“Todd, listen for one minute, please?”
Todd swung a chair around and straddled it, crossed his arms over the chair back, and rested his chin on them.
“Look, Nicky, I know you’re excited about being in here and finding more on the history of after the eruption, but—”
“I think it’s all tied together,” Nick blurted out.
Nodding, Todd waved the fingers of one hand at Nick and said, “Go on. I’m listening.”
“Everything I’ve ever been able to find out on the history of this half of the continent since the eruption I’ve written in here.” He held up the thick journal. “You know I use the different journals for different sorts of things, right?” Todd nodded, and Nick continued. “There were things that never added up. I’d read something in a newspaper here, or find entries in a book there, but n
