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At length, she heard Hector again. ‘...Emiliana?’

‘Yes?’ she said.

‘Could you not hear him?’

‘No, I did not hear anything.’

‘Huh. He was trying to talk to you just now, though.’

‘Ah, then... perhaps this only works for the two of us.’

‘You might be right,’ said Hector. ‘You’re holding one of the Shards, right now, aren’t you?’

‘Yes.’

‘That makes sense. I mean, sort of. We both met Rasalased.’

‘And my father didn’t.’

‘Yeah...’

Another long silence.

Then Emiliana realized there was still a question that she desperately wanted an answer to. ‘How are Marcos and Ramira? Are they safe?’

‘Yeah. They’re doing just fine. They’re right here with me, too.’

Relief ran through her. ‘What about my father? How is he doing?’

‘...Well, he’s been through a lot, but... I mean, he’s handling it better than I would, I think. A lot better.’ Hector paused. ‘At the moment, though, uh... he doesn’t seem too pleased with me...’

‘Why?’

‘I think he’s mad that only I can talk to you.’

‘Oh.’ She smiled faintly at that.

And yet another intervening silence arrived.

As she thought about it, there were about a million other questions she wanted to ask--how the hell they survived their encounter with the Salesman of Death, for instance--but she was having difficulty deciding which question was most important.

Unfortunately, before she could make up her mind, the tall, forest green door on the other side of the room began opening, and she hurriedly pocketed the Shard. ‘I have to go,’ she threw out to Hector, but she didn’t hear an answer, presumably because she had stopped touching the Shard directly.

Maybe it would’ve been better to keep touching it in her pocket, but she still wasn’t quite sure how this all worked, and she didn’t want the distraction right now.

The one who entered was not Gohvis. Instead, it was a mostly average-looking man, save for the large, arching horn in the middle of his forehead.