Page 117 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal
P. 117
Nicholas Boothman
Sera’s hum slid upward and then stopped. “She
knows us now,” she said. “She’s learning my
pulse.”
6. The Boy and the Word
On the way down from the roof, in a stairwell
where potted plants muscled their dark leaves into
bad light, a six-year-old boy sat with a cracked
tablet. The screen blinked white. He frowned, lifted
his face to the adults, and asked in Arabic, “What is
the word for when you choose the hard good
thing?”
Zhara bent. “Choice,” she said.
The boy tried it. “Shoice.”
Sera smiled and touched his forehead. “Close
enough.”
The word did not vanish. For reasons no model
could now predict, it stuck.
Henry looked at Carolina. “That’s it.”
“What?”
“The thirteenth arc,” he said. “Doing. Teaching.
Passing hand to hand.”
Carolina shouldered her bag. “Then let’s hand it
to the place that took it first.”
7. Invitation
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