It was many years since he had been in the capital, not since his own testing for the rank of magister. The city was clean and beautiful, as he had wanted Zendi to be. It felt good to come home, even without knowing what fate awaited him. Julia would be safe here in Portia's Academy. What would become of Lenardo was another question. He had broken his vow of celibacy; he could not be readmitted to the Academy. Nonetheless, his Reading abilities had mysteriously increased. He didn't know why, but if his powers had reached this unheard-of state, what might a Master Reader achieve who had never defiled his body? Once he had demonstrated his increased abilities, the entire Council of Masters would want him alive and well for their study.

I will bargain for my life from a position of power, he thought wryly. That was one useful lesson Aradia had taught him; without that understanding, it was dangerous to have something other people wanted.

The sun was high in the sky. Lenardo found an inn, where he and Julia took a room and then had luncheon in the cool, dark tavern. In the heat, everyone was eating fruit and salad, and so their vegetarian Readers' diet provoked no curiosity. Soon the busy streets would empty, and the boys at the temporary Academy would be released from their studies in the heat of the day. Lenardo intended to go there and reveal himself to Clement and Torio.

Leaving Julia, who was actually willing to nap after the long journey, he set out on foot through the emptying streets. His ankle was almost completely healed; the short walk would not harm it. The students from the Academy at Adigia were still housed in an abandoned villa-adequate lodgings but not a proper building for their needs, and no room to expand.

The street door stood open. Lenardo entered, Reading some of the boys gathered in the shade by the courtyard fountain and others in their rooms. The marble building was cooler inside than out; most of the teachers and students were in their rooms, many of them napping. Something was missing in the atmosphere-a certain sense of hope and excitement that had characterized these same men and boys at Adigia.

He turned from the entry hall where visitors were greeted into a long corridor, expecting at every moment to be challenged, thinking of the surprise when he identified himself, for everyone here knew him. Several strong Readers were awake and Reading. By the time he reached the end of the hall, he should have been recognized or challenged half a dozen times-yet no one noticed him. Slowly, it dawned on him that he had achieved the legendary ability to Read without being Read. As if his mind had become completely absorbing, nonreflecting, he was un-Readable among Readers.

To test the hypothesis, he deliberately Read the next person he found awake: Decius. The boy was sitting on his bed, massaging the stump of the leg he had lost in the battle at Adigia. Leaning against the bed was the peg leg he was learning to use; it made the stump sore, and the boy was now Reading carefully to determine whether today's was the bruising pain he had to endure until he gained strength and callouses or whether he had best to go back to his crutch for the rest of the day. It was a pragmatic examination, Lenardo was glad to find; there was no self-pity in the boy's attitude.

Neither was there recognition, even when Lenardo Read with him, sick at heart to see traces of unhealed damage after all this time. Sandor would have healed those lingering injuries in a week, Aradia in a day.

But they heal people only to keep them in their power, Lenardo told himself, and continued quietly past Decius':closed door toward where Torio's stood open.

At this point the wall to Lenardo's left ended, a series of pillars supporting the roof but giving access to the courtyard, where several of the younger boys were splashing in:the fountain with shouts and giggles, paying attention to nothing but their games. Lenardo moved quietly down the shaded hall and entered Torio's room.

The boy was sitting at his desk, his back to Lenardo, concentrating on a box in front of him. It was an exercise in fine discernment, a sealed box containing a number ol items similar in composition, some very tiny, such as several grains of sand in different colors, and with them a single salt crystal. Torio, having identified all the larger items, was concentrating on those. He added to the list on his tablet: "sand-black, blue, red, yellow, white." Lenardo held his breath. Some instinct told Torio to Read again. He did, "looking" at the grains in another way, examining their internal structure. Then he turned his stylus over and rubbed out the word "white," substituting "salt." With a sigh, he started to get up from his stool.

//Very good, Torio.//

//Master Lenardo.// The boy froze. //Where are you?//

Astonished to find that Torio seemed to think him still far away, Lenardo replied aloud, "Right here."

Torio started and whirled around, his hands groping for an instant unil he began Reading visually and "saw" Lenardo before him. Then he threw his arms about him, hugging him tight, and Lenardo realized that the boy was now as tall as he was.

"Oh, Master Lenardo, I'm so glad you're home. But you certainly humble my pride. I didn't think anyone could sneak up on me anymore. Why didn't you tell me you were coming? Why didn't Master Clement tell me-?"

The boy's string of questions halted as Master Clement himself came into the room, closing the door behind him and staring at Lenardo in disbelief.

"No Reading, Torio," he instructed quickly. "Lenardo, how did you get here? Why didn't you contact us? How did you come within the pale?"

"The same way I just walked through an Academy of Readers undetected. I have much, much to tell you, Master, and to show you."

"We must seek a plane of privacy," said Master Clement. "Lenardo, you are in grave danger here. If you are discovered before we find a way to explain your presence, you will be arrested and executed. Torio, stay here until I contact you. Yes, you may join us, son, but I do not want you trying to reach another plane alone."

"Yes, Master," Torio replied, and lay down on his bed as Clement and Lenardo left.

Unlike the old Academy at Adigia, there was no special protected room where Readers could take shelter while they left their bodies. Master Clement's room, though, had a couch as well as bed. Lenardo stretched out, making certain his position would not cramp his unattended body, and floated easily up into pure consciousness. Master Clement was quickly "mere" too, and they "moved" together to Tone's room.

The moment Master Clement's presence touched Torio, the boy's consciousness left his body, joining them readily with the delicious sense of pure freedom so refreshing in those to whom it was still a new experience.

//Excellent, Torio,// Lenardo told him. //You have learned much while I was away.//

//Don't encourage him to pride,// Master Clement warned, although his warm pleasure in the boy's achievement belied the thought. //I've never had a student so determined to be first and best at everything. No, not even you, Lenardo.//

In their present disembodied state, no Reader could "overhear" their conversation unless they willed it or unless the other Reader joined them. Yet to Lenardo's. surprise, Clement said, //We will now move to another plane. Torio, you've done this only once before. Don't try to Read and follow. Flow with me. With me. That's right.//

The two presences were gone, but Lenardo had Read then- "direction." He followed into the disorientation of the plane of privacy, sensing Torio's discomfort. They were three presences in a world of nothing-no light and hence no dark, no up, no down. From here, they could no longer Read their own world, would not even know if something happened to their bodies.