Page 80 of Still the Sun

A shudder courses up my spine. He took my memories, just like he took Ramdinee’s soul. Sucked them into himself like some kind of inhuman vacuum. Like some kind ofvoid.

I don’t dare say the name out loud, though I’ve cursed by it more times than I can count. Heartwood came to Tampere in search of his sister, who had joined the war against Ruin. The god created by the inversion of the Well of Creation. A creature that could onlytake.

Moseus is Ruin. I knew it then, and I know it now. He made me forget. I can’t be wrong, because why would he take false knowledge from me? He took it all from me, discarded me, until realizing he needed me for his tower.

Leaning heavily against Ramdinee’s empty house, I manage to put my legs under me. But ... what on Tampere does the towerdo?

I blink.Ihid that cog. The one missing from Machine Two, the one I found in Heartwood’s garden. I remember it like it just happened. I’d been skeptical of Moseus’s motivations. Off things he said, his sickness, his behavior. I’d seen through the windows thefirsttime I climbed to the protrusion. Seen that dark pit in his center. I’d feared, but I had no proof, and I had to be careful, for Heartwood’s sake—

I had just discovered the lift. Then I found Moseus with Ramdinee ... I went to the garden to tell Heartwood, but he wasn’t there. He was hunting the scarce deer again. For me. I couldn’t let Moseus access the rest of the machine. I still didn’t understand it, but I felt in my bones I couldn’t let him use it. I hid the cog in that tree. Came back to Emgarden and borrowed Arthen’s knife. Thought I could defend myself, if needed. I took it, and I lost it, and Heartwood kept it after Moseus pulled us apart—

“Serpent save me,” I whisper, pushing hair out of my face with quivering fingers. “I know why I made that machine.”

And I know why I hid it under my floorboards, too. I never voiced my fears about Moseus, butifI was right ...

I built the machine and hid it under my floorboards so even Heartwood wouldn’t see it. So Moseus could never know. Just in case. A few cycles later ... Ramdinee, and then Moseus took it all from me. But I got it back. I remember, now. How?

Because he’s sick,I think, and shudder.Diminished. They both are. His magic isn’t holding.

I sit on Ramdinee’s porch for a long time, trying to sort my thoughts, trying to breathe beneath the weight of them. When I finally stumble away, I barely see the street in front of me. Run into Arthen. Mutter an apology and distantly wonder why people are still in the street. The earthquake passed. The tower sits inert.

“Look at it, Pell.” Arthen squints skyward, one hand shadowing his eyes. “What does that mean?”

Numb, I follow his gaze. Shield my face from the sunlight—

Wait.

Cycle after cycle, the sun has beaten down on Emgarden. I know the sun like I know my own hands. Even in the mist, one can make out its distant orb. Never has itmoved.

But now it’s moved. Only by a fraction, but it’s moved, beaming from straight overhead. And if that sundial Salki found is any indication, it will continue to move. My gut clenches and my eyes water, forcing me to look away and blink spots from my vision. I see the edge of the tower over the squat homes of Emgarden.

Heartwood is in that tower.

One thing at a time. Find Salki.

I push past the crowd and slip into her home. Casnia throws a piece of chalk and marches over to me, her latest piece of art, colored edge to edge, wrinkled in her tight hand.

“I’m going to the fields to find Salki.” Salki never goes to work without Casnia. At the very least, she leaves her in the care of another. “Stay here.”

“Member!” Casnia shouts at me.

“Stayhere,” I repeat, and turn for the door.

Casnia’s feet pound on the floorboards. She grabs my shirt and huffs, jerking me back. “No! You! You!” She shoves the drawing into my chest.

Gritting my teeth and begging the gods for patience, I inspect the drawing. It’s supposed to be me and Salki, but I’m tall and lithe with choppy yellow hair, and Salki boasts locks of flowing red and a white dress. I’ve never seen Salki wear a dress in my life. Around us are scribbles of green, and above, long lines of black with random blue dots in it.

“It’s very nice, Cas.”

“Sal!” She stabs her finger at the page, screeches from deep in her throat, and grabs fistfuls of her hair.

Sighing, I set the artwork aside and gently cup her elbows. “Calm down, Cas. Big breaths.”

“No!” she shouts at me, so loud I freeze. She snatches back the picture and shoves it at me. “Member, Pell!”

“Member?” I ask. “Remember?”

Casnia slaps her hand against the picture, each thud reverberating through my chest.

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