And there’s something weird, just enough to put a frown between her eyes.She can taste blood in the air.It’s a feeling like there’s been a fight.Like there’s always just been a fight.And blood and iron bloom at the back of her skull because someone’s hit her as hard as she’s ever been hit and her last thought is A leopard, as a pet as she goes down into night.She’s strong, she’s always been strong, she’s always been a fighter and she’s wrestling with the sleep like a heavy, sodden blanket.Something bad is happening to her.Something worse than she can imagine.She’s strapped down.She goes for it, and her accustomed tool is not in its place.A voice very far away says, It’s working.But it’s not working, that’s the whole point, it is definitely not working.She tries to send a little echo along her collarbone.Her power’s there, it’s weak, struggling, but it’s there.She’s never felt so grateful to her own body.She recognizes it, but where, where, whose is that voice?Has she kept a leopard as a pet, what is going on?She’s trying to break through.Watch her, she’s strong.Someone laughs.She’s stronger than any of the others you’ve ever taken it from.Mind out of the way.Someone comes near her again.They’re going to hurt her and she can’t let them do that.You and me, mate, we’re on the same side.You need to give me just a little bit more.The last little bit, I know you’ve got it.This is our life we’re talking about.A hand touches her right hand.She can feel it now, coursing more evenly through her, not like she’d been drained, like there’d been a block somewhere and now it’s clearing like debris in a stream.Oh she is going to make them pay for this.