Chapter Five: The Unrecordable

The unfinished twelfth entry read: EIGHT ANCHORS OUTSTANDING. SUCCESSOR: LIN CEN. UPON SETTLEMENT, RECORDER'S RELATIVE TO BE RETURNED. “Eight?” Amara said. “After Roman's sale, there should be seven.” Lin counted the remaining tourists: herself, Amara, Mia, Luca, Henry, Evelyn. Six. Seven including Roman. But nine tourists had entered Vallon. Every forearm list held an unnatural gap after Evelyn's name. Their cord ran through seven sleeves, then looped around two empty chairs. “Two people were erased without our noticing,” Amara said. “No.” Henry enlarged the spectrum. Of the two ownerless peaks, one was flat. The other still breathed. “One was erased. One is here, but we can't see or retain them.”