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Like Cassia

Indie breathes in and then she moves

She moves to me

Her hands slide intolike Cassia

I pull back, breathless "Indie," I say

"I had to," she says "I’m not sorry"

CHAPTER 17

CASSIA

So place; I hear their feet on the stairs Since I’ in the ht up like the rest The figure stops, expecting us

Once I see who it is--a trader I’ve passed down here before--I drop ht But many of the others don’t She’s trapped there like a ht back up and so I do, blinking, though the girl standing in the doorway is the one caught in the glare

"Samara Rourke," the head Archivist says "You should not be here"

The girl laughs nervously She wears a bulky pack and she shifts it down a little

"Don’t move," the head Archivist says "We’ll escort you out"

"I’m allowed to trade here," Samara says "You’re the one who showed er welcome," the head Archivist says She’s so the beairl’s eyes This is the Archivists’ place They decide who stays in shadows and shades and who has to face the light

"Why?" Sa a little

"You knohy," the Archivist says "Do you want everyone else to knoell?"

The girl licks her lips "You should see what I found," she says "I pro to want to know" She reaches for the pack at her side

"Samara cheated," the Archivist says, her voice every bit as powerful as the Pilot’s It resonates around the roohts waver and when I close irl’s nervous, blinded expression "Soave an iteht it here We assessed its value, accepted it, and gave an item in return, with a separate, smaller item for the trader fee And then Samara kept both"

There are crooked traders in the world, plenty of them But they don’t usually dare to try to ith the Archivists

"You’re not out anything," Saot your payment" Her attempt at defiance makes me ache with pity What ht "If anyone should get to punish me, it’s the person I stole from"

"No," the head Archivist says "You undermine us when you steal"

Three of the Archivists drop their lights and move forward

My heart pounds and I step back a little farther into the shadows Though I come down here often, I’es--which are more than those afforded to most traders--could be revoked

I hear the click of scissors and the head Archivist steps back, holding Samara’s red bracelet up in the air Sahts still directed on her, I can see her sleeve pulled up and her bare wrist where the bracelet used to be

"People should know," the Archivist says to the rooe, "that they can trust when they trade with us What has happened here under Noill have to pay the price of the trade" The others have dropped their lights do and so her voice is thethe price for another is not soes and the incident is over, finished "You o back to your trades"

I don’tpassed through my hands that I needed for someone else? Because I think that’s what happened I don’t think Samara risked this for herself

I feel a hand on my elbow and I turn to see who it is

It’s the head Archivist herself "Co I need to show you"

She brings rip firm on my arm And noe’re in another vast room ribbed with metal shelves, but these are all filled They’re lined with everything anyone could ever want, every lost piece of a past, every frag the shelves while so the ceiling and glowing faintly I catch a glimpse of cases and boxes and containers of uneven sizes You would need a h a place like this

I knohere we are before she tells h I’ve never been here before The Archives It’s a little like seeing the Pilot for the first time; I’ve always known of the existence of this place, but to confront it face to faceor weep or run away; I’m not certain which

"The Archives are filled with treasures," the Archivist says, "and I know every one"

Her hair shines golden in this light, as if she is one of the treasures she guards Then she turns to look at me

"Not many people have been here," she says

Then why me? I wonder

"There are h my hands," the Archivist says "I always liked the one about a girl as tasked with turning straw into gold An ied it more than once That’s what this job is like"

The Archivist walks partway down an aisle and lifts a case from the shelf She opens it and inside I see rows and rows of paper-wrapped bars She takes one of them out and holds it up "If I could," she says,"I would stay in here all day This is where I began ed them" She closes her eyes and breathes in deeply, and I findthe same