I searched for the words to thank him, not only for the sketch, but for seeing me this way. Words seemed inadequate. “I don’t have anything to—” I broke off, pulled out the origami paper, and swiftly folded a pale yellow star. If I was going to leave a trail, I wanted it to lead here.
I held it out to him, and he took it between thumb and forefinger, inspecting it carefully. “People used to navigate by the stars,” he said.
“That’s because they’re true.” There were worlds where you couldn’t see the stars, where light pollution or smog obscured them from view—but they were constant, no matter where we Walked.
Maybe Simon was the same.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
MONTY PATTED MY arm as I rejoined them. “Feeling better?”
I lifted a shoulder. Whatever Addie saw in my face must have convinced her to hold off on the lecture, because she was silent the rest of the trip home.
Monty lagged behind us, and I dropped back, keeping him company.
“Do you think Echoes are real?” I asked after a block and a half.
His shoes scuffed through leaves. “Do you?”
“They can’t survive on their own. They aren’t born—they’re generated when the Echo forms. They don’t even notice a cleaving.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it figured out,” he said.
“They feel real,” I said, thinking of Doughnut Simon. “Their choices make pivots. They have feelings, and memories.”
“What’s bothering you, Delancey?”
A million things, but I picked the most baffling. “I keep seeing Simon. Not every time we Walk, but often. I saw him today, after the terminal Echo.”
“You’ve said it yourself. We Walk in the same areas. It’s natural to run into similarities between Echoes.”
I lowered my voice. “Is it natural for his Echo to see me without direct contact? Or to know my name?” I’d been too caught up in our graveyard conversation to give it more thought, but he’d seen me before we touched; known my name before I’d given it.
Monty slowed his pace, putting even more distance between Addie and us. “The multiverse is infinite,” he said. “But it’s not all chaos. There are patterns and connections running through the very heart of it, crossing the Key World and spreading out into the Echoes, and those connections are like music. They give meaning to what we do.”
“You think Simon and I are connected?”
“Could be. A person’s life is made up of many strands. Who’s to say yours and his aren’t interwoven?”
The idea thrilled me more than I wanted to admit. It wasn’t sensible, but neither was the way we kept meeting. Monty’s words explained so much.
Monty continued, wheezing as we turned up the front walk. “I’m not a physicist, Del. I’m an old man with too much time to think. But maybe the universe has an affinity for you and Simon. Maybe it’s written in the stars, same as Rose and me.” He hummed a song, so faintly I couldn’t make out the tune. “That’s how I know I’ll find her again.”
Once inside, Addie gave Monty a muffin, and he wandered to the front room. I could hear him noodling around on the piano, a loose improvisation, but it somehow managed to capture the frequency of the world we’d been to.
“It’s an awful lesson,” Addie said, taking a seat. “Shaw usually waits until right before graduation to cover it.”
“Good to know I’m ahead of the game.” The words came out thin and bitter as boiled coffee.
“That wasn’t the reason I took you there. I’m really sorry, Del.”
“It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”
“I could have prepared you better.”
I remembered the pain in Simon’s voice when he’d told me about his mom. Knowing he would lose her hadn’t made her death easier, just difficult in a different way.
There was a knock at the front door, and she jumped up. “Lattimer.”
“You get the door,” I said. “I’ll handle Monty.”
She nodded and dashed down the hallway. I followed behind.
Monty was sitting at the piano, the empty muffin wrapper lying on the bench.
“Do we have a visitor?” he asked.
“Promise you’ll be good,” I said. Behind me, Addie opened the door.
“Statements like that raise my blood pressure. Who—” He broke off as Lattimer entered. “What’s he doing here?”
“Checking up on your granddaughter. I’m a man of my word, Montrose. You remember.”
Monty shrank back, as if the words were a threat. I said, “Why don’t we get a snack while Addie and the councilman talk?”
“Something to keep up your strength,” agreed Lattimer. “It’s Addison I want to speak with.”
I herded Monty into the kitchen, set him up with a bottle of root beer and a bowl of chocolate-covered pretzels. “I know you hate him, but please don’t make things worse. I need the Consort to let me back in.”
“Nonsense. Best thing in the world would be for you to get away from him.”
“Not if I want to Walk,” I said. “Stay put, okay? I want to hear what they’re saying.”
He craned his neck, trying to look down the hallway, and then slumped down in his version of a sulk. “Watch yourself. He’s a slippery one.”
“But that’s not covered until apprenticeship,” Addie was saying in the living room. “It won’t be on the final exam. Besides, Del only started isolating break threads this week.”
Talking back to a member of the Consort? It was as if an Echo Addie had overtaken her.
Lattimer’s voice was steely. “You said she mastered isolations quickly. If that’s true, it makes sense to accelerate her training.”
“I thought Del’s was a punishment,” Addie said.
“She appears to have a native talent that could prove useful, in light of the current situation. We’d be foolish not to take advantage of it.”
“The current situation?” I asked, abandoning my attempt at eavesdropping.
Councilman Lattimer’s lips stretched over his teeth, his version of a smile. “The anomaly your parents are working on? It’s classified, but I presumed Addison, at least, would have pieced it together by now.”
Addie flushed and stammered, and I cut in. “She’s been kind of busy. Maybe you should unsuspend me, and she can help you out instead.”
“The Consort could also revisit your sentencing,” he said. “I’m sure you’re aware of the usual punishment for unsanctioned cleavings.”
I was: a life term in an oubliette. I ducked my head and stayed silent.
Lattimer focused on Addie again. “Your work so far has been exemplary. I hope you’ll continue in that vein, now that I’ve made my expectations clear.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Excellent. Someone with your talent and drive could go quite far with the proper backing.” His pale eyes lingered on the arch above the kitchen door. “Your grandfather seems to be improving.”
“The Walks are good for him,” Addie said. “They give him something to look forward to.”
“That’s wonderful to hear,” Lattimer said. “He’s taken a hand in planning the lessons? Any particular favorites he’s shown you?”
“Not really,” I said. “Addie runs the show. Monty goes wherever she says.”
Addie tensed at the obvious lie, but Lattimer didn’t seem to notice.
“Perhaps you should let him do more, not less. I’d be curious to know how he gets on. Be sure to tell him I said good-bye.”
When Addie had shut—and locked—the door, I said, “I don’t like him.”
“Shhhhh!”
“He’s halfway down the block by now,” I pointed out. “What does he want you to do?”
“You were listening in,” she said. “I’m more interested in the anomaly Mom and Dad are working on. How am I supposed to know what it is when they won’t talk?”