VALID STATE

“Nine hundred and forty-two.”

Leon said nothing. Nella rubbed her palm against her dress. The cut had almost stopped bleeding, though it shouldn’t have. That made her want to look at it again, so she didn’t.

“Since the Founding,” she added.

The silence went on.

“If that helps.”

“The founding of what, exactly?”

“The kingdom.”

“Name?”

Nella frowned.

“The kingdom?”

“Yes.”

“Astor.”

Nothing again. Somewhere above, far beyond the stone ceiling, something rumbled for a long moment. Maybe someone was moving a crate in the storeroom. Maybe Meret had finally noticed that the student she had left counting broken chairs had vanished along with the key to the lower room. The key, incidentally, was still upstairs. For some reason, that bothered Nella more than it should have.

“Leon?”

“I’m here.”

“You’re taking a very long time to think.”

“Yes.”

“About the year?”

“Not only that.”

She looked at the door with the nine white lines. The light no longer hurt her eyes. It simply sat inside the black surface—thin, cold, with no flame, no crystal, nothing Nella recognized as a source of light.

“My turn.”

“Ask.”

“What is a nanogenome?”

Leon did not answer. Nella waited.

“It can’t be that difficult a word if you just used it.”

“The word isn’t the difficult part.”

“What is?”

“The answer.”

“Wonderful.”

She sat on the nearest chunk of fallen stone. It shifted under her, and Nella stood right back up.

“No, thank you.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“Your pulse changed.”

“The stone wobbled.”

Leon took a moment before replying.

“Understood.”

“Can you really feel my pulse the whole time?”

“Right now, yes.”

“Stop.”

“I can’t.”

Nella leaned one shoulder against the old stone part of the wall. She made a point of not touching the black surface again.

“This is starting to sound like a very bad first meeting.”

Leon stayed quiet. Not because he had failed to understand. Somehow, she got the impression he had understood perfectly. Nella looked at her hand. The scales were fading. Not dramatically; the dark plates simply lost their color one by one and seemed to sink back beneath her skin. Three lingered near her wrist. She rubbed one with a finger. Hard.

“Is this the nanogenome too?”

“Yes.”

Her finger stopped.

“And the fire?”

“Probably.”

“Blood?”

“What property, specifically?”

“The one I didn’t have before the Academy.”

“Be more precise.”

“I can’t. I’ve picked up too many properties in the last two months.”

Leon fell silent. Nella could tell this pause was different.

“What?”

“List them.”

“Why?”

“Nella.”

“Don’t use that tone.”

“What tone?”

She opened her mouth. Closed it.

“I don’t know. Just don’t.”

A door slammed somewhere above. Definitely a door this time. Then someone shouted. Nella looked up. The voice was too far away to make out the words.

“They’re looking for me.”

“Good.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m staying down here.”

She headed for the stairs. On the third step, the white lines on the door went dark. Instantly. Nella stopped.

“Did you do that?”

“No.”

A narrow stripe lit up along the floor ahead of her. It did not lead toward the stairs. It went the other way. Nella looked after it, then back.

“No.”

The stripe remained.

“I said no.”

“I don’t think it understands spoken language.”

“Then we have something in common.”

Nella went to the stairs. The first two steps were stone. The third as well. On the fourth, she remembered the grille above was still locked.

“Oh.”

She climbed up and shoved it. Nothing.

“Open.”

“I don’t control the lock.”

“You’re in the wall.”

“I’m not in the wall.”

“That was figurative.”

“Then I don’t know how to answer.”

Nella gripped the bars with both hands and pulled. The grille did not move at all.

“Meret!”

No answer.

“Storekeeper!”

Nothing.

“Teya!”

Her voice rolled down through the shaft and came back. Somewhere far off, something answered with a metallic chime. Not a person.

“Perfect.”

She went back down. The white line was still waiting.

“If I follow it, will it open the way out?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you know?”

This time Leon did not answer immediately.

“Less than I would like, at the moment.”

Nella looked into the dark corridor.

“Fine. At least that’s honest.”

She followed the light. Sitting under a locked grille was even stupider than trusting an unknown glowing stripe.

The corridor ended in an empty room. Nella stopped in the doorway and waited.

“Well?”

The white line entered the room and went out.

“Very informative.”

The room was small. Black walls. The same smooth floor. No doors. Nella turned around. The passage behind her was still there. That helped, slightly. In the middle of the floor lay an object. Small. Rectangular. Black. Nella did not approach it.

“Is that yours?”

“No.”

“You deny ownership of everything down here.”

“Because none of it belongs to me.”

“Then whose is it?”

“I don’t know.”

She circled the object. It was about the size of her palm. One edge had broken off, as if the plate had once been torn out of something larger. Nella crouched. Did not touch it. There was nothing on its surface. No symbol. No nine lines.

“I can feel it.”

“How?”

“Like metal.”

“It isn’t metal.”

Nella looked at the object.

“Then why can I feel it?”

“That is exactly what interests me.”

“A lot of things interest you.”

“Yes.”

“And there are very few answers.”

“Yes.”

This person—if Leon was a person—had an impressively steady way of being irritating. Without effort. Nella extended one finger.

“Don’t touch it.”

She pulled her hand back.

“You could have said that earlier.”

“You hadn’t touched it yet.”

“I was about to.”

“That’s why I said it.”

Logical. Which only made it worse.

“Fine. What’s wrong with it?”

“I’ll try to read it.”

“How?”

Leon did not answer. Nella waited. Then she noticed that the noise in her ears had changed. It dropped lower. Not louder—just deep enough that she could almost feel it vibrating behind her teeth. A tiny point of light appeared on the black plate. Nella shifted backward.

“Was that you?”

“This time, yes.”

The point went dark. Then flashed again.

“Damaged,” Leon said.

“What was on it?”

“A record.”

“What kind?”

“I don’t know.”

“Because it’s damaged?”

“Badly.”

Nella straightened.

“Then why did the wall bring me here?”

“Perhaps it didn’t bring you to the plate.”

“Then to what?”

Something clicked beneath her right foot. Nella slowly looked down.

“I did not press anything.”

“Move.”

She stepped away. The section of floor beneath her split into two narrow halves. A column of warm air rose from below. It smelled of dust. Old dust—the kind that lived inside things sealed away for years, not the kind that settled on top of them. Nella coughed. There was a recess beneath the floor. Inside lay cloth. Ordinary cloth. Once pale. Gray now.

“Now this looks like the Academy,” Nella said.

The cloth was somehow more reassuring than the black walls. She bent closer.

“Don’t touch it.”

“You’re getting repetitive today.”

“This is an unknown environment.”

“It’s a rag.”

“That is how bad decisions usually begin.”

Nella straightened.

“You don’t know me at all.”

Leon did not answer. She looked at the cloth.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“No. You thought something.”

“I didn’t—”

“I can hear it in your voice.”

She had to wait longer for the answer.

“Someone once told me almost exactly the same thing.”

Nella waited. He did not continue.

“Who?”

“Not now.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re looking for you upstairs.”

“Finally. A useful thought.”

She backed away from the recess. And then, faintly, through stone and several floors, came a shout:

“NELLA!”

Teya. Nella spun toward the corridor.

“Here!”

The sound disappeared.

“TEYA!”

Something answered, too muffled to understand. Then a blow. Another. Nella ran.

“Slow down.”

“No.”

“The floor is uneven.”

“I can see that.”

She caught her foot on the edge of an old slab at the turn. Did not fall.

“I warned you.”

“Be quiet.”

She reached the stairs. The voices above were clearer now. Bram was saying something. Teya cut him off. Meret said something in a tone that made the meaning obvious even through the stone: nothing good. Then came a heavy thud. The grille shuddered.

“Don’t break it!” Meret shouted.

A second blow.

“I said don’t break it!”

“Then open it!” That was Arden.

Nella raised her eyebrows. There was no third blow. Instead came a rapid click. The lock turned by itself. The grille swung open.

Everyone above went silent. Nella did too.

Meret stood closest. In one hand she held a ring of keys. None of them were in the lock. Behind her, Teya had lost her cloak, Bram had a lantern and, for some reason, a hammer, and Arden was holding his right hand as if he had been about to use it instead of a tool. The storekeeper stood against the wall.

He looked like a man deeply regretting his decision to come to work today.

Nella climbed the last step.

“I counted everything.”

Meret stared at her.

“What?”

“The boxes.”

No one answered.

“Nineteen intact. One damp underneath.”

Meret very slowly put the keys into her pocket.

“Venn.”

“I didn’t open the grille.”

“Is she lying?” Teya asked.

“No,” Arden said.

Nella looked at him.

“Thank you.”

“She always explains more when she’s lying.”

“I am standing right here.”

Bram stuck his head into the passage.

“What’s down there?”

Meret pushed him back by the shoulder.

“Nothing that concerns you.”

“Then why did it open for Nella?”

The old elf turned toward him.

“Ord.”

“I’m just—”

“Not just.”

Bram fell silent. Not for long, judging by his face. Teya had already taken Nella’s hand.

“Blood again.”

“Not anymore.”

“I can see that.”

“Then why say it?”

Teya turned her palm toward the light. The cut looked like a thin red line.

“How deep?”

“I don’t know.”

“What did it?”

“Metal.”

Bram immediately said, “What kind?”

“Not now,” Teya said.

“It matters.”

“Everything made of metal matters to you.”

“Not everything.”

“Bram, you’re carrying a hammer.”

He looked at his own hand as if he had forgotten.

“Arden asked for it.”

Arden said, “No.”

“You said we had to open the grille.”

“I did not say to bring a hammer.”

Bram considered that.

“But I brought one.”

Nella laughed. Nervously. At completely the wrong time. Teya looked up at her.

“You all right?”

“Yes.”

She knew at once she had answered too quickly. Teya knew too. She did not ask again. She simply kept hold of Nella’s hand.

Meret, meanwhile, was staring downward. Not at the stairs. Beyond them. Toward the place where the old stone gave way to black surface. Her expression shifted only slightly. Nella had seen that look before, in the library, when they had asked about basilisks.

“You knew that was down there.”

Meret did not look at her.

“Knew what?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking.”

“Then be more precise.”

“The black walls.”

Bram turned toward Nella.

“What black walls?”

Meret said, “No one is going anywhere.”

“I wasn’t planning to.”

“You have one foot past the grille.”

Bram looked down and moved it back.

“Accidentally.”

“Ord.”

“It’s back.”

Arden stepped closer to the opening. He did not enter. Nella saw him breathe in. Then again.

“What?” she asked.

“It smells.”

“Like what?”

He tilted his head.

“I don’t know.”

Teya looked down.

“I can’t smell anything.”

“Neither can I,” Bram said.

Meret turned sharply toward Arden.

“Varr. Step back.”

Arden did not obey. That was more interesting than anything else so far.

“You recognize the smell?”

“Step back.”

“Madam Meret.”

“I said—”

Light flashed in the corridor behind Nella. Once. Brief. White. Everyone saw it. This time there was no room to argue about whether Nella had imagined something. Bram was the first to take half a step forward. Meret grabbed him by the collar.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“I only want to look.”

“You are looking.”

“Not well from here.”

“You’ll survive.”

The light went out. For one second, everything was completely still.

Then Leon said, “Nella.”

She flinched. Teya reacted at once.

“What?”

Nella did not answer.

“I found a match,” Leon continued.

“To what?”

Meret looked at her.

“Who are you speaking to?”

Nella raised one finger. Not now. It was rude. Especially to Meret. Which made it slightly satisfying.

“Leon?”

“The name Astor does not exist in my records. Neither does your calendar. But part of the system retained a local sequence of cycles.”

“And?”

“It is damaged.”

“Of course.”

“But there is enough.”

Nella felt Teya tighten her grip on her wrist.

“Enough for what?”

Leon was silent for several seconds. This time Nella did not hurry him. Above them, the storekeeper said very quietly:

“I’ll go get the rector.”

No one stopped him.

“Nella,” Leon said. “If I have matched the data correctly, the system beneath you was not sealed nine hundred and forty-two years ago.”

“Fine.”

She had no idea why that was the word she chose.

“Much earlier.”

“How much earlier?”

“I’m still calculating.”

Nella looked at Meret. At the old masonry. At Bram with his hammer. At Teya, who was still holding her hand though the bleeding had stopped long ago. Arden stared into the dark below the stairs and, for once, was not even joking with his eyes.

“Is that bad?”

Leon did not answer directly.

“I don’t know yet.”

Nella closed her eyes.

“Don’t say yet.”

“Why?”

“Because everything anyone says yet about today keeps getting worse.”

Teya asked softly, “Nella, who is in there?”

This time Nella looked at her. Then at the others. She could say no one. Put it off. Work it out alone first. That would probably be sensible.

“His name is Leon.”

Bram stopped looking down.

“Whose?”

“I don’t know.”

“You just said his name.”

“That isn’t the same thing.”

Teya did not laugh.

“Where is he?”

Nella pointed at her own head.

Bram opened his mouth.

Meret said, “No.”

Not loudly. But in a way that made Nella turn toward her.

The old elf was no longer looking at Nella’s face. She was looking at her hand. At the three dark plates near her wrist that still had not disappeared.

“What do you mean, no?”

Meret did not answer.

Arden stepped closer. He saw them too. And this time he changed. For one second, he stopped breathing.

Nella looked from one to the other.

“You are both making very unpleasant faces right now.”

Meret finally looked up.

“To the rector.”

“I’m not even arguing.”

“Now.”

“I said—”

“Venn.”

Nella sighed. Teya let go of her hand only long enough to pick her cloak up off the floor. Bram tucked the hammer into his belt.

“Why are you taking that?” Nella asked.

“It’s mine.”

“It belongs to the storeroom.”

Bram looked at the handle. At the place where the storekeeper had been. Then put the hammer down on a crate.

“I returned it.”

They headed for the stairs. Nella went last. Before leaving, she looked back.

The grille remained open. Below it was dark. No white line. No symbol. Nothing.

“Leon?”

“Here.”

“What is a nanogenome?”

He was quiet for a moment.

“I’ll explain.”

“When?”

“When I understand how much of the answer you have already lived through without knowing its name.”

Nella stood there for one more second.

It was a terrible answer.

But it was not an empty one.

From above, Teya shouted, “Are you coming?”

“Yes!”

Nella climbed the stairs.

The storeroom was left with nineteen intact boxes, one damp one, seven broken tables, and an open grille none of them intended to call a cellar anymore.

And on page two of the inventory ledger, between “lamp without crystal — 6” and “winter blanket — 31,” Nella still had not written her final signature.