I'm summoning Sydney, and by my reckoning he'll appear Thursday, spade in hand, bearing lilies.

My brother Sydney, Doctor Ferris, and my darling Annabelle mourned me....but I'm not gone.

It faltered; the gash I'd opened enveloped me as we both smothered in muddy ichor.

I acted without thought, and It was not at full power; my death matters not.

As it slithered, triggering Ferris's mesmeric command, I gripped the spear hidden within my coat.

Hours later, the space was enough for it to climb past me into the dusk.

Smoothing away soil, I caressed it; the eye followed me, studied me, compelled me faster.

Burrowing tenderly with my hands, I could but adore this beast that had summoned me.

The sudden daylight and air seemed to revive the being; the mental ringing increased shrilly.

"So that's what that does," I said as the stars went out, "I'd always wondered."