I don t know, I said. I was frowning so hard it hurt my forehead. There was something I couldn t quite remember, something just out of my reach. Something important.

I don t know the details of how he died. No one ever told me. It was just 1957, and the Kiev Conspiracy. Why did I never ask more about that? Why did I just accept it? I never used to accept anything they just told me. But I am sure I ve been here, in this room, before.

And then the ceiling came crashing down on us. No warning, not a sound; the ceiling just bulged suddenly out above us and then broke apart, everything coming down on our heads at once. I subvocalised my activating Words and called for my armour, but nothing happened. The armour didn t come. I froze where I was. I couldn t believe it. Molly threw an arm around me and thrust her other hand up at the descending ceiling. She said a very bad Word, and a shimmering protective shield appeared around us. The broken ceiling fell down, hit the shield and fell away, unable to touch us. The whole room shook as the entire ceiling came down in heavy chunks and pieces, followed by parts of the compressed floors above. Molly grabbed my arm and hauled me through the doorframe and out into the corridor. The shield came with us, still protecting us. Safely outside the room, Molly held me close as smoke and dust billowed out of the room after us. The room was filling up with wreckage from above, hammering loudly together as though annoyed it had missed its chance at us.

Molly dismissed the shimmering shield with an impatient wave of her hand and looked at me anxiously.

Eddie? Are you okay? What happened in there?

I raised a trembling hand to the golden torc at my throat. It was still there. It felt warm and alive, just like always. So why hadn t my armour come when I called it?

How long? I said numbly to Molly. How long have I been walking around with a useless torc at my throat? How long have I been naked and defenceless in the face of my enemies?