The third phase of the working began at eight in the morning.
Odessa set it up with the brisk precision she brought to all practical matters — the library arranged differently than usual, the texts in a specific configuration, the Aldric manuscript open to a section Lena hadn't worked with before. Remy was at her right, in the specific collaborative position they'd established, his two hundred and sixty years and her eighty-three years operating as a unit with the ease of people who had found their working grammar.
Damon was at the garden.
Not inside — the third phase required the warden to hold his position outside, at the apex, the highest point in the grounds. She'd shown him the spot that morning — the garden's northwest corner where the land rose slightly, where you could see the w
