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Skyler shook his head. “No, Raven, it was just you.”
“No! You’re lying!”He was right there.
“I’m not lying. When I got back to Nekhanan, the queen told me you’d left with the Kovak. Since then, I’ve been flying around, trying to find you. Just now, I saw you in the distance—standing on this cliff alone. Only when I got closer did I realize you were about to jump, so I had to act quickly.”
I couldn’t stop the tears that began leaking from the outer corners of my eyes. “But he was right there …” I whispered, choking on the words.
“I’m sorry,” Skyler breathed, brushing his thumb over my damp cheekbone.
I turned my head away, confused and embarrassed.
“It’s not your fault. I’ve heard this forest plays tricks on you,” he said, his weight still pressed against me like I might bolt for the cliff if he didn’t hold me down. “Queen B’kara said it makes you see things that aren’t real.”
My brotherwasreal. I’d hugged him, talked to him, put my hand in his. We were going to fly home together.Home. I wanted to go there so badly, it hurt to breathe.
“Rainer was going to take me home,” I rasped, my voice shaking as the tears continued to flow.
“Wait, who’s Rainer?” Skyler said, furrowing his eyebrows. Above us, dense gray clouds had clogged the sky again, like my brother had taken the blue sky away with him.
“My brother.”
“Raven, your brother’s name isSwift.”
“What?” I met his gaze.
“Your brother—your twin brother—his name is Swift,” he repeated slowly, not taking his eyes off me.
“Are you sure?” It didn’t seem to make any sense—my brother had responded to the nameRainer.
“He’s my best friend,” Skyler said gently. “I’m sure.”
As Skyler’s words began to sink in, it felt like I was waking up from a bad dream. What had Yaro said?Any who enter her lands will have their hearts destroyed.
Feeling the way my heart ached in my chest, I knew exactly what that meant now.
He wasn’t real, I realized as things started to untangle in my mind.That wasn’t my brother. He was a mirage. A reflection of my heart’s longing to find my family, to find my way back home.
The tension left my muscles all at once. Noticing, Skyler shifted his weight to the side, realizing I was no longer indanger. For a while, our bodies lay partially entwined on the moss-covered ground. After what happened, it felt strangely comforting to have him close.
“How do I knowyou’rereal?” I asked after a time.
“I guess you don’t,” he said, his breath warm on my cheek. “But maybe this will help.” Skyler reached into his pocket and handed me a small piece of folded parchment.
“What is it?” I asked, unfolding it. I silently read down the scripted lines of text, which sounded like a poem. The words were like Skyler himself—alluring and familiar—but I couldn’t place them.
“It’s the lyrics of the song I heard you humming in Javan,” he said. “It’s a lullaby sung to children back home. It used to be one of the many songs you liked to sing.” He paused for a moment like he was remembering something. “Anyway—when I learned about your lost memory, I thought you might have been humming it because you’d forgotten the words. So, I wanted you to have them.”
Another tear slid down my cheek. “I love it,” I said, hugging the page to my chest. It was the nicest gift I’d ever received. If I couldn’t fly home, at least now I had something from home to carry with me.
Skyler let out a breath when he saw my smile. “I’m so glad.”
We lay there for a few minutes, watching a small flock of birds swooping through the sky. For all I knew, they could be Zaviens like us. I wondered how Skyler could distinguish a regular bird from a Zavien. For me, I’d had no idea who Skyler was when he was following us in his other form.
“Why did you leave Nekhanan?” he asked. His tone was curious, not accusatory, but I wondered if the Raven he once knew would have heeded his warning and acted differently. I couldn’t speak for her, though.
I sighed. “I wanted to wait for you, but my reasons to go to Askeland outweighed my reasons to stay. I can’t live like this—knowing my brother is in trouble and our tribe is suffering and being unable to do anything about it. I’m tired of feeling this helpless and hopeless. And Jeddak offered?—”
“You like him, don’t you?” Skyler interrupted, his voice edged with—anger? Jealousy? Sadness? I couldn’t tell.
