To say he was not himself would be a hideous understatement, about as hideous as he had become. I found myself staring in absolute disgust and sympathy at the messy remains of his face. I'd never seen anyone so disfigured, but not just in flesh. Fused to his still inflamed and weeping skin were patches of metal. But not the shining gold that enveloped Jack or crawled over my own skin. This metal looked dull, almost dead, as though the life within it had been corrupted and left to rot. Where it met his flesh, the edges seemed both skimmed with green boils and the flakiness of rust. One of Hugh's eyes was missing completely, a hollow shell with only a cup of that terrible metal within the socket while the other burned with a madness inspiring terror.
"Hugh!" Kate gasped, one shaking hand pr
