Chapter One
The Note in the Atlas
The first thing Maren found in the atlas was a sea that had been drawn in the wrong place. The second was a note asking her to stay.
She had come to the library early because there were only two rooms in school where nobody asked whether she was all right. One was the art room before the windows were opened. The other was the library before the bell. Her mother had told her about the move over breakfast, so the art room was too full of the drawings she would have to take down. The library still looked as if every book intended to keep its place.
The atlas was old enough to smell of dry paper. Its binding complained when she opened it across the return desk. A folded square dropped from between two pages and struck her shoe. On it, in dark ink, someone had written four words.
If you find this, stay.
Maren looked behind her. The windows were still pale with morning. Beyond the shelves a chair stood where a person might have been. She waited for somebody to laugh and say it was part of a game. Nobody did.
She turned the paper over. Blank. The handwriting was neat where it could have been hurried, the letters pressed so hard that the message had left a faint impression on the other side. It was not addressed to anyone. That made it worse. For one ridiculous moment she felt seen.
