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We pored over the Map I was absorbed by it--especially the far-flung and lesser-known parts Naturally, Europe and its ot sketchier Vast swaths of Africa were sinita The sah the Map of Days had its own na Solitude

"Are there loops in these places?" asked Olive, pointing to a void that stretched across much of China "Are there peculiars there, like us?"

"Certainly there are," Millard said "Peculiarness is detere portions of the peculiar world have simply not been explored"

"Why not?"

"I suppose ere too busy surviving"

It occurred to s, exploring and falling in love not least a for blank spots There were doh Place Full of Stars Itheir roundness

At the ins lurked fearsome places the Map called Wastes The far north of Scandinavia was The Icy Waste TheWaste Much of the Arabian peninsula: The Pitiless Waste The southern tip of Patagonia: The Cheerless Waste Certain places weren’t represented at all New Zealand Hawaii Florida, which was just an ingrown nub at A at the Map of Days, even the places that soundedIt rerandfather studying historicbefore the days of airplanes and satellites, when high-resolution cameras couldn’t see into the world’s every nook and cranny When the shape of now-fauesswork When the depths and diether fros of expeditioners who’d lost half their party exploring them

While Millard raer a vast and trackless desert in Asia Where the Winged Creature Ends Not Its Flight Here was a whole world yet to be discovered, and I had only just cracked its surface The thought filled ret--but also a shaain, after all, and e to explore for exploring’s sake There was romance in the unknown, but once a place had been discovered and cataloged and mapped, it was diminished, just another dusty fact in a book, sapped of mystery So maybe it was better to leave a few spots on the ic, rather than forcing it to divulge every last secret

Maybe it was better, now and then, to wonder

And then I told theer I just blurted it out: "I’ back home"

There was a moment of shocked silence E in theot up from the table and threw her arms around me "Brother," she said "We’ll miss you"

"I’ll miss you, too," I said "More than I can say"

"But why?" said Olive, floating up to ?"

I put my hand on her head and pushed her back down to the floor "No, no, it’s got nothing to do with you," I said "You were great, Olive"

Emma stepped forward "Jacob cao back to his old life, while it’s still there waiting for hier Most of theenuinely happy for ive us a quick update--everything was going rine ell on her way to recovery She’d be ready by ods," said Horace