After the immense ceilings of the library, the narrow hallway—lined top to bottom with books, and lit by intermittent lights—felt somehow foreboding. In the Belly the world was as branching and complex as a spider's web, a million places to hide or climb. Here there was only one hallway with no offshoots. It reminded me of one of the rare tunnels in the Belly where the engineers would chase rats—a tunnel with no exit. I touched the necklace beneath my shirt without thinking.

"Anything in particular you're looking for?" Dagger's voice made me jump.

I shrugged, weighing whether or not to tell him I was looking for the oldest bible here. "You seem to know a lot about this place."

His voice gave nothing away. "I do."

"Which book is the oldest?"

He stopped, eyes narrowed as he turned to me. "Why?"

I shrugged. "No reason. Why? Is there something special about it?" I tried not to sound too eager.

He stared at me, then almost begrudgingly, turned and kept walking. "It's a Bible."

A thrill ran down my spine. "Where is it?"

"We're almost there."

Our footsteps were the only sound in the narrow space. The hallway took a turn, and began to feel more like a tunnel now that the main room behind us had disappeared from view. The lights grew dimmer, the books older and more worn, a dusty scent rising like we'd entered a dormant piece of machinery. I tried not to think what would happen if Skull or any of the others found us down here. They won't find us. And besides, there's a super old woman guarding the entrance.

"Are there a lot of hallways off the library?" I asked, trying to keep my voice nonchalant, while glancing over my shoulder. Nothing but the curve of the tunnel and more darkly lit books.

"Just this one." Dagger stopped and pointed. "This is the Bible."

Had he not pointed, I wouldn't have noticed it. A single light lit an alcove of books set into the wall, but, as if to personally spite me, a thick sheet of glass protected them. Disappointment tightened my gut. I couldn't get to the displayed Bible without breaking the glass, which I wasn't opposed to, but then I would definitely need to tell Dagger what I was up to. His eyes watched me, full of suspicion.

He nodded to the shelf on the opposite side of the hallway, with a light set above it, and no glass guarding the books. "There's a few others there too. They aren't as old, but you can read them, if you wish."

If I wish? Aww gee, thanks partner. I stared in frustration at the books behind the glass— to break or not to break? My reflection stared back at me, dark hair wild, face blurred, like my way forward. I sighed and then made my way over to the other books. Maybe this whole thing was a dead end after all. The first Adam and Eve could mean anything—the first people on the Beast, an A and an E... if only Xyla were here...

"You look disappointed," Dagger said as I turned to the shelf of books.

I shrugged. There wasn't a rational way I could explain why my promise to a dead woman was so important to me... and why it was about more than just saving Xyla.

Since I was already here, and Dagger was watching, I ran a slow finger over all the Bibles on the exposed shelf, leaving a trail in the dust. They really were beautiful, and in another moment I would have appreciated the collection of worn leather and bindings, and the stories of Old Earth they contained.

Yaneli had tried to bring Xyla and I both to the Old Earth church, and for a time I had gone, if only because the Bible was one of the greatest historical recounts of Old Earth's humanity. The God it depicted, one of both wrath and destruction, and love and forgiveness, drew me to the pages like my fingertips to metal. The priests spoke of how he had granted humanity a second chance, on Second Earth, but I wasn't sure I believed that. A part of me wondered if maybe humanity had already used all it's chances.

My fingers skimmed cover after cover, until they paused on the final book on the shelf. It stood out from the others, its cover tattered and worn, darker and older looking than the rest. I pulled it free. A bit of paper was tucked into it. I hunched my shoulders, keeping my back to Dagger as I pulled the piece of paper free—

— and then I couldn't breathe.

The paper unfolded into a sort of flyer, printed in bold, celebratory font, but that wasn't what captivated me. It was the edge of the picture, where a small piece had been torn free. A piece the exact size and color of the one hidden in my necklace. I read the flyer with a sort of numb disbelief.

Cryosleep: Safe and Cozy!

Sleep your way to Second Earth, and wake in paradise.

At the bottom was a faded picture of a man and a woman with closed eyes and peaceful expressions, sleeping inside what looked like a glass coffin.

The riddle written in the necklace had been torn from the edge of this flyer. There was no other explanation except that Aliyah had wanted someone to find it. Which meant I now held the next piece of the puzzle in my hands. The riddle's words sprung into my mind.

My secrets lie in the forgotten tomb,

Past the first Adam and Eve,

Beneath the serpent's bloom.