"Not all of it," Ravel corrected. "Just Darquesse."

He ducked his head, finally looking away from the spell workers but not looking at Skulduggery either. The ground. His shoes. His hands. He wasn't really seeing any of it, anyway. He looked... uncertain. Almost shameful.

"I don't deserve to forget, but I can't... I can't." Ravel finally closed his eyes, shutting out the blur of images he couldn't focus on anyway. "I can't do this. I can barely function. I don't sleep. I forget to eat. Anton tells me what to eat and whether my socks match and makes me write my chores down because I can't remember them otherwise."

Erskine opened his eyes and pressed his lips together in a thin line, almost as if he was trying to keep anything more from spilling out. He needed to stop talking. Talking about this never helped. Talking about himself had nearly caused Anton to punch him in the Hotel, breaking his own rules. This was only going to make things worse... and yet. "I don't remember who I'm supposed to be. I don't remember how to be normal. I thought maybe forgetting about Darquesse would stop some of that, at least let me function like a person again.

"And yeah, I probably deserve it. I'm sure you're itching to say it. So here's me, trying to cheat my way out of it."