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And yet Gloria had prevailed It was Prudence Jaxon, of all people, who had brought Sanjay’s daughter to him where he sat with his head in his hands, hisand the terrible sounds froiven himself over to the idea that the child would die, and Gloria as well, leaving him alone; it ith complete inco for a moment that what Prudence had actually handed hi, a healthy girl And even then it had taken a moment for the idea to sink in, for Sanjay to connect these words with this strange new thing he held in his arhter, Sanjay And when he drew the swaddling aside and saw her face, so startling in its humanness, her tinyeyes, he knew that what he was feeling, for the first and only time in his life, was love

And then he’d almost lost her A bitter irony, for her to take up with Theo Jaxon, the son so like the father; Mausami had done her best to hide it froe But Sanjay could see as happening So it had co of rescue when, just as he was expecting to hear that she had decided to pair with Theo, Gloria had told hi, Galen Strauss! It wasn’t that Galen hohter-far from it He would have preferred someone sturdier, like Hollis Wilson or Ben Chou But Galen wasn’t Theo Jaxon, that was the i; he wasn’t any kind of Jaxon, and it was obvious to everyone that he loved Mausami If this love had, at its core, a quality of weakness, even of desperation, that was soain

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All of which was on hisupon the girl This Girl from Nowhere As if all the strands of Sanjay’s life, Mausauns and all the rest, were braided together in her impossible person, theOr so Sanjay had banished Sara to the outer roo the door outside Why he’d done this he couldn’t quite say, but soirl alone The wound was obviously serious; everything Sara had told hiirl would not survive Yet as she lay before hile or distress in her face or the gentle rise and fall of her breathing, Sanjay could not shake off the impression that she was more resilient than she looked Stuck by a Watcher’s cross: such an injury would have killed a grown e, which hat? Sixteen? Thirteen? Was she younger or older? Sara had done her best to clean the girl off and had gotten her a gown to wear, a cotton shift that opened in the front, the not-quite-sheer fabric dulled to a wintry gray by so ht sleeve; the left hung with disturbing eown had been left open to expose the thick woolen dressing that encased her chest and one slender shoulder, rising to the base of her pale white neck Her body wasn’t a woman’s body, her hps and chest were as cos, where they appeared below the frayed he a coltish sleekness and an adolescent’s knobby knees It was surprising, on knees such as those, not to see a scar or two, the evidence of sohhouse in the yard

And her skin, Sanjay thought, looking at her knees, then her ar upward to take in the whole of her once more Not white, not pale; neither word seehtness of its tone were not an absence of color but sohtness, Sanjay decided; that’s what her skin was, a lightness But, in fact, he could see some color where the sun had touched her, her hands and ar a saddle of faded freckles across her cheeks and nose It rounded in irl, had had freckles like those

The girl’s clothing and pack had gone into the fire, but not before the Household, wearing heavy gloves, had exaer, blood-soaked contents Sanjay didn’t knohat he’d expected, but it wasn’t what he’d found The pack itself was ordinary green canvas, maybe reed, seeenuinely useful-a pocketknife, a can opener, a ball of heavy twine-but nificance ily rounded smoothness; a hunk of sun-bleached bone; a necklace with an e the mysterious title Charles Dickens’ A Christht through it, skewering it like a target; the pages were swollen with the girl’s blood Old Chou recalled that Christht But no one really knew

Which left only the girl herself to tell her story This Girl fronificance of her appearance was obvious: someone out there was still alive Whoever and wherever these people were, they had cast off one of their own into the wilderness, a defenseless girl, who had somehow made her way here A fact that, as Sanjay considered it, should have been good news, a cause for outright celebration, and yet in the hours since her arrival had produced nothing more than anxious silence Not once had he heard anyone say: We are not alone That’s what this means The world is not a dead place after all

Because of Teacher, he thought And not just the fact that Teacher was dead; it was because of what Teacher told you, the day you ca back, to laugh this off, telling the story of their release I can’t believe what a fuss I made! they’d all say You should have seen how I cried! As if they were speaking not of their childhood selves, innocent creatures to be regarded with co entirely, viewed at a distance and faintly ridiculous And it was true: once you knew that the world was a place that swarer see the pain in Mausami’s face, the day she’d come out, had been one of the worst experiences of Sanjay’s life Soet over it-these were the ones who let it go-but most found a way to carry on You found a way to put hope aside, to bottle it and put it on a shelf soet on with the duties of your life As Sanjay himself had done, and Gloria and even Mausami; all of them

But now there was this girl Everything about her flew straight into the face of the facts For a person-a defenseless child-toas a snowfall in midsummer Sanjay had seen it in the eyes of the others, Old Chou and Walter Fisher and Soo and Ji; it ave you pain, and that’s what this girl was A painful sort of hope

He cleared his throat-how long had he been standing there, looking at her?-and spoke

"Wake up"

No response Yet he believed he detected, behind her eyelids, an involuntary flicker of awareness He spoke again, louder this tiht was broken by h the curtain, Ji behind

"Please, Sanjay Let her rest"

"This wos we need to know"

"She’s not a prisoner, she’s a patient"

He regarded the girl again "She doesn’t look like she’s dying"

"I don’t know if she is or not It’s a miracle she’s still alive, all the blood she lost Noill you please go? It’s a wonder I can keep this place clean with all of you trooping through here"

Sanjay could see hoorn down Sara was, her hair sweaty and askew, her eyes bleary with exhaustion It had been a long night for everyone, leading to an even longer day And yet her face radiated authority; in here she made the rules

"And you’ll let me know if she wakes up?"

"Yes I told you"

Sanjay turned to Jio"

But the , really

"Jiaze away "What did you say?"

"I said let’s go Let’s let Sara do her work"