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Kenna turned. “Oh, please. How much do you remember from science class, Ms. Fancy Pants? Have you drawn any organic molecules lately?”
“That’s hardly the point.”
“That’s exactly the point. I’m amazed by what children outside the compound are taught, what they’re tested over, and what they forget a month later. I’m sure you’d be equally amazed at what captures a child’s attention when it’s a friend who’s pointing it out, at what these kids can produce if given the right tools and the right direction. The point of education is learning how to learn, learning what makes a good argument and a good research study. It’s about creating a drive against ignorance and untruths. We are very good at teaching that.”
Lila narrowed her eyes, unsure.
r /> “Ah, you’re so very highborn and so very like us at the same time.” Kenna approached the checkout counter. She pointed to a row of shelves behind the attendant. “Adults here don’t often have time to wander throughout the library, but our librarians know everyone and their interests. They slip books in with whatever we check out. Everyone still learns here, no matter their age. Everyone reads. Everyone studies. How long has it been since you read something new?”
“I read up.”
“On what? Programming languages? What else?”
“I don’t have time for much else. I’m too busy getting dragged into other people’s emergencies.”
“Tetchy, aren’t we?” Kenna tapped a little bell, so quiet its sound didn’t travel much beyond the circulation desk. A young man in jeans and a neon-green sweater turned from the bookshelf along the wall and scratched his sideburns, both of which nearly reached his chin.
“Dixon, what should we get Lila to read while she’s here?”
Dixon scribbled on his notepad. Gambling.
“Liam, could you pull a book on gambling and check it out under my account? Add one on the history of the oracles and one on the gods as well. Have them sent to cabin seventy-two, please. A computer will be en route. Just put them on the cart.”
“That’s all?” Liam scratched his forehead and fixed his gaze upon Lila. “I’ll find a few more to send along. Maybe you’ll like the look of them.”
He turned to Dixon. “That book you requested about Freyr came in this morning. Would you like anything else to go with it?”
Dixon shook his head.
“Freyr?” Lila had seen Dixon reading about the oracles and the gods before she left New Bristol, a consequence of his near death almost two months before. She’d had no idea he’d continued, though. It worried her. “No more books about the gods and the oracles today. Give him a book about the stars.”
“Stars it is,” the librarian replied.
Dixon cut her a look.
“You taught Tristan everything he knows about them, didn’t you?”
Dixon shrugged.
Kenna led them away from the circulation desk and toward the back of the library. “It’s too bad the spring term hasn’t yet begun. I could show you the kids’ workshops and studios. Unfortunately, everything’s locked right now, forcing them to take a much-needed rest. Or at least try.”
“Let me guess. If I saw their work, I’d be amazed.”
“So amazed.” Kenna’s proud expression fell as she glimpsed a corner nook. Two young women sat below a painting of a ship caught in a storm. One embraced her upset friend, a hand trailing along her back, both their books forgotten.
Not uttering a word, Kenna marched quickly through the library, tour forgotten. It was as though she followed Connell for the second time that afternoon.
Lila and Dixon trudged along behind her.
“Cecily,” Kenna said gently, crouching before the two young women. “Perhaps the library isn’t the best place for you right now.”
Cecily pulled away from her friend’s arm to reveal red-rimmed eyes and an even redder nose. She sniffled softly. “I’m sorry, Mom, I was okay until—”
“I know. Go back home with Camille so you can really get it out. There’s no shame in it.”
“But I need to work. I need to get ready for next semester. I don’t want to fall behind. I’ll be okay—”
Camille ignored her friend. She gathered up their books and tossed them into their backpacks. “You’re not going to fall behind. You’re a genius compared to those idiots at university, and school doesn’t even begin for another month. Let’s take it easy for another week. We’ll marathon the next season of The Estate and eat chocolate chip ice cream until we get sick. We haven’t even started the third season. That’s what we’re falling behind on, not our studies.”
