I switched my SED to silent and double-checked that my knife was in my coat pocket.
“We’ll leave our bags,” Stef said, hitching an empty backpack over one shoulder. “Whit and a couple others will come to get them. We need to grab the books and research, and we’ll meet them at the east guard station. There will be vehicles enough for all of us. Hopefully we’ll be far away from Heart before Deborl ever realizes we’re gone.”
It was the same plan she’d announced earlier. I nodded.
Outside, flecks of snow stung my face as I pulled up my hood and checked my SED. The program Stef had loaded earlier popped up, reporting a cluster of small earthquakes I hadn’t felt. Then, conscious that the SED light might attract the wrong kind of attention, I shoved the device into my pocket and took Sam’s hand, letting him guide me through the dark. The only light was the temple, still blazing unnaturally bright.
Our footsteps crunched on the thin snowfall, and a breeze hissed through the evergreens. “Here’s what will happen,” Stef said. “I’ve adjusted the security cameras in the Councilhouse so they won’t record us. Getting caught won’t matter for you, Ana, since they’ve already exiled you, but it does for Sam and me.”
How much, though? The majority of the Council had been killed.
How long would they argue about what to do before they took action against newsouls or accepted Deborl back into the Council? What if they made him Speaker? I shuddered.
“The other thing is the soul-scanners.” Stef turned us down another path. “I took a peek into the scanner logs. It looks like several Councilors went into one of the private archive rooms while you and I were stuck in the temple, and then again the other day after you had the meeting with them.”
The meeting where they’d kicked me out of Heart. “They had the temple books and research with them.”
“Exactly. It seems to me they must have been fetching something important from that room, like books or research. Maybe even the key. Unfortunately, that scanner is programmed to let only Councilors through that door.”
“Fortunately,” Sam said, his tone a smile, “we have you.”
“You do.” It sounded like she was grinning. “No one on the Council ever realized I always leave myself a secondary entry code for every building in Heart. I guess—” She stumbled over the words. “I guess they never will now.”
Grief twisted in my chest, and I couldn’t respond. Sine’s attitude toward me had changed once she became Speaker, but she’d still been more a friend than not.
Was there anyone left who would publicly oppose Deborl after what he’d done? Anyone who might be brave enough to stand up to him—Sarit and Armande excepted—was going with us tonight.
Stef was quiet for a while. She’d been very selective about the people she’d invited to the library earlier. She’d probably left behind some of her friends, because she wasn’t sure she could trust them.
Stef had chosen. She’d chosen me.
Humbled, I followed all the way to the market field, keeping an eye out for anyone. But the way was clear, and I heard nothing but the wind. Snow smothered sounds, making the world unearthly still. Templelight reflected off the snow; the market field was bright.
“Try not to think about it,” Sam murmured.
“Think about what?” I huddled inside my layers of wool and silk. My hood blocked my peripheral vision; I could see only straight ahead.
“The risks and consequences. Where we’re going after. Just focus on getting through this.”
I opened my mouth to argue that I hadn’t been worried about this part, but reconsidered. Though the research and books had belonged to me before Deborl took them, reclaiming them now still felt a little like stealing.
“So I take it you’ve broken into a lot of private archive rooms?” I asked.
Snow quieted his reply, keeping it from carrying. “I admit to nothing, except that Stef is a bad influence.”
I snorted. “You can’t fool me. I know better than to assume it’s all Stef corrupting you.”
“But you know her well enough to realize that most of the trouble I’ve gotten into is her fault, right?” He flashed me a look of boyish innocence.
“Right, of course.” I kept my tone dubious, though conceded the point. Without Stef dragging Sam into trouble, he probably would stay at home, composing and practicing all day.
Now that I thought about it, Sam definitely attracted a type.
Stef pouted. “You two are going to ruin my good name.”
“Oh, it was ruined a long time ago.” Sam grinned and gave her a sideways hug.
We scanned the bright area once more before taking off at a trot, crossing the cobblestone market field. Our footfalls suddenly seemed so loud.
But no one caught us, and soon Sam dragged open the library door and ushered me inside after Stef. She had a pistol out.
The library was dim and quiet. I strained my ears but couldn’t hear anything suspicious. No floorboards creaking. No hiss of clothes that didn’t belong. Just the three of us.
We crept through the long hallway. It was unlikely anyone was working this late, but who knew about Deborl’s people.
What if Deborl had gotten to the research and books already?
Worries nipped at my heels as we traveled through the quiet hall.
“This is it.” Stef pulled a screwdriver from her pocket and used it to pry open the soul-scanner cover. “Give me just a second.” She replaced the screwdriver and removed a slender cord, which she connected to her SED and a port inside the scanner. After a moment of shifting functions, she tapped the SED screen and the scanner beeped. The door unlocked.
“Nice job.” Sam pulled the door open before it locked again.
“I know.” She shut the scanner and breezed into the room. I followed, and the lights turned on as the door swung closed behind us.
Rows of cupboards filled the rectangular room, hundreds of them. There wasn’t even room for a table, just counters along the perimeter.
“Let’s get started.” I strode to the far end and began opening cupboards. Some were empty, but most had old documents or artifacts stored in vacuum-sealed glass boxes. “What is this?” I pointed at a stick with a feather tied to one end. “An arrow?” I’d seen drawings of them, but no one used those things anymore. Laser pistols were far less messy when it came to killing from a distance.
“Some of our earliest inventions, or things we found in the area when we first settled.” Stef shrugged. “It’s all useless junk now, but the Council is determined to keep it.”
“Because Whit and Orrin are determined to keep it,” Sam said. “At first they stored those things in the library where everyone could look at them, but a few people never understood the point of sealing them to slow the decay, so the containers kept getting opened. Orrin had them moved here.”
“Ah.” I thought it was nice they’d kept these things. It would have been nicer if I’d had time to look through everything, but since I was in a hurry, I simply tried to take in as many details as I could while sifting through piles of stuff. At last, I opened a door to find a stack of familiar leather spines and a large envelope filled with notebooks and diaries. “Here’s everything.”
Well, almost everything. As I slid the items across the counter to Sam and Stef, I didn’t see the key to the temple.
“Have you seen the key anywhere else?” I asked, checking the cupboard below and beside the one where I’d found the books, but it wasn’t there.
We looked around for a while longer, until finally Stef said, “We have to go. Whit and the others are ready.”