The sailor considered this.
"No one who has entered the Trench with an active Fragment has come out the same." A pause.
"I don't mean they died. I mean something changes. I don't know exactly what because no one who has lived through it describes it the same way."
Jessica was taking notes nonstop.
Maya as well — she had taken out her notebook the second the sailor mentioned the Trench and had filled three pages of notes.
Maya bit her pen for a moment, scanning her own scribbles. "Changes" and "not the same" were underlined three times each.
"And when do they notice the change?" she asked without looking up.
"When they leave? Hours later?"
The sailor shrugged. "Depends on the person."
She noted that too.
Raven looked at Maya. Then at Jessica.
"They're the same person," said Raven quietly.
Maya looked up.
"Excuse me?"
"Jessica is a version of you, but less boring."
Jessica kept writing without looking up.
