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“Song, what happened?” I repeat, my stomach clenching as I watch her spine stiffen as she cinches her sash tightly around her. The way the heavy, embroidered robe hangs on her slim frame makes her appear simultaneously regal and fragile. Though the steeliness of her gaze, and the firm pinch of her rose-tinted lips indicate my welcome is close to being over.
“Promise me you won’t tell anyone,” she pleads.
I nod. “I promise,” I say, my gaze darting around her room once more before landing on a small, leather-bound book lying on the table beside her. The sight of it is so unexpected, I can’t help but do a double take.
I mean, I could be wrong, but at first glance, that book looks just like the object I saw in the Unraveling.
The one carried by the girl who disappeared and reappeared in the maze below my window on my first day on this rock.
The maze that doesn’t actually exist in this modern-day version of Gray Wolf, though surely it once did, or else I wouldn’t have seen it.
There’s a symbol engraved on the cover.Is it a pentagram or some other sigil?From where I sit now, it’s impossible to make out.
I start to lift off my seat, hoping to get a better look, when Song says, “A word of advice?”
I pause in mid-stand, then settle back onto the cushion.
“You need to be more careful,” she says.
“I’m…not sure what you mean.” I lean toward her, eager to hear more, even though I’m pretty sure I’m not going to like what she tells me.
Her shoulders go slack. She presses a hand to her chest, fingers seeking comfort from the aquamarine talisman that hangs from her neck. “It’s like, you work so hard to make Blue,” she says, voice quietly wistful. “Mostly because it’s so lonely being a Green or a Yellow. But then, even once you’ve managed to reach the goal, become an AAD, and make friends with people who swear to have your back, you can still disappear without a trace, and not a single one of those people will go looking for you.”
“Is that…” My mouth has gone so dry, I’m forced to clear my throat and start again. “Song—is that what happened to Anjou? Did she just…disappear?”
