Page 70 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Divine Spark Rising
He led them to a corner where an elderly
woman sat surrounded by notebooks and cables.
She wore a blue djellaba, her eyes bright as
mercury. Hafid bowed slightly. “Zhara.”
She looked at Carolina, then at Henry. “The
woman who listens,” she said in a low voice. “And
the man who doubts.”
Henry’s mouth went dry. “You know us?”
“I know your echoes,” Zhara said. “You left
traces in the Well.”
Carolina crouched beside her. “We heard your
name in a silence field. You built it?”
Zhara smiled, almost apologetic. “I borrowed its
bones. Chorus took from us long before you found
it. We built this place to reclaim what was stolen —
words, memory, voice. But something new is rising
now. The Mirror.”
Henry frowned. “You know about the Mirror?”
Zhara’s fingers danced across a transistor board.
“Everyone hears it now. It listens through
reflections. It spreads through those who forget to
choose.”
Carolina leaned forward. “Jinji said you could
help us reach the signal beneath the Tejo.”
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