Chapter 22

“You are the one I saw in danger. I felt

like I must tell you alone.”

“So is Esteban someone who might be

dangerous to me?”

“I cannot tell you that. Part of your

journey is finding out who and what you should trust, and who and

what you should embrace and who and what you should simply leave

alone. I can only tell you that I saw danger in your journey. You

must learn to protect yourself and those who you bring under your

protection.”

“I am supposed to save the Innocents? I am

supposed to protect them? All of them?”

“It’s what your parents want.”

“Is it what I should do?”

He laughed, and I recognized it from the

sound and the movement that I had heard earlier.

“I know. You can’t tell me," I said. “Tell

me this then, what makes one an Innocent? What definition do we

have of them, and how do I find them?”

“An Innocent, by your parents’ terms was

someone like me, the last, or almost last, of our species. You will