He didn’t say anything for a long, agonizing moment. I almost thought I’d been wrong. Almost turned away.

Then he swallowed and said, “Yes.”

Chapter 19

Ceilos’ jaw dropped. I inhaled sharply, trying to keep my temper. “How long have you been eavesdropping on us?”

He lifted his shoulders again, not meeting my eyes. “I don’t know,” he said. His accent was heavy, his words strange, but I could understand him. What my own ears didn’t pick up, the System provided for me. “An hour or two? Around when I figured out that your language was some kind of weird mix of Greek and Egyptian overlaid with half the Mesoamerican languages I know.”

“What does that mean? Greek? Meso…?”

The boy sighed. “Never mind. I don’t think you’d get it. Are you guys going to take this stupid earpod off me now?” He tapped the side of his head with his index finger.

I blinked. “You mean your earpiece?”

“I guess.”

“No.” I instinctively put a hand on my own, horrified at the thought of removing it. “You need it. We all need it. We can’t communicate with the System without it.”

He pulled a face. “What is the System, anyway? You people go on about it every other word. The most I can figure is that it’s some kind of mind-reader. Which is not creepy at all.”

I looked at Ceilos for a moment, uncertain of what to say. How does one explain the System? The collective mind of the entire world?

“Never mind that,” said Ceilos. “We still have questions for you. Who are you, anyway?”

He slouched forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’m just a guy.”

I closed my eyes, taking a deep, soothing breath. Don’t snap, I warned myself. “A ‘guy’ named…?”

“Isaak.”

“Isaak,” I repeated. I had never heard a name like that before. But of course I wouldn’t have. Even if the coordinates the System had shown me were wrong, whoever he was, he was clearly not of Iamos. I smiled hollowly. “And I am Nadin.”

“Yeah, I caught that. You’re Nadin”—he gestured—“and Ceilos. And the doctor’s called Heros, right?”

My face flushed. I did not know the medic’s name. It hadn’t even occurred to me to ask.

“You seem to know everything about us,” Ceilos said. “But we know absolutely nothing about you. How did you come to be here?”

Isaak sighed. “I don’t know. It’s a long story. I was looking for my father, but obviously he isn’t here.” He added, barely audibly, “And now I’m stuck here. Alone.”