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would not surprise me,” Alexander replied. “He can be… quite cynical, sometimes. Wary, even, with those he meets. What he says is usual y the truth, though he has a way of sometimes twisting that truth beyond recognition.”
    “Are you saying he lied about being a recluse?”
    Laura asked.
    “Not lied, no,” Madison answered. “But he may have mislead you. He spoke to us, and others, through the dream. But he has lived in the cave for generations.”
    “In the sanctuary,” Laura put in.
    “The sanctuary, yes,” Alexander said as if remembering. “It was that once. A very long time ago…”
    “You know it?” Logan asked suddenly. “You know what it was?”
    “I do not know first-hand, but I have read things about it many years ago.”
    “…there was another tongue,” Logan said, half to himself, “encrypted on some of the wal s, and the towers outside. Do you know what it was?”
    Alexander shook his head. “I cannot help you with that,” he answered. “The answers to some questions need to be found on your own.”
    “What do you mean?” Laura said. “If you know what it means, please, tel us!”
    “You should listen more closely, girl,” Madison said. The way she emphasized girl was not exactly derisive, but it was not as kind as it had been before, either. “He said he does not know. But where we are headed, you might find answers.”
    “And where you are headed?” Laura asked, confused. “I thought you were tracking us to meet Rafael?”
    Alexander smiled. “Do not be completely naïve. Yes, we had been on your trail for a number of days, but only in the hope of seeing Rafael. The way he spoke of you, we thought you might have convinced him to leave his home. But we had not heard from him… since you met. We were pilgrimaging north, regardless.”
    “North?” Laura asked. “What’s north?”
    “Rafael did not tel you?” For the first time, Alexander sounded genuinely surprised.
    “Tel us what?” Laura asked again. “No, we have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    Alexander turned to Madison. “An interesting turn of events,” he said to her. Then he shifted his attention back to them. “We are going north,” he said,
    “in search of an ancient archive.”
    “An archive?” Laura asked.
    “Yes. I have been there once before. It is where I read about the sanctuary for the first time. I trekked there by myself, the first time, and it is where I first met Rafael. An ancient archive, ful of books and documents and other treasures. It is hidden in the most unsuspecting of smal towns further north. The townspeople guard the building dearly, but none know what it holds, anymore.”
    “What is it?” Laura asked again.
    “What is it?” Laura asked again.
    “An archive,” Madison said in the chiming voice,
    “containing documents and other writings banned by the elders of the Vassiz .”
    “Banned? Why?”
    “Only the elders know that, girl,” Madison replied.
    “The same ones who put entire packs after you. The archive has been tended and maintained for eons, and none alive know of it other than Alexander and I anymore. And now, you, too.”
    “Why share?” Logan said suddenly, breaking out of his silence. “If the secret is guarded closely, and known not even to the elders anymore, to go there…
    is treasonous to our race.”
    “Not everything is as black and white as you see it,” Alexander said, and Laura felt Logan tense again.
    “We share because of our mutual interests. It seems you placed your cards in our camp a long time ago, regardless. The elders want you. Dead or alive, they want you. And they wil find you, eventual y. They have turned nearly every member of the Vassiz after you. It is only a matter of time before you are reached by those loyal to the elders.
    “And when that happens, no amount of strength or courage wil save you. So, sharing seemed to me to be a simple proposition. We have both been aided by a mutual friend, and thus our