The Voice picked the history book up off the Library counter. “She displays great interest in us,” they commented aloud. They could not communicate silently anymore, not so far from the Castle's core rooms. Their Hands were as often the Castle's mouthpieces as their own.

  The Hand at the desk also spoke, without looking up from their work. “We can talk to her,” they said, tone distant. “She has the capacity to understand us. She dreams brightly.”

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  “Will she come back if you ask?” the Voice wondered.

  “She may," the Hand said levelly. "We will call for her."

  “If she can’t come back?” the Voice asked. "Or continues to deny you."

  “Then, when you are gone, we will dream. Some of the others hear us. One will accept us.” The Hand seemed unmoved by the prospect. The Voice, however, looked out through the library archway to the hall beyond.

  "We should begin to send the others away," they said. "The anomalies are growing."