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"It’s a trap! An illusion Our eyes deceive us, and our fear makes us quail"

I press forward and they creep after In aends and we reach the far shore and enter a vaulted chaeways

"Why would anyone want to frighten and confuse people like this?" A Cook’s leg for comfort

Maraya turns to look back the e caulf we just traversed, a ood question, Ainally? When it was buried, as it not totally filled in with rubble? Think how strong the roof ht of a hill"

"What are those lights?" asks Mother, twisting out of Ro-eainst the sun "What haunts us?"

Out on the gulf of night, sparks of blazing light dance like a swarh hypnotic circles and spirals and all in a silence that wraps us like swaddling clothes Their uncanny gla away

As with an inhaled breath the lights collect into a pulsing mass They spill toward us in a flood Too stunned to move or speak, we stare helplessly Like fiery locusts the sparks pour through the arches in such numbers that their brilliance blinds us Sparks tu stars Their radiance dissolvesbecomes mist Unmoored, my heart comes unanchored and slides toward the ocean of eternity

My shadow frays and tears where it attaches to et my name My breath ceases

In the shadow-ridden flesh of es with a hiss of steahts vanish Silence crashes down over us like the fist of voiceless thunder, a force that jolts the whole world My knees buckle, and I pitch forward, barely catchingopen to uncover his face My little finger brushes the bow of his tiny lips Hisforce clamps down

I suck in a harsh breath, heart thudding

My dead brother is suckling on ertip offers no nation frets him When I look down, the baby’s eyes are open An expression no innocent baby could ever have mars the unblemished features: he is aware and he is afraid When I led This stranger stares at ure out who I am and if I mean to hurt him His eyes squish up, his chin trembles, and he wails