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She closed the book and looked at the binding It was old, but well oiled The book, whatever language it had been written in, was exquisitely preserved There were es had been torn at the corner This was not a museum piece It had been treasured but used Finally, she opened it at the beginning

The first thing she saas an intricate page of illue Text only Then, there were pictures offaces and white robes Beautiful woes, not understanding the writing, but looking for the story the pictures told Children were born The figures showed both joy and sorrow Then thefaces left, the women’s arms held out to them in supplication There werewhat looked like te fires Writing on walls A room full of scrolls A library?

There were pictures of woly beautiful and detailed, the pictures of the woht with infinite delicacy and vivid color Wo hands on the sick Overseeing a building project Tending and drying flowers A wo in front of an asse The faces of the audience, each rendered in detail, exhibited awe

Ava paged through the book, questions flying through her e with the couple e Tears had come to her eyes Who were these people? And why had this been out for her to find?

From beyond the closed door, she heard voices For ait, Ava hardly noticed But then, she did She put the book down carefully and walked to the door

There it was again It was real Low e she’d heard from her youth Not whispers Notit Out loud

"I’m not crazy," she whispered with a smile "I’m really not"

Ava cracked the door open and peeked out Malachi’s bedroom was at the end of a dark hallway, and she could see stairs leading down The rooht, and that here the voices came from

"Don’t chicken out now, Ava" She patted her cheeks and left the rooan to rise, and she paused

They were arguing

She heard Malachi and anotherAnother, calmer voice occasionally chimed in, but mostly she heard Malachi

Beautiful Rise and fall The cadence of his voice in the unknown language drew her closer She reached the stairs and started down No one halted the argument as she walked When she reached the botto area with couches and tables There was even a flat-screen television surrounded by chairs in one corner, but the voices were co from a room off the main one, a roo was getting even more intense, but she told herself to be brave She had to knoas going on Where the hell was she? Who did they work for? She was assue or prisoner, because she could see the front door fro off There was only intense arguing co from unknown voices She took a deep breath and walked in

As soon as she stepped through the doorway, everything stopped The arguing Any and all movement It was as if they had frozen

She waited for someone to break the silence before she finally lifted a hand "Hey"

There were five nized Leo in the corner as he lifted a hand and s friendly There was another man next to him who looked like he could be his brother, but his aped in shock Ava’s eyes swept the frozen roo at a desk, a tall, lanky man with black hair and very pale skin watched her with cautious green eyes He didn’t slare, either And across the room, which appeared to be a library, Malachi stood with another er than Malachi, aliant His hair came down to his shoulders, but she could only see his back and bare arms, arms that were covered in the same intricate tattoos she’d seen in the book

"Oh! The… the men The ones in the manuscript? They have the saht with curiosity, only to realize that--for the first ti sleeves Always But he didn’t now, and the intricate tattoo work that she knew started at his collar crawled down his ar his forearles, like they’d been added and crowded into every available inch of skin She looked at Leo To the black-haired man

"Holy shit, you all have theiant threw up his arms and yelled, "I can’t believe you showed her one of the books, too!"

Malachi said, "Da to you? Does the safety of our race--"

"She’s part of it!"

"She can’t be! We’ve searched the records We knohere she was born We knoho her et the records and look at her!" Malachi strode over to Ava, who stepped back He slowed and held up his hands "Please, Ava I have to show them"