Max had stayed in London while I’d gone back to Park City to get Tommy’s memento. Now that I was ready to cut a deal with the Delphinians, Max wanted no part of it. It was getting too dangerous. So I found myself in the Hall of Knowledge alone, the picture of Tommy crumpled in my hand. The chorus of voices had been waiting for me. “Do you have the memento of the boy to be marked?” I nodded. “Yes.” A small platform rose out of the floor. I placed the picture on top of it. I loved that photo. Nikki and Tommy, sister and brother, looking at each other and laughing, oblivious to the fact that someone was taking their picture. Even though I couldn’t empathize—I had long since lost that ability—I could appreciate the innocence of it. The feeling that it didn’t matter if the world was spinning or not … all that mattered was the face you were staring into. I felt that. Once. Long ago. “Place your hand in the trough,” the chorus said, bringing me out of my thoughts. I placed my right hand in the gutter that ran along the wall.
