Even after they had, Beacon didn’t move.
“Katarina?”
“Shh.”
“Do you want to be alone?”
She shook her head.
“Polina told me something yesterday morning,” she said.
“Yeah?”
“My father taught me to swim off that dock when I was four.” She pointed to the wooden structure that was barely visible. “I don’t remember it or him. I lived my whole life without knowing this place, because I didn’t remember and no one told me.”
“And now, you’re here.”
“And I know my parents were here. I feel closer to them now, sitting inside this vehicle, than at any other time in my life. Even at the cemetery.”
She took her hand out of her jacket pocket, and in her palm sat a compass. She set it on the console between us. “This was my dad’s. Anna gave it to me before we left Lausanne.”
She reached into the same pocket and pulled something else out—the journal she’d taken from the safeafter the bombing. She set it on the console, beside the compass.
“I haven’t been ready to open it,” she said. “I thought I would on the plane. Then I thought I’d wait until we got here. Now, I think I’ll wait until I’m inside.”
I stared at it but didn’t touch it. It felt too sacred. After a couple of minutes, she picked it up and returned it to her pocket.
“I’m ready,” she said.
“Please wait for my help. The ground is probably uneven.”
I came around the front of the vehicle and handed her the crutch. She took it and planted it in the gravel and stood up on her good leg.
“Welcome to Onteora,” I said.
“Don’t say it like I’m a guest.”
“Noted.”
“Say it properly.”
I thought it over for a split second, then realized what she was looking for. “Welcome home, Katarina.”
Rather than grab the bags, I walked with her to the steps that led to the entrance, where she stopped.
“Bishop?”
“Yeah?”
“I need your help.”
I put my arm under hers and took most of her weight as we climbed the six slate steps. When we reached the top, she thanked me.
The front door opened when we approached, and Henry stepped aside to let us in. Anna’s voice was coming from somewhere deeper in the main camp. She was talking to Mercury, reminiscing, from what I could hear. When Beacon made her way over to the large picture windows, I joined her.
“I don’t know if it’s the power of suggestion, but I get glimpses.”
“What do you see?”
