Nathan's breath caught at that. His eyes widened a little, and his hand fell back to his side.

It makes you forget.

But even that wasn't worth the end of the world. Wasn't worth destroying everything that had been fought for, fought so hard for...

"Mina," he said, his voice gentler still as he reached again for her hand. "Mina, I'm here. I'm right here. And I don't see any monsters."

Well. There were slugs. But those didn't sound like what she was talking about.