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"Promise you won't tell anyone what I'm about to say?" said Paulie.

Absolutely not, but Caster had no qualms about lying. "Of course. If that's what you want."

"I... I've been hearing voices, lately," said Paulie. "Well. Just the one voice, I suppose. But it's in my head. When no one else is around. And it keeps telling me things. Whispering. It tells me to look harder at my ability. At our ability. It says there's more to be found."

Hmm.

Alright, well, that was a new one, at least.

Oddly enough, though, Caster still wasn't all that surprised. While it was true he hadn't heard this particular excuse before, it also wasn't terribly uncommon for people to be hearing voices in their head.

This was Abolish.

Half of them were insane. And the other half were also insane, if for no other reason than because they were willing to work with the first half.

And Caster worked, primarily, with that first half. He'd encountered many, many people in his life who claimed to be hearing voices in their heads. He recalled one gentleman who'd had his mind blown when he discovered that those voice were, in fact, his very own thoughts.

Caster had never had a particularly strong sense humor, but that had made him laugh.

He could recall other examples, however, which were not nearly so amusing. Old tales, mostly. Of psychics. People who loved to toy with vulnerable young minds, twist them to their will, plant ideas in their heads, or simply break them for no other reason than to prove that they could.

He hadn't heard stories like that in ages, though. Over half a century, at least. It was rumored that one of them had bitten off more than they could chew by trying to manipulate the Mad Demon and that in response, Morguonv had rendered their kind extinct.