Folding the Sky

-38-

Zuri's eyes tracked the tops of Jem's and Kalindi's heads as they moved through the crowd, finally vanishing behind the dense red curtains that led out into the back hallway. She sighed, interlacing her fingers, squeezing her palms together as if she could crush all her apprehension between them like a berry.

    In about five minutes, Chike would follow after them; given his ability, Sorin had thought it a good idea to put him on watch duty, in order to intercept anyone who headed in the direction Jem and Kalindi had gone. Upon receiving his assignment, Chike had let out a sad exhale as he asked, "I'm the insurance?"

    "More like a warning system. An alarm," Sorin had replied. Zuri could remember it with ease, though granted it had been just the day before: Sorin was picking flecks of dirt from beneath his nails, sitting cross-legged in a wide beam of warm sunlight. "If they hear you go down, they know to start running."

    Now, Zuri locked eyes with Chike, his skin an even deeper umber against the soft white material of his suit. It seemed that both of them were hoping it wouldn't come to that.

    Once Chike left, it would fall to Zuri and Aldric to scope out the ballroom and the neighboring parlor. Unlike Jem and Kalindi, they weren't venturing far enough to warrant a lookout. There would be no one else, no observant outside eye to keep them safe and covered. They would have to watch their own backs.

    Zuri jumped as the music started up again, sudden and loud, this tune much faster than the last. There were a few murmurs of delight as more people moved towards the dance floor, bodies pressing close, fingers interlacing. Others lingered near the walls or the champagne fountain or the snack bar, all quiet conversations and laughter hidden behind satin gloves.

    Though she fought it, Zuri was starting to shrink again.

    A hand slid into hers, the palm rough with callouses, yet comforting in its firmness. She turned, meeting Aldric's deep blue gaze. "Zuri," he said, a knowing smile at his lips. His tone was gently amused as he said, "You're nervous, and it's showing."

    Zuri couldn't fight a blush. "I'm not—"

    "Talk to me. Tell me what's on your mind," Aldric said, squeezing her hand, and when Zuri just blinked at him, he nodded her on. "I'm serious; it'll make you feel better. Talk to me."

    She didn't answer him for a while. Instead, she watched the dancers, how they all moved differently but together were something uniform, a million tiny waves in the surface of one river.

    "I'm just hoping this is worth it," Zuri said at last, dragging her eyes back to Aldric. "I'm just hoping we're not wasting our time here. That's my greatest fear."

    She watched his jaw tense; he released her, bringing his hand up to fiddle with his hair. "Well," he said, and if she'd seen any unease in his expression, it was gone in a second, usurped by a warm smile she recognized. "It won't be a waste of time if we don't let it be. Whether Vernon left something here or not, there's plenty of other resources standing all around us, isn't there?"

    Zuri shuddered, sizing up the crowd once again for what was likely the fiftieth time since they'd entered the room. Hundreds of people, and what was together likely a millennium's worth of memories stored within their unique minds. To look into each of them would both take ages and zap nearly all of Zuri's energy. She would have to choose wisely, but on what criteria did she do that?

    A flurry of movement caught Zuri's eye, and Aldric's too. Chike was making for the door, acting as though the appetizer bar was his destination before he slipped out through the curtains.

    Their aloneness settled on Zuri like a heavy mist; she sensed it, cool and uncomfortable, as it condensed on her skin.

    The music slowed down again, the musicians dragging their bows long and slow across the strings, fingers trembling out a perfect vibrato where they pressed against the fingerboard. She thought, distantly, of Sorin, waiting in the dark, hoping for their return.