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But even in my version of what should happen I can’t change who we are and the fact that there are others we love.
It didn’t take long for other people to appear in their minds. Bram watched them with sad, waiting eyes. Eli appeared. Their parents walked past, turning their heads for a glimpse of the children they loved.
And Xander was there, too.
Back inside the cave, Eli is awake and searching through the papers with Indie. “We can’t look forever,” he says. His voice sounds panicked. “The Society’s going to find us. ”
“Just a little longer,” Cassia says. “I’m certain there’s something here. ”
Indie puts down the book she held and lifts her pack to her shoulder. “I’m going down,” she says. “I’ll look in the houses again, see if there’s anything we missed. ” Her eyes meet mine on her way out of the cave and I know Cassia notices.
“Do you think they’ve caught Hunter?” Eli asks.
“No,” I say. “I think Hunter will finish things on his terms somehow. ”
Eli shivers. “That Cavern—it felt all wrong. ”
“I know,” I say. Eli rubs his eyes with the heels of his hand and reaches for another book. “You should rest more, Eli,” I tell him. “We’ll keep looking. ”
Eli stares up at the walls around us. “I wonder why they didn’t paint anything in here,” he says.
“Eli,” I say more firmly. “Rest. ”
He rolls himself back up in a blanket, this time in the corner of the library cave to be near us. Cassia is careful to keep the light of the flashlight away from him. She has twisted her hair back out of her way and her eyes look shadowed with exhaustion.
“You should rest too,” I say.
“Something is here,” she says. “I have to find it. ” She smiles at me. “I felt the same way when I was looking for you. Sometimes I think I’m strongest when I’m searching. ”
It’s true. She is. I love that about her.
It’s why I had to lie to her about Xander’s secret. If I hadn’t, she wouldn’t have stopped trying to find out what it was.
I stand up. “I’m going to help Indie,” I tell Cassia. It’s time to find out what Indie is hiding.
“All right,” Cassia says. She lifts her hand from the book and lets the page she was reading become lost and unmarked. “Be careful. ”
“I will,” I say. “I’ll be back soon. ”
Indie’s not hard to find. A flickering light in one of the houses below gives her away, as she knew it would. I make my way down the cliff path, which has grown slippery with the rain.
When I get to the house I look in the window first. The glass pane is wavy with age and water, but I can see Indie inside. The flashlight sits next to her and in her hands she holds something else that gives off light.
A miniport.
She hears me coming. I knock the port out of her hand but my fingers don’t close around it in time. The port hits the ground but doesn’t break. Indie sighs in relief. “Go ahead,” she says. “Look at it if you want. ”
She keeps her voice low. In it I hear the sound of wanting something very much. Underneath it I hear the sound of the river in the canyon. Indie reaches out and puts her hand on my arm. It is the first time I have ever seen her willingly touch someone, and it stops me from smashing the miniport against the floorboards.
I look at the screen and a familiar face looks back.
“Xander,” I say in surprise. “You have a picture of Xander. But how—” It only takes me a moment to realize what happened. “You stole Cassia’s microcard. ”
“That’s what she helped me hide on the air ship,” Indie says, without a trace of guilt. “She didn’t know. I hid it in with her tablets, and I kept it until I had a way to see what was on it. ” She reaches over and switches the port back off.
“Is this what you found in the library cave?” I ask her. “The miniport?”
She shakes her head. “I stole this before we came into the canyons. ”
“How?”
“I took it from the leader of the boys in the village the night before we ran. He should have been more careful. All Aberrations know how to steal. ”
Not all, Indie, I think. Only some of us.
“Do they know where we are?” I ask. “Does it transmit location?” Vick and I were never sure what the miniports could do.
She shrugs. “I don’t think so. The Society’s coming anyway, after what happened in the Cavern. But the miniport isn’t what I wanted to show you. I was only passing time until you came. ” I start to say something about how she shouldn’t have stolen from Cassia, but then Indie reaches into her pack and pulls out a folded square of a thick fabric. Canvas.
“This is what you need to see. ” She unfolds the material. It’s a map. “I think it’s the way to the Rising,” she says. “Look. ”
The words on the map are encoded, but the landscape is familiar: the edge of the Carving and the plain beyond. Instead of showing the mountains where the farmers went, it shows more of the stream where Vick died, which runs across the plain and down the map. The stream ends in a black inky darkness that has white coded words written across it. “I think that’s the ocean,” Indie says, touching the black space on the map. “And those words mark an island. ”
“Why didn’t you give it to Cassia?” I ask. “She’s a sorter. ”
“I wanted to give it to you,” Indie says. “Because of who you are. ”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
She shakes her head impatiently. “I know you can break the code. I know you can sort. ”
