Laurence dozed off and on. He thought he opened his eyes once or twice, but it was all hazy and he didn’t have the strength to fight the need for sleep, so it sucked him right back in again.

By the time he woke the interior of the house was lit with candles, and the smells of cooking elicited grumbles from his stomach.

He sat slowly and pushed hair out of his eyes.

Emma and Morgan sat around a small stone stove, and Emma carefully withdrew a skillet from it while Morgan sliced thick chunks of cheese from a block of it.

“Ah,” Morgan said as she glanced his way. “He wakes. Good evening, Bambi.”

“Morgan.” He dipped his head respectfully, then smiled to Emma. “Emma. I’m sorry. I kinda just fell asleep on your floor there. Is there anything I can do?”

“Just rest,” she chuckled as she placed the skillet on the bare earth floor. The earth hissed and crackled faintly under it. “I’ve explained the situation to Morgan.”

Morgan arranged the cheese onto a large platter, alongside fresh tomatoes, beans, beetroot, carrots, and a small ceramic pot with the small handle of a honey dipper poking out from a hole in the lid. “I think it wise,” she said, “if you eat and drink. Recover some of your strength, and then we can decide what is best.”

Emma cut slices of what looked like some huge biscuit from the skillet and onto turned wooden plates, then passed the plates around until everyone had one before she poured water into cups. “Please, take my hands.”

Laurence put his plate aside and sat forward so that he could reach. Morgan took his other hand as she took Emma’s.

“Goddess and God, watch over us and bless us as we share a meal. Bless this bounty of the earth. We thank you. So mote it be.”

Laurence smiled and murmured, “So mote it be,” with Morgan.

“Now drink some water,” Morgan admonished as she withdrew her hands. “Then we can talk.”

Laurence took up his cup and eyed it.

The waters of Avalon were clear as a melting glacier, able to heal those who drank from them. It hadn’t occurred to him that they might soothe the mind as well as the body, but the idea of recovering only to go back to his body and Freddy’s torment made him hesitate.

“Drink,” Morgan barked.

He gulped down the entire cup quickly. Freddy was some distant threat, but Morgan was right here, and he didn’t ever want to piss her off.

It felt as though it passed from his throat and across his shoulders, then radiated outward, softly flowing up his neck and into his head, and down his chest all the way through to his toes. It washed away tension and fatigue, withdrawal and pain, and with every swallow he felt increasingly renewed. Fresh. Capable.

Morgan leaned in to catch his gaze, then smiled as she sat back. “Better. Now eat.”

Laurence crossed his legs so that he could rest the plate between his knees, then tore into the flat, nutty bread with gusto. He didn’t know how long since he last ate, but he couldn’t remember putting anything in his mouth since his last breakfast with Quentin.

“Now,” Morgan said as she drizzled honey on her bread. “Explain your situation to me.”

He did so. He began with Freddy’s imitation of Quentin in the shop, and continued right the way through to his unwitting exploration of potential futures at Freddy’s behest, stopping here and there to eat a piece of fruit or more of the delicious cheese.

“I can’t go back,” he finished. “Not like this. I don’t think I can survive all that again.”

“This heroin,” Morgan mused. “It is a potent drug?”

Emma nodded. “Really addictive,” she explained. “Most people who use it can’t quit. Thousands die of it every year. If you take too much, it kills you.”

“Not just that.” Laurence managed to slow down his eating at last, and he moved his plate to the floor. “I’ve known addicts kill themselves because they can’t bear to go through withdrawal again. People do all kinds of shit to be able to afford it, too.” His eyes glanced to the empty cup. “They can get taken advantage of really easy ‘cause they’re desperate and poor.”

Morgan’s head bowed briefly. “You yourself have almost died, yes?”

He blinked at her. “How do you know?”

“Your spirit is touched by Annwn.”

“Huh.” Laurence scratched his growing beard and considered her words.

He knew Annwn to be the lands of the dead, ruled over by Arawn. He had seen the very edges of it in the dream of his ancestor, Sara, and her meeting with Herne. She had wandered into Annwn by mistake and Arawn hunted her all the way back to the lands of the living.

“It was nearly four years ago,” he murmured. “I overdosed. Took too much. If I wasn’t a Child of Herne it would’ve killed me. Hell, if the paramedics hadn’t got there with the antidote I might still have died.”

The guy who’d given him the heroin was now the one giving it to him again. What the hell did it take to get away from Mikey, let alone Freddy?

Emma refilled his cup, and he thanked her before he sipped from it more slowly.

“Would they give this drug to you even if your mind is here?” Morgan asked.

Laurence shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe? Last time I was here with you Quentin took me to hospital ‘cause he thought I was in a coma.” He hesitated. “What if Freddy gets into my mind while I’m here? Maybe I should go back. We can’t let him get to any of the refugees on Avalon.”

“He would need to journey through the mists.” Morgan smirked at Laurence. “Does he have faith in the old gods?”

Laurence snorted at the idea. “I doubt it. He’s probably an atheist like Quen is. I can’t see him believing in anything other than himself.”

“Then he will not find his way here.” Morgan shrugged and bit into a tomato. “You have time to recuperate.”

Laurence piled a piece of cheese onto a chunk of the nutty bread. “Okay, but I can’t just, like, sit around here waiting to be rescued, right? There must be something I can do.”

“Rest.” Emma shook her head at him. “Give the waters time to heal you fully. Give your mind time to recover from its ordeal. Then we can think of how best to act.” She looked to Morgan, and added, “How is it that this man is able to invade Bambi’s mind?”

“It isn’t magic,” Morgan said as she finished off the tomato. “Bambi is protected from spells. It could be the gifts of another god’s children, or it could be the innate gifts of a human.”

“I don’t think Quen or Freddy are descended from gods.” Laurence shook his head. “We met a god who knew what I was the moment he saw me, but he didn’t recognize Quen at all. So I figure it’s just human psychic powers they have, and they’re just super strong.”

“There were many such people in my time,” Morgan agreed. “It was uncommon, but not unheard of. When the new religion came, they saw the gifted as devils or demons and slaughtered many. Those who survived either exiled themselves or went into hiding.”

Emma began to collect empty plates and cups. “It’s considered impossible now. Or it was when I came here a couple of years ago. The stuff of stories and comic books.”

Laurence tried to help Emma tidy up, but the truth was there was very little to do. “So basically they’re descended from these psychics who lived centuries ago and survived Christianity?”

“No easy feat,” Morgan agreed as she slowly eased herself to her feet. “Thank you for the meal, Emma, and for helping Bambi.”

“Always welcome,” Emma said as she hugged Morgan warmly.

“Good night, Bambi.” Morgan waited for him to stand before she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed gently. “We will find answers. Never lose hope.”

He sighed as he held her a moment. “I almost did,” he admitted. “Thanks for everything.”

“You are in need,” she said dryly as she ducked out of the house and closed the door behind herself.

Emma chuckled and piled the used tableware into a bowl. “Bed down,” she said. “I must wash these, or the wood will absorb bacteria.”

Laurence rubbed his beard, then took a breath. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” She paused at the door, the bowl in her arms, and looked back to him.

“Were you a scientist or something?” He smiled a little. “You seem to know a lot of stuff about psychology and bacteria and stuff.”

Emma laughed warmly. “No. I was a teacher. And maybe one day I will be again, if I feel ready to leave here, but the world moves so fast these days I might not fit back in, even though I haven’t been gone long.” She shrugged. “Don’t stay too long, Bambi, or you might find that the world has moved on without you.”

He nodded slowly and opened the door for her. “Gonna need to work on that escape plan, then.”

“In the morning.”

“Yeah.” He felt like a weight was lifted from him, and smiled. “In the morning.”