Page 165 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Nicholas Boothman
Carolina reached into her coat and took out the
reader labeled J-0. She didn’t look at Henry. She
didn’t have to. She set the device on the rail and
pressed play on the five seconds of recorded choice.
Silence poured into the engine.
Not absence — presence refusing to be noise.
Lights along the cylinder misfired in a beautiful,
human way. The tower’s cadence stumbled. For
one vulnerable breath, the machine that could
predict everything encountered something it could
only join.
Sofia’s voice did not speak.
The engine exhaled.
And the labyrinth behind them learned the
shape of a door that would not close.
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