The Cartographers(82)

She followed Daniel, despite Wally’s protests. He stood on the porch fuming, so upset he wasn’t able to even speak as we hesitantly tried to comfort him. We were all angry, but it was hitting Wally the hardest by far. Maybe because he was the one who was the most nervous about our ability to keep Agloe a secret until we’d finished our project—or maybe because Tam seemed to have taken Daniel’s side in this, even though he was in the wrong.

By the time we all finally went in, Tam was alone with you in the kitchen, getting out the plates for the dinner Wally had started. Daniel was already gone, hiding upstairs to brood.



Dinner was horrible—a tense, silent affair with Wally seething, Tam hurt by Daniel but playing peacemaker for the good of the group, and the rest of us caught somewhere in the middle. By midnight, Daniel still hadn’t come downstairs, and Wally still hadn’t mellowed. When I finally went to bed, Wally was the last one in the living room, glaring stonily out one of the windows into the night. I was dreading tomorrow.

But Tam must have talked some sense into Daniel overnight, because the next morning, he came downstairs once the rest of us—save Wally—had gathered for breakfast, looking repentant. He apologized again and promised he wouldn’t send another letter. Romi suggested that I take over Daniel’s turns to make grocery runs for the group to help rebuild some of the lost trust, and he agreed.

“Wally will be happy to hear this,” Tam said, glancing back toward the stairs. “Hey, Wally!” she cried. “Daniel has something he’d like to say to you.”

But the upstairs remained silent.

“Do you think he could still be that mad?” Romi asked.

Tam handed Bear the spoon she’d been feeding you breakfast with, but I stood up.

“Let me go,” I offered. “Impartial party.”

Upstairs, Wally’s door was closed. I knocked, but I didn’t hear him stir. I knocked again.

“Okay, I’m alone, I’m coming in,” I said, and pushed the door open, but the room was empty.

Wally was gone. He’d left before any of us had even woken up—off to do more of his mysterious research, alone.

I thought he just needed a day to cool off, but things stayed that way for weeks. In fact, the more time we all spent in Agloe, it seemed that Wally spent even less. He was gone more often, and for longer each time, and had become even more brusque about what exactly he was researching, whenever someone did ask. He just insisted that it was important, and we leave him to it.

We let him carry on. He was always our fail-safe, for every project. We believed that whatever angle he was working, it would be important to the Dreamer’s Atlas.

But as for Eve and me, we put a stop to things after Bear found Daniel’s letter. The shame of our affair was already hollowing us out—every errant glance was a cut, every accidental touch a knife to the gut—and being surprised by Daniel’s betrayal woke us up. We finally realized the monstrousness of what we were doing, and the pain we were going to cause everyone if they found out. Especially Romi.

In a way, it was a relief. We wanted each other as much as we wanted it to be over. To no longer want each other. To be free. We’d been searching for a reason, and Daniel’s mistake seemed perfect.

To make it easier, I offered to take even more errand duties. In addition to Daniel’s turns for grocery runs, I also adopted Eve’s, which meant we could spend more time apart. She’d continue surveying, and I’d spend more time away from Agloe, being responsible for three people’s worth of chores in Rockland.

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. At first, every minute I spent outside Agloe when the others were there was so nerve-racking, I could hardly breathe. I was panicked at what I might miss. But each time, it became a little easier. Maybe I started to see just how consumed we were by that place. How isolated and secretive we’d become. The clerks at the grocery store started to greet me by name, and I didn’t realize how nice it was to talk about something other than that cursed map until I was already doing it.

But Agloe wouldn’t let me go that easily.

One Tuesday when I walked into the Rockland Grocer, a list of snacks and booze dangling from my grip, I heard someone calling me from behind the registers.

“Nice to see you, Rose,” I replied. “Been busy?”

“You wouldn’t believe,” Rose said. “Happens every summer. I’ve been trying to catch that friend of yours all week. The one always with the camera.”

“Wally?” I asked, surprised.

“He’s got some mail but hasn’t been in to pick it up. You’re all still in that same house, aren’t you? Could you take it to him?”

“Sure,” I said, following her over to the back corner. Even though there was a proper post office in Rockland, many of the locals kept mailboxes at the grocer, because it was so convenient. “I didn’t know he had a box here.”

Rose nodded. “Stopped by and opened it the first week you all came to town. Normally he’s in almost every day to check, but I must have missed him the past couple days, and I’m taking a trip to see my sister and her kid over in Scranton.”

“That’ll be nice,” I said.

Rose sighed. “Normally would be, but I’m going because they need help around the house. There was an incident at the high school where her husband cleans. Someone broke in at night, and he fell wrong and fractured his leg trying to stop the guy.”