Page 133
Seren is quiet for a moment. “That’s something.”
“But not enough, is it? That motherfucker.”
My hand tightens around the armrest. They’re worried, and from the way they’re counting the minutes, they’ve waited outside that door before.
A young male nurse slips into the room, tablet in hand. “How are we feeling this afternoon?”
“Better.”
“Good. Any dizziness when you stand?”
“Only a little.”
“Okay. I’ll make a note of that.”
Onyx smiles at him, and the nurse returns it as he checks the monitor beside the bed.
Ryven comes through first, with Seren right behind him. The moment Ryven catches the nurse smiling at Onyx, his expression hardens.
“Monitor’s over there.” He nods towards the screen. “Patient’s over here.”
The nurse straightens, color creeping into his cheeks. “I’m just finishing up.”
“Wonderful. Then you can leave.”
The nurse taps the last note onto his tablet, gives Onyx one quick smile, and slips into the corridor so quickly the door is still swinging behind him.
Seren snorts. “You’re becoming painfully obvious.”
“Shut up.” Ryven doesn’t even look at him, bending beside Onyx with one hand already under his elbow. “All right. Archaeological halls. Let’s go.”
“I can stand up on my own.”
“I know you can.” Ryven steadies him anyway, his other hand settling between Onyx’s shoulder blades. “Coat.”
I stand and glance towards the open doorway where Asher disappeared. “What about Asher?”
Ryven pauses just long enough for me to notice. “He’ll come later.”
It’s only four words, yet I hear the same thing I heard through the door. He’s worried, and so am I.
Nine years old.
It’s fifteen minutes across the city, and Onyx talks for all of them.
By the time we pull up, the building rises behind a broad flight of stone steps, with columns running across the front and its name carved into the stone above the entrance. Seren goes ahead, says something to the man behind the desk, and the man nods before showing us the way.
Following another corridor, we step into a room with a planet in it, and it isn’t mine.
A survey map covers the far wall, the whole of it green. Rivers run east and west. Forests are marked with symbols I’ve only ever seen in books. A coastline curves around towns that still stand.
Seed stores sit behind glass, sealed and cataloged, older than Calder itself. Beyond them lies a whole hall of weather, and in the middle of the room sits a single river stone, worn smooth beneath the glass. A little card tells me which river it came from and the year someone picked it up.
Someone took a stone from a river because it was interesting and put it under glass.
Nobody ever came back for the rest of it.
“JaJa.” Onyx has both hands on the case. “JaJa, look at the water.”
