I saw even then that Sharskin’s destiny had a deadline. One day all of this cave of wonders would fall in upon itself and be lost to the world, and if we had not regained the powers of our ancestors by then, we never would. The House had stood for hundreds of years, Sharskin said, and doubtless it would endure long past our deaths, but that is not the same as forever. There was no excuse for dragging our feet and letting the next generation of outcasts do the work.
