Page 140 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Divine Spark Rising
TOMORROW. Beneath it, someone else had
written, smaller: DO IT TODAY.
Henry’s light found a cracked mirror fixed to a
wall at the passage’s elbow. It showed a ghostly
version of the three of them but took a breath
before it did. He wanted to smash it and knew he
shouldn’t. He leaned in and said nothing. The
mirror twitched, disappointed, denied its favorite
meal.
“Don’t feed it,” Sera said.
“I won’t,” Henry answered, meaning more than
he meant to.
They reached the bottom. The chamber here
wasn’t a room. It was an idea with walls. At its
center stood a thin column of water rising from a
steel mouth — a river vein tapped — lifting six
inches, falling again, endless prayer. Around it,
thirteen copper plates like petals. On each, a single
object: a child’s shoe, a bus ticket, a ring, a coin
with a hole, a folded paper crane, a key, a cracked
mug — Henry flinched — a cork, a train stamp, a
guitar pick, a rosary missing its cross, a piece of
chalk, a door latch.
“What is this?” Carolina whispered.
The Thirteen Arcs, Jinji said, and her voice was
almost reverent. Collected proofs that doing
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