Chapters (41)
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- PART TWO
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- PART THREE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Mara introduced Dr. Toya and explained that she worked at the hospital where Trudy’s son, Calliope’s cousin Julian, was a patient. Right after the light, the splitting of worlds, Mara had met her in the abandoned hallway, and Dr. Toya had given Mara the stone necklace she now wore around her neck. She pulled it out for the others to see. A smooth piece of turquoise. Calliope had noticed it around Mara’s neck before and thought nothing of it. “Dr. Toya is from Acoma.”
Sky City. Bisabuela’s people. Calliope and this doctor were connected somehow. She searched the doctor’s face for familiarity, some resemblance to Bisabuela. Dr. Toya bore a turquoise stone similar to Mara’s around her own neck. She smiled warmly, but guardedly, invited them to sit with her at the fire. Calliope accepted, though sweat pearled down her back and between her breasts, extra heat radiating from the corn girl’s body pressed against her skin. Calliope drank from her water pot then poured the tiniest drops onto the corn girl’s head and neck. “What are you doing here, Doctor?” she asked, searching the rock surface for the three stone slabs that would indicate the sun dagger’s location. She couldn’t quite remember from girlhood where it was. Had Dr. Toya already checked?
“Same as you. Trying to get back to the previous world.”
Calliope’s pulse quickened. If Dr. Toya believed they had come to the right place, then this added credence to Arlen’s tale. Chaco wasn’t a trap.
Chance raised his eyebrows. Calliope could still see the skepticism on his face and sensed that he had a reason to wonder—after all, why would one of Mother’s people choose to go back to the other world, where their people and way of life had been so devalued? She wondered if Dr. Toya was silently asking the same of him. More troubling, Calliope wondered if Chance was doubting his own plan. She knew there hadn’t been time for sentiment but his demeanor had definitely changed since Arlen’s mob had attacked them; something felt different between them.
Mara, never one to beat around the bush, asked, “Why are you going back, Doctor? Aren’t your people here?”