"Why?" I asked him quietly. "Why were you taking essence from the boy?" "H-he... He had so much. I didn't think it would hurt him and I..." He cringed back from me as he spoke the last words. "I...needed to grow some hair." I blinked my eyes slowly. Twice. "Did you say...hair?" "Rogaine didn't work!" he all but wailed. "And that transplant surgery wasn't viable for my hair and skin type!" He bowed his head and ran fingertips through his thick head of hair. "Look, see? Look how well it's come in. But if I don't maintain it..." "You...used black magic. To grow hair." "I..." He looked everywhere but at me. "I tried everything else first. I never meant"