Page 118 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Divine Spark Rising
At dusk, Tangier trembled with a feeling like
rain that won’t. The Silence Map had lit the city’s
nerves; the people in those streets moved strangely
on purpose, breaking their own patterns like
dancers smudging chalk. The Mirror’s needle
passed over them and could not decide.
On a billboard that had sold toothpaste since the
year Henry was born, Sofia’s face returned—not
huge now, not mother, just human-sized. She
looked at the camera the way she had looked across
seminar tables in Coimbra, the way she had looked
down into the Well: with a gentleness that bruised
you later.
“Henry,” she said softly. “Carolina. Sera. Come
home.”
The screen showed the river they loved. The
Roman arches beneath it. The black seam of a
maintenance door no passerby would notice.
Coordinates in small type, as polite as an RSVP.
“I’m tired,” Sofia said. “Aren’t you?”
The screen went black. The street remembered
commerce.
Zhara breathed out. “She invited you.”
“Lure,” Hafid said.
“Of course,” Zhara said. “But good doors are
always traps.”
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