The Glass Sentence (The Mapmakers Trilogy) by Grove S. E

Author:Grove, S. E. [Grove, S. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-06-12T07:00:00+00:00

18

Chocolate, Paper, Coin

1891, June 26: 2-Hour #

We accept ONLY cacao, silver, or Triple Eras bank notes. No stones, glass, or spice will be accepted. Bank notes from New Occident are accepted at a 1.6 exchange rate. To change other currencies see the money changer.

—Vendor’s sign at Veracruz market

IT TOOK ONLY a few experiments to determine why the Tracing Glass illuminated Aceituna’s instructions. Though she examined almost every inch of the Swan through it, Sophia found that only one kind of object shone: maps. The nautical charts that Burr had brought her shone like sheets of hammered gold; the map of the island drawn by Shadrack glowed as if alive with starlight; Calixta’s cabin, the walls papered with maps, seemed flooded with light that shone through a dozen map-sized windows. As a final experiment, Sophia asked Burr to draw a map on a blank sheet of paper while she observed him through the glass. At first, the blank sheet, Burr, and his quill all looked quite ordinary. But the moment the faint line he had drawn became a route, the paper took on a different aspect. When he drew a small compass in the corner, the sheet fairly glowed.

Clearly the glass map, whatever else its contents, illuminated other maps. Sophia pondered the significance of her discovery while Burr, Calixta, and Theo slept in their cabins and Grandmother Pearl sat beside her on the deck, snoring lightly. In most cases, of course, the glass would be redundant: Burr’s nautical charts were clearly nautical charts, and the glass did not make them any easier to read. But if one were looking for a hidden map, Sophia reflected, her mind whirring, the glass might be very useful. What if a glass map was disguised in a window? she thought. Or what if in a whole library there were only three maps? In such circumstances, the Tracing Glass would be invaluable. So tracing means finding, not outlining, she reflected. The multilingual instructions, which had once seemed so strange—“you will see it through me”—now made perfect sense. Anyone who could read would be told the purpose of the glass at first glance.

It brought her no closer to understanding the memories, but the discovery made her reconsider why Shadrack had entrusted the glass to her. Maybe it’s not to help find him but to help me find another map. A map no one can else can see, perhaps? Is Veressa supposed to help me? Her thoughts drifted, and suddenly she sat up, electrified. She rummaged quietly through her pack and drew out her notebook. Flipping through the pages, she found the drawings she’d made after the confrontation with Montaigne.

All the different pieces of the puzzle were there: the Lachrima from Shadrack’s note, the glass map, Montaigne, and the Nihilismians who traveled with him. There had seemed to be no connection, but suddenly there was, at least for some of the pieces, because she remembered what she had been unable to recall before. Back at East Ending

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