“Paris?” asked Maite. “Why Paris?”

Kepa shrugged his shoulders. “Why not? I’ve never been and it seems like a pretty cool city.”

Maite nodded absentmindedly. “I’ve never been either. Ok, why not. How do we do this?”

“Let me show you.” 

Kepa waved his hand in the air in a circle. At first nothing happened, but then the faint outline of a circle started hovering in the air before them, glowing dimly at first but, with each circling of his hand, it brightened. Soon, a glowing globe floated in front of them. Most of it was fuzzy, but Maite could clearly see the outlines of the continents. Kepa then sliced the air with his hand and seemingly pulled the globe apart. It flattened into a map. He then pinched his fingers and pulled them apart, and the area in front of them zoomed in. Maite could clearly see Donostia at the center. It was also the clearest part of the map – the further away she looked, the blurrier it became. But, she could make things out clearly across most of Spain and France, including Paris. There were pulsing white dots all over the map. 

“Are those…?” she began.

Kepa nodded. “Yep, every one of those dots is a zatia.” He paused. “We have a lot of work to do.”

As they watched, one of the dots disappeared with a sudden flash. 

“That was a bubble bursting,” said Kepa. “I can only guess that de Lancre found a zatia. Or Marina.”

“Seriously?” exclaimed Maite. “How often does that happen?”

“Not very,” replied Kepa. “Maybe once every few days.”

“Every few days?” Maite collapsed on the bed. “I can’t, Kepa. It’s too much. How can we keep up with de Lancre? There are so many…”

“And that’s why we don’t have to stress it so much. There are so many, so if he gets a few, what does it matter. There are so many more to get.”

“But if he gets enough…”

“Maybe, but for all we know those are another team that Marina has recruited to find zatiak. We might not be alone.”

Maite nodded. “That’s probably true. There could be a lot of others out there doing her bidding. Maybe they are the ones that found that zatia.”

“Maybe. Anyways, that’s why I think we should pick a place we want to go to and enjoy it a little bit before we search for the zatia, assuming of course that de Lancre hasn’t already corrupted the place.”

“That sounds like a good plan. So, Paris. When in Paris? I mean, what year will we be going there?”

Kepa shrugged. “If I can tell when the zatia are, I haven’t figured it out. So far, I can only see where, not when.”

“I guess as long as it isn’t in the middle of the French Revolution…”

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