Page 79 of Molt

“What happened?”

His eyes lift to mine. “I was screaming.”

“What were you saying?”

He swallows. “Take it from me.”

I stare at him.

“What?”

“I told them to take something from me.”

“What?” I say again.

“I don’t know.”

“And they did?”

His face changes. He looks toward the wall. At the handwriting. At the tooth that belonged to neither of us.

Then back at me.

“The voice said, ‘Gladly.’”

My arms cover my stomach. “August...”

He looks at me differently now. Not like I’m the thing killing him. Like he has finally considered something worse.

“I made myself forget.”

“What?”

“The handwriting is mine.”

“I know.”

“No.” He steps toward the message. “I meant all of it.” He points to the wall. “The note in the tooth. This. Whatever I did before...” His voice goes quiet. “I wasn’t trying to forget you.”

My skin prickles. “What were you trying to forget?”

He turns toward me. “I think I was trying to forget them.”

The room falls silent.

Somewhere beneath my skin, his heartbeat continues.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

And for the first time since this began, I understand something. Maybe August isn’t disappearing because I love him. Maybe I’m not becoming him because of some impossible curse between us. Maybe someone designed it to look that way. Maybe every lifetime we’ve spent blaming each other has been exactly what they wanted.

I stare at the black words bleeding down the wall.

Then at August.