Didi falls asleep, too wrung out for much else though her rest isn't calm and quiet but threaded through with anxious dreams that twitch her into semi-wakefulness far too often. By the time she settles into deeper slumber, her unresponsive crow friend tucked under her chin, Didi can barely stand to think of what her life has become.

She partially wakes in the darkness to the touch of someone's hand, but the sharp pinch of a needle delivers enough of whatever it contains to ...