Banging sounded on the door. A second later, it pulled open, revealing darkness. I jumped to turn off the light, but Lidea said, “Watch out. The earthquake moved a table here.” A small cluster of people waited at the door. Lidea and Geral held babies against them, while Orrin carried bags.
I sagged in relief. “Actually, that was Sam.” I hurried over to drag the table out of their way, and when they were safe inside, we sat around the lamp to trade stories.
“Mat tried to kill you?” Orrin sounded incredulous.
“He was one of Deborl’s followers.” Maybe one of Meuric’s followers before Deborl. “I think he attacked me once before.”
Orrin glanced at Sam. “When did that happen?”
“Remember when Ana was missing a while ago?” Sam said, and everyone nodded. I hadn’t actually been missing. I’d been inside the temple, but thanks to the memory magic Janan worked on oldsouls, Sam hadn’t been able to remember where I’d gone. He’d told everyone I was sick, while he and his friends searched for me.
I wished I could tell my friends the truth about the temple, but they wouldn’t be able to remember it without months of my reminding them, like I’d done for Sam. It was easier not to burden them with knowledge they couldn’t hold on to.
“Well,” Sam went on, “she appeared in the market field one morning. Shortly before I found her, someone shoved her and stole a key from her, but she was so exhausted and afraid, she wasn’t able to identify him.”
I nodded. “But it was Mat. I recognized him tonight.” I didn’t add that he was probably bleeding to death in Sam’s washroom. “After he attacked, we contacted Stef and came here.”
“What happened to you?” Sam asked.
Lidea and Geral glanced at each other, and Lidea started, “Well, there was the earthquake.”
“Ariana wouldn’t go back to sleep,” Geral said, “so I was already awake when Stef sneaked into my house. Orrin was with me. We had to pack in the dark, in case anyone was watching the house.”
Orrin took up the story. “We went to Lidea’s house, and then Stef activated the labor drones and told us to ride to the library.”
“Clever.” That sounded like the kind of plan Stef would come up with.
“Are you worried they’ll attack newsouls now?” Lidea asked. “I thought the Council promised to protect newsouls. I thought your demonstration worked.”
I shook my head and repeated what Councilor Sine had told me once. “There’s a law about killing me. Murder is frowned upon, of course, but with me, they didn’t know whether I would be reincarnated, so they made it illegal to try to kill me. The law extends to the other newsouls, but Deborl, Merton, and their friends—they don’t care. They think any punishment is worth it. They just want us dead.”
“Why?” Lidea held Anid to her chest. “I just can’t understand why.”
I didn’t want to explain Janan and their misguided devotion to him. Not right now. So I shrugged and leaned against Sam’s shoulder. “The Council is working to protect newsouls, but this is the truth: they won’t succeed. They can make rules, assign guards, and lock up everyone they think will cause trouble, but there will always be someone they miss, some hole in their security they overlook. Newsouls aren’t safe in Heart. And neither is anyone else.”
“What are you saying?” Orrin leaned forward, darkness in his eyes.
“I’m saying I’m not the only one who needs to leave Heart. We all need to get out.”
After changing into the spare clothes Geral and Orrin had brought, Sam and I headed upstairs to where the maps were kept.
“I thought you knew where we’re going.” The dusty air of the library smothered his words. “Back to Menehem’s lab, right? For the sylph?”
“Yes, but then where? We can’t stay there.” We could, I supposed, but there had to be something better. “I don’t know. I think the sylph will have answers. I’m sure they’ll be there. They were before.”
Sam nodded.
“I need a better idea of the world surrounding Range. There’s so much of it. I need a plan.” I slumped into a chair when we entered the map area. “Sam, I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know how to stop Janan.”
He looked at me, all longing and sadness, and said nothing of my confession. “What maps do you want?”
I gazed around the space, filled with rolled sheets of paper and large books. There had to be a hundred maps. Maybe more. “I don’t know.”
“Perhaps let’s start with Range.” Sam drifted around the small, closed area until he found a rolled map. Together, we spread the thick paper across the table, smoothing the corners with our hands. I didn’t know how to read it, not as far as figuring out distances or elevations, but I recognized familiar locations.
Rangedge Lake was in the south, near where I grew up in Purple Rose Cottage. Midrange Lake was a huge body of water right by Heart. Small Xs marked geysers and fumaroles, while Os marked mud pools and hot springs.