Lucas Benes lay in a sleeping bag on the roof of his father’s hotel, dreaming about a past he couldn’t remember.

In climbing, there was always a fraction of a second between the security of being locked in and the freedom of an actual rappel.

The sign above the door was written in French. It read: ARRÊTE ! C’EST ICI L’EMPIRE DE LA MORT.“That means,” he explained to Gini, “‘Stop! It is here the Empire of Death.

Doing something was better than doing nothing.Without warning Lucas hit the emergency stop but-ton, and the elevator braked with an uncomfortable jolt. Then he mashed the OPEN DOOR button and punched the door itself. The front doors opened in between the second and first floors.Lucas’s heart pumped in his chest. “I hear that baby in the parking lot crying.

No matter how bad your past is, you still don’t want it erased.

Working on it.