Meryn's eyebrows drew together as the old man grumbled. Some of his words flew right over her head (what the heck was a 
[i]crater[/i]?) but others were old and familiar. Sorrow… death… lies…

She felt her breath catch in her throat like it did when she stood at a precipice, still and waiting. The promise of pain just out of reach, taunting her closer. She stood at an edge now, muscles begging for action. To fall or to fly. Meryn pressed her lips together and looked back down at the map. The old man had shrugged his way back to his feet and made his way to the tap. Her fingers twitched at her side. 

Finally she forced herself into action. Meryn hurried to the man, grabbing his arm in both her dirty hands and tugging him back to the map. Meryn pointed to Sorrow's Deep. Then she grabbed a long rectangle of charcoal and held it up to him, tapping it with her index finger. In a quick, brutal motion, Meryn brought the flat of the charcoal down to the map and smeared black over Cogswall. She looked back up to the man, urgency in her eyes. Without waiting more than a breath, she picked up Spook's mask and cut the charcoal across the intricate design over the eyes. She held the dirtied mask again up to the old man. Meryn lowered it, her motions slowing again. She bit her bottom lip as she glanced back at the map. 

[i]Enn[/i]

Meryn brought the charcoal to the city's edge. But she couldn't bring her and to move. She looked back up at the old man, fingers still poised to ruin Enn. But Enn wasn't gone. Not yet. 

The old man thought that Cogswall would be safe if they just kept their heads down and stayed out of the way of whatever was coming. But to Meryn it looked like whatever it was… was already here. People were already sick and dying. Spook was already gone. But he'd given [i]her[/i] the mask. She didn't know what it meant, but it was clearly something important. And out of everyone, he'd trusted her with it. Didn't that mean… he thought she could [i]do[/i] something? 

Maybe the old man was right and there was nothing but death at Sorrow's Deep. But Meryn had never let fear of death stop her.

Meryn dropped the charcoal and put on the mask. She turned from the old man and moved to the spiral staircase.