struggled in Bennet's grip like a furious rodent, and the spines on her back tore into her body, but Bennet hung on with fierce determination. She dragged the woman outside, then dropped her on the ground and kicked her away. She hit the ground on all fours and spat angrily. 

'You!' she screamed. 'You're the ones making him scared! You make him hurt me!' 

For a moment, Sarafina was afraid the woman would start screaming again, but instead she gripped her face, nestling her fingers in among the spikes. She started to make a high pitched keening noise that slowly transformed to the plaintive noise of a child in pain. 

'It hurts so much,' she said. 'Why are you doing this to me?' 

Bennet still held her spear pointed at the woman, but the primal rage that had been driving the woman was gone. The spines covering her body started to recede, slowly disappearing until her skin was left covered in weeping wounds.  

Forester walked out of the stairwell unsteadily, with one arm folded across his stomach. Blood dripped from the wounds in his arms, and there was a deep cut under one of his eyes. He watched the woman on the ground warily and leaned against the wall next to the door. 

Sarafina pulled a bottle of antiseptic and a roll of bandages from a pouch on her belt and walked towards him. 

'What is she?' said Bennet. She was still breathing heavily. 

'I've never seen a craft like that,' said Sarafina. 'It's not just the spines; there was something about her screaming too. It was like it shut down my brain.' 

She poured some antiseptic onto Forester's arm started to wrap it in a bandage. Forester winced as the stinging liquid seeped into his wounds. 

'That's not physically possible,' he said. 

'You felt it too.' 

Forester shook his head. 'That would mean she had two crafts.' 

'She does,' said Trevellian. 'I've seen those crafts before. I've even fought against their owners. The last time I saw them though, they had separate bodies.' 

Sarafina looked at Trevellian then looked back at the bleeding, weeping woman. 'Are you saying there are two people in her body?' 

'Not two whole people. I think the remnants of another person are buried inside her.' 

'What could do something like that?' 

'You couldn't do it with technology. I think this is the result of a craft.' 

Sarafina was about to say more, when a voice spoke from the darkness. It was a cold, deadly voice that made Sarafina feel like a blade was being run down her spine. 

'Well done, Trevellian. You always were a smart one.'