Page 147 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Nicholas Boothman
Berlin. Tokyo. Toronto. Each had a rubber stamp:
UNSENT.
“What do you do with them?” Sera asked.
“Keep them,” Rita said simply. “Words weigh
less when a place remembers them for you.”
Carolina ran a finger along a ledger’s edge.
“We’re looking for missing journals,” she said.
“Serpa’s last notebooks.”
Rita’s eyes warmed with mischief and grief. “We
only keep what wants to be found.”
2. The Hall of Notebooks
Rita led them to a cupboard that had learned
secrecy and then recovered from it. Inside, eight
slender notebooks lay side by side like bones. The
paper had been thumbed until it looked polished.
Each was numbered in Serpa’s hand. 19 through 26.
The spine of 27 was missing. The space after 26 was
not empty; it was expectant.
Henry’s throat tightened. He lifted 19 the way
one lifts a small holy thing, guilty for touching and
unable not to. The first page held a date and four
lines:
If a word is true, it will refuse the wrong mouth.
If a word is false, it will multiply.
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