“Ardruna told me when I first arrived in this world that creatures bear the symbol of the book they escaped from.” I draw a bracing breath. “Therefore, a creature bearing such a symbol must have come from a book. Whereas you slipped into this world from outside. Right?” He doesn’t reply, so I press on, “Do you have a symbol on your body, Tal?”
“I don’t know. Do I?”
“Let me check.” I smooth a hand over his small, feathered body, lifting his wings one by one, checking his legs. “Can’t feel anything…”
“It tickles!” He squirms. “Stop!”
Roane is quiet at my back, but he’s so tense he might as well be made of marble, still and rigid. What is he afraid of? What will I find?
Eventually, my fingertips encounter a shape on Talton’s chest, half-hidden under the fine plumage. I somehow know what it is before I gently turn him around to get a better look.
The horned snake. Ardruna and Talton share the same symbol. What does it mean?
“So? Have you found anything?” Talton demands.
“Yeah.”
“A symbol? What is it?”
“The snake,” Roane whispers before I open my mouth to reply. I realize he already knew about it.
I swallow hard. “That’s right. It’s a horned snake.”
“And why do I have a symbol on me?” Talton tilts his head to meet my gaze. “What are you thinking, girl? I know that expression. You’ve figured something out and you don’t like it.”
“You have no right to read my face like an open book,” I mutter.
“Haha, funny. Now, spill. What does it mean?”
I don’t want to believe it, but the signs are clear. Any clearer and the evidence would have to hit me over the head with a bat.
“You,” I whisper. “You and Ardruna. You’re not real.”
He crows. “Come on. Are you serious? Define real.”
“You were never born,” I whisper. “You never grew up. You come from books. That’s the answer.”
Talton cocks his head to one side, then the other. “Have you lost your mind? What are you saying?”
“Roane can pull objects from books. Who says he can’t pull creatures, too?”
Talton hops back and forth on the horse’s neck. “Ha. Haha. What a joke. It’s not true, right, Roane? Tell her.” He clicks his beak. “You’re not laughing.”
Roane is stonily quiet at my back.
“Ro, is it true?” Talton shrieks. “Ro!”
Gods, I hadn’t seen this coming. All the stories Naida taught me and I hadn’t predicted this twist.
“I’m not wrong, am I? You pulled Ardruna and Talton out of a book.” I twist my head up to see his face. “Roane?”
His jaw is clenched so tightly I’m afraid he’ll break a molar. “So what?”
“So what?” Talton squawks. “So what?What in the five hells, Ro? Is she telling the truth?”
“Yeah,” Roane grunts out. “Yeah, she’s telling the truth.”
“Bastard!” With another squawk, Talton flaps his wings and flies off, and Ardruna runs after him, her form vanishing over a drop in the land.
