Jude couldn't immediately identify it. He stared at the child's face, searching for the small details that had become familiar over the last few days. The way Sol tilted his head when listening. The way his eyebrows drew together when he was trying to understand something. The way he sometimes looked at Jude as though he wanted to ask a question but couldn't find the courage.
This boy did all those things.
Perfectly.
Too perfectly.
"Jude," the boy whispered. "Please."
The wooden bird screamed once more.
"DON'T BELIEVE HIM!"
Natalie stepped away from the boy. "I don't like this."
"Neither do I," Lucy murmured.
"Everyone stay together," Jude ordered.
The younger Jude near the firepit slowly raised his head.
He had not moved since the village went dark. He still held his own wooden bird, the one that had appeared in his palm earlier, wrapped in a different arrangement of silver thread.
He looked at the boy beside Natalie.
Then he looked at Jude.
