Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #2)

by Steven Erikson

on. Whatever Mother says. I promise.’ ‘Panek. Listen carefully to your uncle. You weren’t punished for not doing what you were told. Listen – this is hard, I know, but try to understand. They hurt you because they could, because there was no-one there who was capable of stopping them. Your father would have tried – I’m sure he did. But, like you, he was helpless. We’re here now, with you – your mother and Uncle Cotillion – we’re here to make sure you’ll never be helpless again. Do you understand?’ Panek looked up at his mother. She clicked softly. ‘All right,’ the boy said. ‘We’ll teach each other, lad.’ Panek frowned. ‘What can I teach you?’ Cotillion grimaced. ‘Teach me what you see . . . here, in this realm. Your ghost world, the Shadow Hold that was, the old places that remain—’ ‘What you walk through unseeing.’