that the bad man ’ s statement didn ’ t require a response, and he veered off in the direction of the desk with the librarian sign hanging from it.
He tried to form his mouth into a friendly smile at the woman who occupied the desk. “ I require all the maps you have of Coventry City, ” he said.
She cocked her head at him, but seemed to be showing her teeth in a receptive way. “ The map room is on the second floor mezzanine. I ’ m sure Kasey would be happy to help you. ”
Mark passed Sylvain ’ s computer kiosk on his way to the stairs. He couldn ’ t be certain, but he thought he saw the word “ Quentin ” typed into the search engine.
The mezzanine was an open platform that looked out over the library, and a smiley short man with strawberry blond hair in a dark grey jumpsuit stood behind the counter at the top of the stairs.
“ I require all the maps you have of Coventry City, ” Mark repeated.
The man blinked. “ You can only sign out three maps at a time. They can ’ t leave the map room. When you ’ re done with one, you can return it to me and I ’ ll get you another one. What do you want to start with? Eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth or twenty-first century? Topo or political? Larger than 1:50,000 or smaller than 1:50,000? ”
“ Eighteenth century, political, larger than 1:50,000, ” Mark said.
“ Okay, you can sit over there. I ’ ll bring you the maps. ” He eyed Mark ’ s satchel. “ No food or drink in the map room. ”
Mark nodded and headed over to the table the man had pointed to. The first floor of the library panned out beneath him, and he could see Sylvain ’ s stiff form hunched over the computer kiosk.
*****
Abbey gave a light knock on the window, and the person in the chair whirled around. It was Simon. Of course it was Simon — a gaunter, more chiseled Simon, with round wire spectacles and the same dusky eyes with dark circles beneath them. He rose from his chair and motioned in the direction of the front door. Abbey followed the edge of the wall to the stairs that descended to the door below.
Inside, the warm glow of muted ochre hallways greeted her, and Abbey found herself tilting her head several centimeters above Simon ’ s teenage height to look her brother in the eye. His hair was still deep brown and shaggy and, despite some crinkles around his eyes, his skin, although pale, remained supple and youthful. He looked far younger than the older Caleb. A gold band gleamed on Simon ’ s ring finger and he wore a well-cut khaki jumpsuit of a design similar to hers. Her heart accelerated a little. Even though Simon in real time, or present time, Abbey amended, was at this very moment in jail, he would be okay somehow. He would grow up and have a business, and a wife, and be okay. She hoped.
“ I was wondering if you might show up, ” he said.
“ You were? ”
“ Yup. Of course, I couldn ’ t be sure if the timelines had changed and just Caleb would come. ”
“ So Caleb and I told the younger you about this meeting? ”
“ You said you saw the older me. More than once, apparently. ”
Abbey nodded and looked around Simon to the open door of the office she had just peered into from outside, and lowered her voice. “ Did we tell Caleb about his future? ”
Simon pressed his lips together as if he was trying to decide what to say. “ Yes. But he doesn ’ t know yet. Tell him when you get back. But only as much as he needs to know. But you must never do anything too extreme on this side of the stones. Caleb came here looking for me because he overheard you accuse Sylvain of extorting him to sabotage my company. He wanted to know if that was true. But I haven ’ t told him much, other than that I ’ m fine. ”
“ Have you seen the older Caleb? Is he okay? ” Abbey hissed, but then widened her eyes because the younger Caleb had appeared in the door to the office like an angry orange shadow.
Simon gave a tight smile, and a sharp
He tried to form his mouth into a friendly smile at the woman who occupied the desk. “ I require all the maps you have of Coventry City, ” he said.
She cocked her head at him, but seemed to be showing her teeth in a receptive way. “ The map room is on the second floor mezzanine. I ’ m sure Kasey would be happy to help you. ”
Mark passed Sylvain ’ s computer kiosk on his way to the stairs. He couldn ’ t be certain, but he thought he saw the word “ Quentin ” typed into the search engine.
The mezzanine was an open platform that looked out over the library, and a smiley short man with strawberry blond hair in a dark grey jumpsuit stood behind the counter at the top of the stairs.
“ I require all the maps you have of Coventry City, ” Mark repeated.
The man blinked. “ You can only sign out three maps at a time. They can ’ t leave the map room. When you ’ re done with one, you can return it to me and I ’ ll get you another one. What do you want to start with? Eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth or twenty-first century? Topo or political? Larger than 1:50,000 or smaller than 1:50,000? ”
“ Eighteenth century, political, larger than 1:50,000, ” Mark said.
“ Okay, you can sit over there. I ’ ll bring you the maps. ” He eyed Mark ’ s satchel. “ No food or drink in the map room. ”
Mark nodded and headed over to the table the man had pointed to. The first floor of the library panned out beneath him, and he could see Sylvain ’ s stiff form hunched over the computer kiosk.
*****
Abbey gave a light knock on the window, and the person in the chair whirled around. It was Simon. Of course it was Simon — a gaunter, more chiseled Simon, with round wire spectacles and the same dusky eyes with dark circles beneath them. He rose from his chair and motioned in the direction of the front door. Abbey followed the edge of the wall to the stairs that descended to the door below.
Inside, the warm glow of muted ochre hallways greeted her, and Abbey found herself tilting her head several centimeters above Simon ’ s teenage height to look her brother in the eye. His hair was still deep brown and shaggy and, despite some crinkles around his eyes, his skin, although pale, remained supple and youthful. He looked far younger than the older Caleb. A gold band gleamed on Simon ’ s ring finger and he wore a well-cut khaki jumpsuit of a design similar to hers. Her heart accelerated a little. Even though Simon in real time, or present time, Abbey amended, was at this very moment in jail, he would be okay somehow. He would grow up and have a business, and a wife, and be okay. She hoped.
“ I was wondering if you might show up, ” he said.
“ You were? ”
“ Yup. Of course, I couldn ’ t be sure if the timelines had changed and just Caleb would come. ”
“ So Caleb and I told the younger you about this meeting? ”
“ You said you saw the older me. More than once, apparently. ”
Abbey nodded and looked around Simon to the open door of the office she had just peered into from outside, and lowered her voice. “ Did we tell Caleb about his future? ”
Simon pressed his lips together as if he was trying to decide what to say. “ Yes. But he doesn ’ t know yet. Tell him when you get back. But only as much as he needs to know. But you must never do anything too extreme on this side of the stones. Caleb came here looking for me because he overheard you accuse Sylvain of extorting him to sabotage my company. He wanted to know if that was true. But I haven ’ t told him much, other than that I ’ m fine. ”
“ Have you seen the older Caleb? Is he okay? ” Abbey hissed, but then widened her eyes because the younger Caleb had appeared in the door to the office like an angry orange shadow.
Simon gave a tight smile, and a sharp
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