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but he hadn t considered the possibilitythat they might be using it without
his supervision. Sailing outfrom the
Thousand Dancers toward deep water would be dangerous, butit would keep them
away from
Calimekka and Goft. And from anytemptation any of his friends might have to
send word to theirfamilies. Families which might well be dead.
We were still going to go to Calimekka, he said.
I . . . we . . . all of us think youshould reconsider trying to take her and
her artifact to the citywhen we land. We think all of us should go with her
where she wantsto go. Brelst. Or even farther south. The omens seem to point
thatway.
Ry was startled. Weren t you counting on seeing yourfamilies? he wondered. But
he didn t say that, of course. Theodds were too good that his friends
families were dead. I had a reason for wanting to go to Calimekka,
headmitted. He never looked up. He didn t think he could meetTrev s eyes and
still say what he had to say.
Trev waited. And waited. Finally he said, You ve beenacting so distant
lately, I wondered if you didn t have somesecret you were keeping.
All sorts of secrets, Ry thought. I was going take theMirror to the Potter s
Field outside the
South Wall. Mybrother is buried there my brother Cadell. You never methim.
His ghost came to me the night we left Calimekka. He died whenI was a boy. Ry
fingered the medallion he wore, which hadbeen a final, posthumous gift from
his much older brother. Hewas my hero, and my friend, and he was Karnee like
me. The day hedied, he had been found in beast form out in the streets of
thecity. I still believe my cousins Crispin, Anwyn, and Andrewbetrayed him.
City guards captured him, and dragged him toPunishment Square, and tortured
him publicly. He never confessedhis family; never said anything. So the
parnissa passed immediatesentence and had him drawn and quartered right then.
Had headmitted anything about us, I don t doubt but that my motherand father
and my sisters and I would have been sacrificed, too.But no one claimed to
know him, and . . . he had noidentifying jewelry or insignia on him. . . . Ry
touched the medallion again, and felt the lump rise in histhroat. He left
this with my mother, as he did every time heShifted, telling her that if
anything happened to him, she was togive it to me.
He swallowed hard, and Trev rested a hand on his shoulder. You don t have to
tell me.
I don t. But if I don t tell someone, I thinkI ll go mad. Ry took a deep
breath, then continued. Anyway, his ghost came to me in my room the night all
of ussailed from Calimekka.
He told me Kait s name, and that shewas searching for the Mirror of Souls.
Later, he told me that if Icould get the Mirror from her, and take it to his
grave it s unmarked, but I know where it is
I would be ableto bring him back. Give him life again. Ry clenched his
fistsand blinked back the tears he refused to cry. I could have mybrother
back.
Trev was silent for so long that Ry finally did look up. He wassurprised to
see his friend, wetness glistening on his cheeks,staring out at the sea.
Trev . . . ?
I m fine, Trev said. I didn t knowabout your brother. Didn t even know you
had anyone but yourtwo sisters, and I know you were never close to either of
them. I. . . didn t know what you d lost.
Ry said softly, But that s just it. If I could takethe Mirror and go back, I
wouldn t have lost anything. Time. . . of course I would have lost that. He
would be. . . Ry stood and shook his head, startled. He would be younger than
me now, instead of my older brother.He was . . . twenty when he died.
He must have been very brave, to keep from revealing whohis family was.
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He was the bravest and best person I ve everknown.
Trev said quietly, I m going to tell you somethingyou aren t going to want to
hear, Ry. I m going to say itbecause I m your friend, and you can make of it
what you will.There s an old saying that keeps running through my head asyou
tell me this, and I can t silence it, even though I
havesisters who are my world, and if I put myself in your place, I
canunderstand why you feel the way you do.
Ry waited.
It s, Let the dead stay buried.
I know youwant your brother back, but something about this feels wrong to me.I
can t point to the wrongness in what you tell me and say, There, that s the
problem, but my gut sayssomething is wrong. He turned to face Ry, and looked
up athim. I m your friend. I will help you in every way Ican, with anything
you need; if you need me to die for you, I will.But please, Ry, for me,
consider what I m saying. I don tknow why this is so important, but I believe
it is. Let the deadstay buried.
Ry watched the waves falling away behind them. Calimekka drewcloser every day,
every station, every moment, and Cadell drewcloser, too. Once the Mirror was
in the hands of the Reborn
Kaitspoke about, his chance to get his brother back would be goneforever. He
would have this one opportunity. Cadell s ghostlyvoice still sometimes
whispered in his mind, begging for rescuefrom his beggar s grave.
And the hidden enemy still watched Ry as he slept.
His mind said, Only a coward would leave his brother in thegrave.
His gut said, Let the dead stay buried.
He turned to Trev. Would he advise me this way if he knew hissisters were
probably dead? he wondered. If we could take theMirror and bring them back to
life as well? Probably not.
Which changed nothing. The omens said he should avoid Calimekka.Kait said
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