Chapter 607

I looked at the room. At Elite on the floor. At Jordan’s expression. At Nina’s expression. At Ivory, who was looking at the ladle with the specific professional assessment of someone cataloguing an object that had ended up in an unexpected location. At Kael, who was looking at his border–watch Marcus with the expression of someone who was ready to conduct the meeting he’d originally planned and was absolutely going to maintain that this had been a normal sequence of events.

At the ladle.

At the tourists‘ notepad.

At the corner where the four–year–old had sat.

*Yes, I said, to Marcus–who–brought–me, through the link.

*You were right.*

Then Kael sat down.

At the table. In his chair. With the expression of someone who’d just had a specific experience and was integrating it.

“The link.” he said.

“The link,” Jordan confirmed.

“Needs,” Kael said.

“Qualifiers,” Jordan said. “Yes.”

“This is going in the documentation.” Nina said.

“It’s going in the documentation,” Kael confirmed. “Under what classification.”

“Class one,” Nina said. “The Marcus Problem. Named for the event.”

“Named for the event,” Kael said.

“It’s the clearest documentation of the error type,” Nina said. “Naming protocols use the first clear case.”

“The first clear case,” Kael said.

“Yes,” Nina said.

“Of the twenty three Marcuses in my office,” Kael said.

“Twenty four,” Nina said. “One is still in the corner.”

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Chaple: 607

Everyone looked at the corner.

The eight year old Marcus was still there.

He’d found a book somewhere – I had no idea where, there were books in Kael’s office and he’d apparently located one and was reading it with the focused attention of someone who’d decided to be useful by being quiet.

“Marcus,” Kael said.

The child looked up.

“Go home,” Kael said.

“I’m reading,” the child said.

“You can read at home,” Kael said.

“The books at home are different,” the child said.

“They’re books,” Kael said. “Books are books.”

“These are better books,” the child said.

Jordan, who had been drinking water, put his glass down.

“He’s not wrong,” Jordan said. “Kael has the companion essays.”

“Jordan,” Kael said.

“I’m just saying,” Jordan said.

“You don’t know that,” Kael said.

“Do you have the companion essays.” Jordan said.

A pause.

“That’s not the point,” Kael said.

“The child has found the companion essays,” Ivory said.

“He has found something,” Kael said. “I don’t know what he’s found.”

“He’s reading it with great focus,” Ivory said.

“Children often read with focus,” Kael said.

“The companion essays are very engaging.” Ivory said.

E

“We don’t know that’s what he’s reading,” Kael said.

“What book is it,” Ivory said, to the child.

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Chapter 607

The child turned the book over and looked at the cover.

has a picture of two men on the front,” the child said. “They are very close together.”

The office was quiet.

“Put the book down,” Kael said.

“I was at an exciting part,” the child said.

“Put. The book. Down,” Kael said.

The child put the book down with the specific reluctant care of someone removing themselves from an engaging activity. He looked at the cover for a moment before releasing it.

“Those men were very close together,” he said.

“Yes,” Kael said. “Go home.”

“Is that a normal book,” the child said.

“That is a-” Kael started. “Go home, Marcus.”

“My mother says I should ask questions when I’m confused,” the child said.

“Your mother is wise.” Kael said. “Ask her about the book.”

“She might not know about that book specifically,” the child said.

“I believe in her,” Kael said.

“What if she doesn’t-”

“Marcus,” Kael said.

“Yes,” said the border monitor Marcus, who was the only other Marcus remaining.

“Not you,” Kael said.

“Sorry,” said the border monitor Marcus.

“Marcus,” Kael said, to the child.

“Yes,” said the child.

“Go. Home,” Kael said.

The child stood up. He looked at the book on the floor where he’d put it. He looked at Kael. He looked at the inner circle, who were watching him with the collective attention of people who’d been in a significant situation and were now watching its denouement with investment.

“Will you tell me what happens to the men,” the child said.

“No,” Kael said.

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Chapter 607

Jordan might, the child said.

Jolan will not,” Jordan said.

“Ivory might,” the child said.

“Go home, Marcus,” Ivory said, in the tone that was final.

The child went home.

Silence fell over the office.

The border monitor Marcus, who had been standing patiently through all of this, cleared his throat.

“You needed me,” he said..

“Yes,” Kael said. “The northeastern post. Report.”

The Marcus settled into the specific quiet competence of someone who’d been at a border monitoring post and had things to report, and the meeting resumed its intended shape, and the inner circle settled back into the work with the specific quality of people who’d been through something unexpected and were returning to the functional from the other side of it.

Silver said: *You’re smiling.*

*I’m not,* I said.

*You are, she said.

*I’m maintaining a professional expression,* I said.

*While smiling,* she said.

*The two can coexist,* I said.

*They really can’t,* she said.

I looked at the deployment map Nina had unrolled on the table and thought about the driver Marcus’s nod and the chef’s ladle and the shower Marcus’s unlaced boots and the child in the corner reading the companion essays.

This was my pack.

All of it.

The thirty one Marcuses and the bench that kept breaking and Ben’s cookie heist and Elite’s unprecedented laugh and Kael’s fourteen–year–old grudge about a punch in the training yard that he was apparently never going to release.

Mine.

*Yes,* Silver said, warmly.

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Chapter 607

“Yes, I said.

Re–border monitor Marcus finished his report and left leaving us alone one more,

“The link,” he said, to the room, “requires qualifiers. Effective immediately. If you are summoning a speuttic person through the link and that person’s name might be shared with other pack members-

“Most names are shared with other pack members,” Jordan said.

“Then use a descriptor,” Kael said.

“Such as,” Jordan said.

“Such as-” Kael stopped. “Such as their role. Their location. Their specific-

“The Marcus at the northeastern border post,” Nina suggested.

“Yes,” Kael said. “Exactly.”

“That would have taken three extra words,” Jordan said.

“Three extra words,” Kael said, “and thirty one fewer Marcuses.”

“Twenty–nine fewer Marcuses,” Jordan said. “The border one was supposed to come.”

“Twenty–nine fewer Marcuses,” Kael said. “One fewer ladle. Two fewer children.”

“The child found the companion essays,” Ivory said.

“We don’t know what the child found.” Kael said.

“He described the cover,” Ivory said.

“The cover,” Kael said, “could be many books.”

“Two men, very close together,” Ivory said.

“That’s a broad description,” Kael said.

“It’s the companion essays,” Ivory said.

“Moving on,” Kael said.

*He’s going to find the child’s mother and apologize for the companion essays,* Silver said.

*

*Definitely, I said.

*He’s also going to move the companion essays,* she said.

*Absolutely.* I said.

“Where do you think he’ll put them,” she said.

“Somewhere a eight–year–old can’t reach,* I said.

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Chapter 607

*He’s very tall, Silver said. “The eight–year–old is not.

sa in the meeting room with the link humming around me and Silver warm in my chest and the specific ordinary wonderful chaos of Shadowmere fully alive, and I thought that this was what I’d been taking toward.

And somewhere in the eastern quarters, Marcus the eight–year–old was going to tell everyone he’d attenders a border security meeting, and it was going to be mostly true.