I glance down, and suddenly panic.
The chessboard. It’s still there. The pixie chess pieces are gone, certainly, but the squares I drew with a stick—the proof that there is life in this book when no one is reading it—are still carved onto the beach.
I don’t know why the book hasn’t reset itself. It never makes mistakes like this; every time we are flipped to a new page we will find ourselves ready, in costume, with any necessary set in place. Maybe, for all I know, thishashappened before and I never noticed it. But it stands to reason that if I noticed, someone else might too.
Like a Reader.
Delilah.
Deep breaths, Oliver,I tell myself. “Frump,” I hiss.
He growls, but I can understand him clearly:Not now.
Okay, Oliver,I tell myself.This is not a disaster. People read a fairy tale for the happy ending, not to hunt for a faintly visible chessboard scratched into the sand on the final page.Still, I try to pull Seraphima toward me in an attempt to hide the chessboard beneath the fabric of her billowing dress. Seraphima, however, misinterprets this to mean that I might actually want to get closer to her. She tilts up her chin and her eyes flutter closed, waiting for her kiss.
Everyone’s waiting. The trolls, the fairies, the mermaids.The pirates with their anchor lines tightly wrapped around Pyro the dragon to keep him subdued.
The Reader is waiting too. And if I give her what she wants, she’ll close the book and that will be that.
Oh,fine.
I lean forward and give Seraphima a kiss, winding my hands in her hair and pulling the length of her body along mine. I can feel her melt beneath my touch, leaning into me. She may not be my type, but there’s no reason I shouldn’t enjoy myself at work, after all.
“Delilah!”
As the girl leans closer, the sky darkens above us. “How strange,” she murmurs.
Her finger comes down, pushing at the edges of our world, bending the scenery even as we stand in it. I draw in my breath, thinking she is going to trap me, but instead, she touches the very spot where the chessboard is etched onto the sand.
“That,” she says, “was never here before.”
