Jude closed his eyes.
He remembered the chamber beneath the mountain. The pale cloth. The wooden key. The duplicate Layla standing in their shared house.
He remembered the other Layla, the one who had disappeared through the underground wall.
He remembered her final words.
Don't let me die.
"Layla," he whispered. "If that's really you, tell me something only you would know."
Silence.
Then the voice answered.
"You always put the salt beside the sugar."
Jude blinked.
It was true.
A tiny habit of his that Layla had teased him about countless times.
Sol looked at him.
"Jude…"
The white door opened a fraction.
A hand appeared in the gap.
It was Layla's hand.
There was a small scar near the thumb, from the time she had cut herself while helping repair a garden basket.
Jude took another step.
Then he noticed something.
The hand was holding the door from the wrong side.
Its thumb was on the opposite edge.
He stepped back.
The door slowly closed.
