ALESSIA
Carter's conversation found me on the eighth day.
Not sought out — Carter did not seek things out with any visibility. He simply arranged himself in the vicinity of what he was looking for and waited for it to arrive, which was either patience or strategy and with Carter was probably both simultaneously.
I found him in the kitchen at eleven at night, sitting at the counter with a book face-down beside him and a cup of tea that had clearly been there long enough to go cold, which told me he had not actually been reading but had been using the book as a prop while he waited for something. He looked up when I came in, with the expression of someone who had been expecting me and was not going to admit it.
"Couldn't sleep," I said.
"Evidently." He stood and put the kettle on withou
