Page 183 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Nicholas Boothman
prediction and learned participation. Its lights
loosened. Somewhere below the river a door that
used to hate being open sighed.
Sofia’s voice slipped in, curious now.
“Where did you learn this?”
Sera’s answer was a simple shake of the head,
almost a joke. “It learned me,” she said. “When I
listened long enough.”
2. The Word That Refuses Sound
Carolina steadied her breath to Sera’s pattern
and felt something she had missed since childhood
— the quiet joy of knowing what to do without
rehearsing it. She slid the J-0 reader into her pocket
and, without looking, placed Serpa’s notebook 20
on the rail where Sera’s fingers had been. She
tapped the cover twice: not worship, not
superstition; acknowledgement.
Henry tugged the journals box closer and set the
cracked mug down as if admitting it to a circle. He
placed his palm over the rim and thought of
Aleph’s hand on the mirror. He did not speak a
word for him. He did holding.
Jinji’s voice returned, eager, reverent. You’re
writing to the engine in a language that can’t be
logged. You’re telling it: the future happens in
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