I stopped before Melusin, placing three fingers on my brow respectfully. She inclined her head and did the same. Then she gestured to the seat beside her.

“Are you feeling well, Nadin?” she asked as I sank into the chair.

“Yes, Gerouin.”

“I am glad.” She drummed her fingers absently on the chair arm, the glow of the heat lamp making her silvery eyes reflect gold. “Nadin, I have been doing some thinking.” Her eye caught mine. “I know you wish to prove yourself to the geroi.”

I shifted forward in my seat. “Yes, Gerouin. More than anything.”

She touched her earlobe. “And you are correct that we are running out of time for protocol. The time has come for more… unconventional methods.”

My skin felt cold despite the heat lamp’s warmth. “What do you mean?”

“That boy. The one from outside the dome. Did you speak to him at all when he first awakened?”

“Gerouin, I didn’t—” I protested, but she waved her hand dismissively, cutting me off.

“I know you don’t know him, Nadin. I do trust you, even if you seem convinced that I don’t.”

My jaw hung open for a moment. I snapped it shut and sat back in my chair.

“It is important that this boy’s thought patterns be decoded as quickly as possible. We need to know where he came from. Why, and how. Someone needs to get this information for us—preferably someone close to the geroi.” She smiled again. “You are our best option.”

“So… you want me to spy on him?” I asked.

She winced. “Honestly, Nadin, must you always use such negative language? Merely observe him. Speak with him. Try and learn his background. We need to know everything we can about him.”

I tilted my head slightly. “Do you believe he is from Simos?”

Melusin tugged her earlobe. “In all likelihood. He was carrying this.” She turned in her seat, lifting a rusty object off the table beside her. A posternkey—an extremely old one, from the look of it.

I turned it over in my hands. “I thought these didn’t work on Simos,” I said, “because of the magnetic field.”

“It appears Simos is more mysterious than we’d realized,” she replied.

I took the medallion from around my neck, pressing it into the slot on the posternkey. It opened, albeit with some effort, thanks to the rusted hinges. When I ran my fingers across the diodes, the usual System panel opened, suspended in midair above it. Coordinates were already programmed into it—data the postern would use to open the tesseract to the correct location.

“System protocol initiated,” a digitized voice said in my ear. I started in alarm. “Biological patterns recognized. Subject: Nadin. Decoy coordinates override. Display true data.”