Arm of the Sphinx (The Books of Babel, #2)

by Josiah Bancroft

She looked like she was holding a bee in her mouth.

corporeal eruption,

It was one thing to rot in stoic silence; it was quite another to be serenaded to death by a bawling child.

I had hoped my recovery would follow some reliable upward trajectory. Instead, it has felt as if I am surveying the peaks and valleys of a strange hinterland. Down I go into troughs of absolute dread and discomfort, only to ascend some moments later into clarity and calm, which endure just long enough to sharpen the next decline.