For Darkness Shows the Stars

old.”
    “I can imagine,” Kai replied. But he didn’t need to. Elliot had been disappointed back then as well, and so had Kai, though he’d never seen the stars for himself. Still, the knowledge of the truth behind the miracle didn’t take away from the wonder of the sight, nor from the importance—even more so because it was natural and not manmade—that the appearance of the “stars” had held for Elliot’s ancestors.
    “I don’t mean to belittle it,” said Kai. “It’s stunning. Not like the real thing, of course—nothing can compare to when you’re out at sea, nothing around you but stars, shining above, reflected below.” The Phoenixes murmured their agreement. Elliot gazed up at the sanctuary firmament and tried to imagine what it would look like. “These . . . well, they look like bugs.”
    “They look like stars!” Tatiana exclaimed.
    “Not to my eyes,” said Kai.
    “Nor mine,” Andromeda added. “Nor yours, right, Donovan?”
    “I must admit they do not,” Donovan said, his tone reluctant.
    “I’m sorry for that,” Felicia broke in. “If you cannot see the wonder in this sanctuary, then your superior eyesight has done you no favors.”
    For a moment the three captains were silent, as if Felicia had scolded them like children. Finally, Andromeda spoke. “To be fair, the real stars don’t even fascinate me as much as when I was . . . younger.”
    “I am sorry for that, as well.” Felicia’s voice was sad.
    What did Felicia Innovation have to apologize for? It was hardly her fault that her young friends were unimpressed with the Norths’ most sacred possession. Indeed, she suspected Kai’s response was on purpose.
    “It’s especially disappointing,” Felicia went on, “when you consider those who will never see this miracle with any eyes . . .”
    Elliot heard Donovan’s harsh intake of breath. Beside him, Andromeda mumbled an apology.
    “It’s quite all right,” said Felicia, but her tone was so flat, Elliot felt sure that it was anything but. “Miss Norths, you must forgive these young captains. They have seen so many wonders beyond the shores of these islands, they forget the beauty of the wonders here at home.”
    “I would love to hear more of what you’ve seen,” said Olivia. “I’ve long wondered what else is out there.”
    “Have you?” asked Kai. “That’s an unusual desire for a Luddite. Even when I’ve heard them express it, they’ve never been sincere.”
    Elliot bit her lip and stared up at the stars until they blurred before her eyes.

Nine
     
    “PERHAPS YOU’LL BE MORE keen on this,” Olivia said, as if attempting to steer the conversation in a brighter direction. “Over here, there’s a spot where if you whisper, you can hear it all over. Where is it . . . ?” Elliot could hear her stumbling about in the darkness.
    “Let me help you,” said Kai. “Give me your arm. There, that’s better. This way?”
    Their voices drifted away from the main group, and a moment later, Olivia’s disembodied whisper echoed through the cavern. “Here it is,” came her hushed syllables. “If you talk here, you can be heard everywhere. But over here—” Her voice cut out.
    “Now that is interesting,” said Donovan.
    “There are directional whisper zones, too,” Horatio said. “You can whisper in one place and be heard only in a very specific other. There are some markers that show how—whisper by the yellow rock, be heard by the other yellow rock, and vice versa. Let me put on a light so I can show you.”
    He relit a sconce so there was at least enough light that they wouldn’t trip onto their faces, and within moments the group had dispersed over the interior of the cavern, each trying out a separate whisper zone. Tatiana alone remained aloof, and Elliot took a seat beside her sister.
    “This is what I get, I suppose, for allowing a bunch of Posts into the sanctuary,” Tatiana said with a long-suffering sigh.
    “Now, Tatiana,” Elliot said. “Don’t pretend you never played with the whisper zones yourself. You used to make Benedict and me come down here and play Gavin and Carlotta with you.”
    “I was ten,” Tatiana sniffed, but then her tone turned teasing. “How we scared you with that game! Is that why you hate coming down here? Are you still afraid of the dark?”
    “No,” Elliot insisted. It wasn’t the ghosts of Gavin and Carlotta who scared her in these caverns. It was the ones of her ancestors and