They left the city behind as the sun bled out over the coast. The cavern lay where the cliffs shelved into the sea, a hollowed ribcage of stone with a single maw to the wind, a place old in a way that had nothing to do with paper or paint. Salt and basalt and the cold breath of the ocean filled it; moonlight struck the water and flared against the wet rock like a blade.

Melinda chose the place because the sea answered to no law she could not read. Diana agreed because it gave her something to ...