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stony expression returned to chase any turbulence away.
    â€œThere are those who have resisted us,” he said simply. “Those who have doubted the rightness of our way. The Scavenger is ever mindful of those whose feet stray from the one true path.”
    â€œHe is also a complete crock,” Wali unexpectedly joinedthe conversation. “But a really convenient way to keep a bunch of ignorant savages in line.”
    Archangel shrugged one final time and moved on.
    The dance lasted a minute more, the dancer collapsing dramatically at the end only to spring up smiling and receive pats on the back from his companions. When it was over, Asunder nodded gravely at the company and stood.
    â€œThrough our faith and acts, we unshackle our souls from the sins of the past,” he said. “ Shashi tivah bracha , aya tivah bis . In the holy fires of renewal, our souls drink deeply, and they return wholly other than once they were. Minach, minach tivah . Fill, oh fill our souls! Only those who cling stubbornly to the ways of the despoilers”—and his eyes fell on Wali—“can fail to be touched by this solemn appeal.”
    He clapped his hands together, the sharp sound reverberating through the cavern.
    â€œTravelers from afar,” he said. “You have heard what we have to say, and listened to the rich offer we have extended to you. Now each of you has a choice to make: accept the path that is laid before you, or refuse that path and fall into the arms of the one who waits. We grant you one day and night more to reflect on this choice, and to answer of your own free will at morning’s first light. But do not deceive yourselves”—and now his eyes lingered on me and Nessa—“in thinking to delay, or to wheedle, or to malinger. Do not think, as some have thought, that we waste breath on idlethreats. By tomorrow, the choice must be made: life or death. No other choice is possible.”
    With that he exited the throne and left us, the warriors approaching to take us back to our cell. For once, Nessa seemed too stunned to keep up her composure, and she shuffled forward numbly with the warriors at her back. My head swam as I tried to process what Asunder had said. I’d thought we might have days, weeks, to play his game—time for Aleka to heal, for us to glean useful information from him, even to spot a weakness. But I realized I’d been fooling myself. Why would he wait, when he had us in his power now?
    The cell was as quiet as a tomb. Wali threw himself down in the corner he’d chosen, as far from the rest of us as possible. Nessa kept touching her hair as if to assure herself the knife was still in place. We waited for what seemed like hours, and probably was, but there was no change in the twilight gloom. The guard’s shadow on the curtain never moved. At last I broke the silence.
    â€œDid you see any ways out?” I asked Nessa.
    â€œThere were lots of recesses in the main cavern,” she said. “But I couldn’t tell if they led to exits or just to more caves.”
    â€œWhat about the spring?” I said. “It has to start somewhere.”
    She shook her head. “Aleka and the old woman would never make it. And most of the little ones can’t swim.”
    I nodded, trying to look as if I’d been evaluating ouroptions as thoroughly as she had. The truth was, it hadn’t even occurred to me that I probably couldn’t swim either.
    We talked some more about the layout of the main cavern, the guards at the cell doors, the mismatch in our numbers. The kids too small to run, the members of our colony too weak to fight. The fact that even if we did get out in the open, we had nowhere to run to. The canyon belonged to Asunder. The black rock plateau wouldn’t keep us alive for long. And if Asunder was to be believed, the Scavenger of Souls waited for us if we tried to find refuge there.
    We talked until I knew we had