Page 19 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Nicholas Boothman
She was calm in the way storms are calm just
before they touch ground. Mist clung to her hair.
Her eyes were fixed on the pattern at her feet.
“You don’t understand,” she said. “It isn’t a
word you speak. It’s a word that speaks you.”
“Sofia, step back,” Henry called. “You’re too
close.”
“It isn’t close or far,” she said softly. “It’s
everywhere. It’s waiting for us to stop pretending
we can own it.”
Carolina tried to reach her but the light
thickened, humming low and deep. The spiral
began to turn, not fast, only enough to suggest
motion that did not belong to gravity.
“Sofia,” Henry shouted again. “The field is
unstable. You’ll trigger the collapse.”
She looked up. Their eyes met. “Then let it
trigger,” she said. “Let it choose.”
The floor shook. The light rose. Sofia lifted one
hand as if to touch what only she could see.
“Listen,” she whispered. “It’s answering.”
The world snapped open.
Henry fell backward, blinded. For an instant he
saw her suspended in the column of brightness,
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