“Master Watcher!” one of them said.
The man hunched his shoulders, and Nell thought that the first privilege of having come into this place was seeing him scolded like a small boy caught at mischief.
But he only said, “I’ve just spoken with the Guide, and he’s called for them,” and waved the children on behind him.
Nell looked back to see one of the men on his feet, frowning in their direction as they followed the Master Watcher through another door to the foot of a flight of wide marble steps with brass banisters brighter in the places where hands had run along them. They climbed without a word and reached a landing where a tall window looked out over the second garden. Nell could see a group of young women emerging from the tunnel in the second band with buckets and trowels, moving toward the vegetable patches. A bumblebee pinged against the window, bounced back, and dived toward the greenery, and Kate put a finger to the glass where it had been. The Master Watcher twitched a shoulder and gave a short click of impatience before mounting the next set of stairs. Nell saw now that the staircase they were climbing ran the width of the third band, and at each landing a window showed the gardens below — second and third, vegetables and shade trees, a group of girls Susan’s age harvesting tomatoes, boys not much older than Max emerging through the tunnel into the third garden and moving toward the doors, laden with books.
The last set of stairs ended in a wide room with a floor the color of slate and tall bookshelves that stood between the windows, casting shadows. Several small round tables sat around it, and at one of these, a lone figure bent over an open book. He was old, and at first Nell thought him very old, given his white hair and the curve of his back. He sat amid great puddles of sunlight. Nell looked up. The roof was all glass, and, strangely, a breeze riffled the pages of the book on the table and lifted Nell’s hair off her neck.
“Tur Kaysh,” the Master Watcher said. “This is the boy I mentioned.”
The man had not raised his head at the sound of their entrance, but he did now. She had thought him very aged, but suddenly Nell wasn’t sure. He sat up, his back straight and his shoulders squared, and turned bright eyes their way. His face looked grave, and Nell tensed, but then he spoke, and his voice, unexpectedly rich, filled the room.
“Welcome,” he said. “To all of you.”
Nell warmed to him. She grinned at the sound of that beautiful, gracious voice and shot the Master Watcher a look. See? she thought at him. He’s glad we came.
The Guide looked from one to the next of them, and Nell was caught by those eyes. They were wide-awake eyes, searching eyes, understanding eyes. They made her want to talk to this man, stay near him. He smiled, and she felt happiness, feather light, floating inside her.
“Just as you said, Lan.” The Guide nodded to the Master Watcher. “It’s wonderful.”
He raised a hand and beckoned to Max.
“Boy,” he said. “Come here.”
Nell could feel the others lean forward, wanting to move closer, too. Max, reddening, stepped toward the old man. With a flush of jealousy, Nell looked to the Master Watcher. Despite the warmth in the Guide’s voice, the Master Watcher tensed, his shoulders rising.
“What do they call you?” the old man asked.
In a low voice, Max said his name.
“And where do you come from, Max?”
His voice was deep and musical, and Nell wished again that he was talking to her and looking her way.
Max hesitated only a second. “It’s hard to explain,” he said.
The Guide nodded as if Max had said something brilliant and wonderful. “The first step toward wisdom is admitting the difficulty,” he said approvingly. “And of course beginning the search. So you’ve begun, by coming here.” He grinned suddenly. “And what a mind you must have, to have helped your friends here.” He swept his arm out to include the girls. “We were anxious to meet you once we’d had news from the city.”
Nell wondered who “we” were.
“My sisters,” Max corrected.
The Master Watcher flinched almost invisibly, but the Guide smiled widely at the word.
“Your sisters. How beautiful.”
“No, I meant —” Max started, but the Master Watcher cut him off.
“There’s more, Guide. As we waited on the mountain, the boy opened the mist.”
Nell opened her mouth to say something, but Susan’s hand closed on her wrist. Her sister gave a tiny shake of her head.
The smile that had been on the old man’s face froze. It was as if a candle had been blown out behind his eyes. Nell watched him lose focus, regain it. He looked sharply at Max.
“You opened the barrier, boy? Lan, are you sure?”
The Master Watcher nodded, and Nell thought that if his shoulders went any higher, they’d be at his ears.
Max stammered, “I — it wasn’t me, it was —”
Again the younger man interrupted him. “The boy was confused by what he’d done. It was almost instinct. But I saw it with my own eyes.”
The old man raised a hand and pressed his palm to his mouth. He sat that way for a long silent moment, considering Max with those fiery, searching eyes.
“This changes things,” he said. He looked away from them a second, and Nell had the uncomfortable feeling that his eyes were moist.
“Boy,” he continued, “you come at a propitious moment. We have much to offer you, and you, in turn, have much to offer us.” He leaned toward Max, who stood, suddenly still, staring
