Perhaps that would be the case for all the important governing families at this level. I couldn’t imagine they would have time to run around after kids. But then again…
“Too busy, even with help?” I couldn’t help but ask, hoping the bite didn’t show through in my voice as I remembered how even those who did adopt seemed to have nannies at their beck and call. I hadn’t yet seen a nanny at my sister’s caregiver’s place, but I was aware that Martha had at least one, since she had mentioned it in conversation.
“Nah. It’s just… It’s not really our thing.” She sighed, then gave me a considering look. “I’ll be honest, as much as we spend millions on our children and respect them, I think for some families it’s a bit of a status symbol to have so many children.”
I stared at her, surprised to hear her admitting this. I mean, I kind of already understood this, the way some took in ridiculous amounts of children. Hearing it from Anna’s own lips took me aback, however.
“And what do you think about that?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Is it really so bad that we take pride in having children? And it’s not that they’retreatedlike collectibles, of course. They’re treated far better than that!”
“Right,” I murmured, thinking back to Bea and wondering how she was doing right now.
“And we’re here!” Anna announced. We’d reached what appeared to be the very top floor, since the staircase ended. We emerged on a platform with a single mahogany door. I stood back, holding my breath, while she knocked.
There was the sound of soft footsteps planting against carpet, and then the door swung open.
TWENTY-FIVE
A tall,wiry man stood in the shadows of the doorway. Strands of silver hair hugged the shape of his narrow skull and flowed back into a lean ponytail. A richly embroidered, mahogany tunic hung from his shoulders. He stepped backward to allow us entrance, and I saw a pair of slate-gray eyes, closely watching me.
“And who is this you've brought, Anna?” His voice sounded uncannily like Anna's—like both of his children’s—deep and baritone, as if it emanated deep from the belly. But otherwise, it was hard to even guess they were related. Between him and his wife, it was clear whose genes ran the strongest in them.
“Meet Tanisha, Dad,” Anna said happily, bounding into the room ahead of me. “We’re here for the registration papers.”
“Aha, yes. Of course.” A smile gently curved his narrow lips, but his sharp gaze remained on me. His cool eyes held a sense of depth I had rarely seen in a person; they exuded deep intelligence and were at once curious, searching, thoughtful. And I had the uncomfortable feeling he was examining me… or trying toseesomething in me.
He politely gestured toward the interior of the room. I slowly followed Anna.
I emerged in a vast, cylindrical chamber. Crowding its edges were towering bookcases, filled with tomes of hardbound books and piles of rolled up papers. Weak shafts of daylight trickled through high, narrow windows, and a dusty chandelier hung in the center of the room, casting a dim glow around the spaces the sunlight didn’t reach. Several globes of the world sat perched on various side tables.
While the rest of the Springs’ home had been fused with modern touches, this room felt different. It felt almost ancient—and intentionally so, as if it had been frozen in time. The only items that reminded me of the present were the phone and tablet that lay on the wide table at the center of the room. I wondered why that was.
And it was quiet. So quiet. Yet it felt like it held a thousand secrets.
So, this is where the head of outreach does his work. It took a moment for the thought to sink in. This office was, it appeared, ultimately responsible for saving us. Thismanwas. The weight of thousands of lives rested on his slight shoulders. I gazed at him again as he made his way across the room.
What decisions had he made behind this door? How many lives had been saved, and how many more would be saved? Who had he left behind?
What does he plan to do with all of us?That question was suddenly almost too much to bear.
This man had the answers I was looking for—had the answers weallwere looking for. He could answer the doubts Miranda had raised that day I’d overheard her and her friends in the caverns. Doubts about what, exactly, the point of their elaborate outreach effort was, and why Fairlanders were so motivated to do it, when there was no clear reward forthemselves. Doubts that had haunted me since my first conversation with Anna on the journey to this place.
Heknewwhat really went on here, and he also had to know what lay before Jessie and me on Old World Isle, or at least have clearer knowledge than Anna. But would he tell me? Would he give me even a single answer to my many questions?
Somehow, as I watched him gracefully slide into the high-backed chair behind his desk, I knew he wouldn’t. His face was a mask of calmness, of complete control, as if he were entirely comfortable with everything that existed in this world, exactly how it existed. I somehow knew, just from looking at him, that he wouldn’t tell me anything unless he already intended to.
“Why don’t you take a seat?” Anna asked me. She already sat in one of the cushioned chairs opposite her father.
I swallowed back the lump that had formed in my throat and moved to the empty chair next to her. But as I sat down, something else drew my attention. I noticed more closely the section of wall behind Anna’s father. It was the only part that wasn’t lined with bookcases. Instead, a large, black curtain covered it. Yet, there appeared to be no window behind it; not even the slightest trickle of light escaped through and the only windows in the room appeared, by design, to be right at the top near the ceiling. I stared a little at the oddity.
“Feel free to call me Arthur, Tanisha,” Anna’s father spoke up.
My attention moved to him. “Um, thank you,” I said, somewhat confused. I hadn't expected to be on first name terms with him.
“And I forgot to mention that you should call her Tani,” Anna added with a smirk.
“Tani,” Arthur repeated thoughtfully. There was another moment of silence in which he continued to observe me, andthen he opened a drawer in his desk. He pulled out a sheet of paper and pushed it toward Anna.
