The boy let out another moan of pain. The Attendant placed a hand on the boy’s silver hair, but he seemed not to take any comfort in it. The woman frowned. “He is in great pain. He is frightened.”
Fernanda eased Adeline to the stone platform and shook out her arms. Of everyone, she seemed the least afraid of a wailing child. “What does a god have to be frightened of?”
The silver-eyed boy blinked. He looked from one face to the next. Without opening his mouth, he said
this
ETHAN
He didn’t know how to describe the moment he heard the child in his head. Te’lo’hi could never be mistaken for human—it was obvious to Ethan that the creature was making an effort tosoundlike a boy—but there was no hiding the youth in its voice either. Or the pain.
i came from far away
the boy said.
my kind drift among stars
that your kind have not even named
we tell stories
and watch stories
and dream of futures never passed
“His kind are outsiders in all senses of the word,” said the woman, the Attendant. “They are a substance of great density. They require no air. No warmth. They are… difficult to explain.”
Sarah seemed to have some idea what this could mean. “Are you saying he’s some kind of—what—sentient metal?”
“Even that is inadequate, but it is a start. When they come to full maturity, Te’lo’hi’s kind become so heavy and release so much energy that they can bend the weave of existence around them. When he is full-grown, Te’lo’hi will be able to cross between all the infinite overlapping universes that exist at any given moment. That is what ‘Te’lo’hi’ meant in our old language. He is The Lake That Travels.”
Ethan said, “That’s what the mirror in the old house was showing us. It was glazed from a piece of Te’lo’hi. It can see the future, the past, all the different ways things could be.”
“So what happened?” Kyla said. “How the hell did you wind up here?”
The silver-eyed boy lowered his head. His long hair, when it rustled, made a sound like rain pinging from a zinc roof.
there was an accident
a mistake
i fell through a gap in time
coming here to this world
i became separated from the others like me
and i lacked the strength to go back
i became trapped here
in this story
and i was alone
i fell to this mountain
and called out for friends
