Conceptually, most of what Darlington describes is understandable to Palamedes, even if it sounds as far-fetched and magical to him as it might to someone who didn't come from a universe quite so rich in the uncanny as he did. He's heard of people who claim that a sort of reverse psychometry could be used to divine the future, though they tend to be fringe thinkers; he knows people who dismiss much of what the Third House does as a manipulation of perception; weather magic sounds like terraforming by another name. But it is, of course, the mention of necromancy that catches his attention.

"Go back," he says, sipping his tea. "Tell me more about Book and Snake."