Page 24 of Zenith Tower

Footsteps approached. Hale did not call my name. Either he could not without giving us both away, or the sound had come from between him and the stair.

I slid the folder back into place and moved behind the last shelving row.

The records-room door opened.

A hand-lamp passed across the shelves. Its light reached the receiving table, paused over Kieran’s copied pages, then moved into the aisle.

I pressed myself against the cold stone wall. The shelving left little room between its back edge and my body. Paper brushed my sleeve when I breathed.

The light came nearer.

Then Caspian’s voice carried from the stairwell.

“If the panel requires a second form, I am happy to complete it. I am asking which form.”

The lamp stopped.

A man muttered something under his breath and left the room. The door swung shut behind him.

I waited until his steps moved toward Caspian’s voice. Then I slipped out from behind the shelves.

Hale stood beside the archive door, jaw set.

“Go,” he said.

We took the stairs quickly. Caspian was still at the junction holding several sheets while the attendant argued with the man from records about which one he needed. He saw us pass behind them and did not look away from the page in his hand.

Hale and I returned to Kieran’s room first. Caspian joined us a few minutes later and shut the door.

“Well?” he asked.

“Kieran’s copy is there. They classified it under Untethered association.”

Caspian’s voice cooled. “Kieran isn’t Untethered.”

“No. They’re using him to study me.”

I told them about the older section and the folder marked CORWIN.

Caspian folded Hale’s map, held one corner to the lamp flame, and dropped it into the empty bowl when the fire caught.

“You didn’t open the file,” he said.

“I didn’t have time.”

“Which means you intend to go back.”

I looked at him. “Yes.”

Astra

Hale left us with the ashes of his map cooling in Kieran’s washbowl.

“The evening round should be ending,” he said. “Someone there may be willing to tell me how he is.”

“And if they don’t?” I asked.

His expression did not change. “I’ll wait for someone who will.”