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I wonder what it would have been like to see a flash flood in the Carving froe of the canyon and felt the ruain to see the world laid to waste, the rocks and trees torn and tu to watch what looked like the end of the world

Perhaps I a that now

A chime sounds frory I knohat the food will be--eency rations We have only two meals each day now Someday they will run out of the rations, too And then I don’t knohat they’ll do

If we start to feel sick and tired, we’re supposed to send a e on the port Then they’ll coo still while you sleep? I wonder The thought ht It’s become difficult to find any rest

I pull the meal from the delivery slot There it is, cold and bland and blank, the Society’s stores served to us by the Rising

I have learned a few things fro out; therefore, it is valuable So I’ve used it to trade my way out of my confineuard at the entrance of our building He’s young and hungry, so he understands

"Be careful," he says, and he holds open the door for ht

I feel ainst the sides and coreen ss slippery, and I have to concentrate, keeping the beaht steady

When I reach the end of the hallway, I’hts flicker ontothrough the door

The Archivists are gone

A chill runs up my spine as I remember how this place reminded me of the crypt fro the Archivists lying down on the shelves, folding their hands on their chests, holding perfectly still as they wait for death to coht on the shelves

They are empty Of course No matter what, the Archivists will survive But they didn’t tell ht have gone Did they leave anything back in the Archives?

I’o look when I hear feet on the stairs and I spin around, swinging up ht to blind whoever has entered

"Cassia?" the voice asks It’s her The head Archivist She caht so she can see

"I was hoping to find you," she says "Central is no longer safe"

"What has happened?" I ask

"The ruue," she says, "have been proven to be true And we’ve confirmed that the mutation has spread here to Central"

"So you’ve all run away," I say

"We have all decided to stay alive," she says "I have so for you" She reaches into the pack she carries and pulls out a slip of paper "This came in at last"

The paper is real and old, printed with dark letters pressed deep into the page, not the slick surface blackness of printing from a port There are two stanzas; the ones I don’t have Even though tilance down, greedy, to read a bite, a bit of the poeht--

Before he makes the bend

We must have passed the middle sea,

Alreat it seems

So near the Whole to stand

I want to read the rest but I feel the head Archivist’s gaze on ht is co close to the end? It alo, having co feels finished

"Thank you," I say

"I’lad it came in time," she says "I’ve never left a trade unfinished"

I fold the poem back up and put it in my sleeve I keep e in what I’rateful for the poem, but you’ve still left a trade unfinished My hs a little, the sound echoing through the eh, too," she says "You’ll receive the h to pay for passage to Cao? Does she really have a way fora cruel joke on me? My heartbeat quickens

"There’s no fee for your journey," the head Archivist says "If you go to your Gallery and wait, so you out"

The Gallery I’ve never kept it hidden, but so "I don’t understand," I say

The Archivist pauses "What you’ve traded," she says, very carefully, "has been interesting to soain I was not interesting to her, but my data was

Whenpool, I saw the flicker of a lie in her eyes She wasn’t sure who had put hi so from me, too

I have so many questions

Who put Ky in the pool?

Who paid for e to Camas?

Who stole my poems?

This, I think I know Everyone has a currency The Archivist told ht not even knohat our price is until we are confronted with it, face to face The Archivist could resist everything else in that treasure trove of the Archives, butof sandstone and water and just out of reach, were irresistible to her

"I’ve already paid es froround

Will she adht The impassive stone of the Archivist’s face looks entirely different from the flicker I saw on the Official’s face when she lied to me But both times, I feel the truth The Official didn’t know The Archivist took ation to you is finished now," she says, turning to leave "You’re aware of the chance for passage to Camas It is yours to keep or refuse" She ht into the dark "Good-bye, Cassia," she says