Vax couldn't help the slight twinge that went through him at the last, but he could at least cover it better than the next man. "An illusion is the sort of thing a rakshasa might go in for," he admitted, "but it's an awful lot of trouble with too many odd players for it to be him acting alone."

He gave a philosophical shrug. "Maybe we're being chosen to serve time in this place, or maybe it's some sort of trap. It's possible it's even accidental somehow. But we're shut up together with no clear way out, all the same."