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"I will see you soon then," she says Then she winks atcups from my tray to the floor
"O-okay," I stutter
When curfew coht away, and instead irls whisper to one another in the dark I lifton her bed across the room Her wink has left me confused
Ten more minutes pass I can tellAdelina She’s usually quick to fall asleep when she’s on duty, so the fact that she’s still up tellsfor everyone in the room to fall asleep Now I think her wink definitely meant she wanted to resume our conversation The room falls silent, and I wait before I lift my head Adelina hasn’t s of her bed off the ground and tip her slightly Suddenly she raises her left ar of surrender, and she points to the doorway
I toss the covers aside, stand, then tiptoe from the room When I reach the hall I slink a few paces into the shadows, holdingthis isn’t some sort of trap Adelina and Sister Dora have set up After thirty seconds, Adelina enters the hallway Her walk is labored and she sways fro her hand I haven’t held her hand in years, and it brings back the ether on the boat to Finland, when I was sick and she was strong We were once so close you couldn’t slide a piece of paper between us Now the mere touch of her hand feels alien
"I’m so tired," Adelina confesses as we cli and the belfry protected by the padlock "I don’t knohat’s wrong with me"
I do "Do you want me to carry you?"
"You can’t carry me"
"Not with ue I focus on her feet and legs, and a few seconds later I’ve lifted Adelina off the floor and begin to float her down the dusty corridors We pass the ancient statues cut into the rock wall and enter the narrower hallway in silence I worry that she’s fallen asleep, but then she says, "I can’t believe you’re using telekinesis to fly an old lady like ?"
"I had to hide it," I whisper "We’re almost there, I promise"
I unlock the padlock and it falls fro Adelina up the stone stairway that circles around the north tower leading to the belfry I can hear Legacy faintlyfrom the top
I open the door to the belfry and set Adelina gently down next to the Chest She props her left arainst it; I can see she has just about lost her battle with the pills, and I’acy cliht hand "How is there a cat in here?" she mumbles
"Don’t ask Listen, Adelina, you’re almost completely asleep, and I need you to open the Chest with me before you are, okay?"
"I don’t think I have"
"Have what?" I ask
"Have it in ht now, Marina" Her eyes are closed
"Yes, you do"
"Put your hand on the Chest’s lock Put ainst the side of the lock and it feels waracy’s tongue and onto the other side of the lock She interlocks her fingers with uys? So back here" The seven orbs that hover in front ofup, and I can no longer control theht that I have to cover my eyes
"Hey, hey! Dude, cut it out!" Sa to drive up here"
"I don’t knohat’s going on!"
"Pull over!" Six yells
Sam rips the vehicle onto the shoulder of the road and sla us The six planets and one sun dihtness, and the planets start to whip around the sun at such a rate that it’s hard to focus on any single one With each orbit the planets are absorbed into the sun until it’s the size of a basketball The new globe rotates as though on an axis, and then it produces a flash of light so bright that I’m momentarily blinded It slowly dims, and sections of its surface raise and recede until what’s left behind is a perfect replica of Earth itself, all seven continents, all seven seas
"Is that?" Sam asks "That looks like Earth"
The planet spins near my head, and on its third or fourth rotation I see a suys see that little light?" I ask "Look at Europe"
"Oh, yeah," Sam says He waits for another rotation and then squints "I would say that’s in what? Spain or Portugal? Can someone reach the laptop? Hurry"
With ht, I crash my hand around behind me until I find the laptop I hand it to Six, who hands it Sa in the backseat, types and looks up "Well, it’s definitely in Spain, and it looks to be close toWell, the closest city seehtly off We’re looking at the Picos de Europa Mountains for sure Anyone ever heard of them?"
"Definitely not," I say