Page 103 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Nicholas Boothman
looked through. Lights hung like patient moons,
and under each one sat a person in a transparent
chair, eyes open, lips moving, voice erased.
A woman mouthed bread and frowned when
the idea didn’t land.
A man whispered forgive and blinked because
nothing happened.
A boy tried mother and kept trying mo— mo— mo
—, the word falling through him as if he were a
sieve.
Wires trailed from their temples into a mirrored
pillar that rose from the floor. Inside the pillar,
symbols swam like fish you only see out of the
corner of your eye: definitions dissolving, grammar
dropping its bones, history forgetting its own
address.
Carolina’s hand found Henry’s without
thinking. “This is where they test the Mirror
Sequence,” she said. “Erase the word at its first
thought. Delete the dissonance before anyone can
use it.”
Sera tilted her head, pupils dilating until the
panes reflected twin black lakes. “They taught the
walls to drink meanings.”
At the far end, behind the pillar, stood an inner
gallery. Technicians with unremarkable faces
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