Chapter 1827

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.

A soft laugh came from behind it.

"Good."

Jude looked at Sol.

"What was that?"

Sol’s face had gone pale.

"It was testing you."

"For what?"

"To see whether you remember her correctly."

The silver door began to glow.

A faint sound came from behind it.

A child’s humming.

Sol covered his ears.

"Don’t listen."

The humming grew louder.

Jude recognised the tune.

It was the little melody Sol sometimes hummed while sitting beside the firepit. He had never asked where the boy learned it.

The silver door opened by itself.

Beyond it was a bedroom.

A small bed stood against the wall. A wooden bird sat on the windowsill. A folded blanket lay across the mattress.

Sol’s wooden bird.

The one that had disappeared when he vanished from his bed.

The boy stared at it.

"That’s my room," he whispered.

Jude looked inside.

"Your room?"

Sol nodded.

"Before the beach."

Jude felt a chill pass through him.

"You remember it?"

"Not properly."

He stepped towards the door.

Jude held him back.

"Wait."

The room beyond was ordinary. There was a little table, a chair, a window, and a wooden chest beneath the bed.

But the window showed something impossible.

The village.

Not the village they had left.

The village as it looked now.

Smoke rose from the central firepit. The gardens were green. The wooden walkways stretched between the houses. The waterfall glittered in the distance.

And people were moving through the settlement.

Jude saw Natalie carrying a basket.

Zoey was talking to Emma.

Serena was standing beside the eastern path.

Everything looked peaceful.

Then Jude noticed the time.

The sun was rising.

The same sunrise they had left behind.

"Sol," he whispered.

The boy had gone completely still.

A figure was standing outside the bedroom window.

Another Sol.

The second boy raised his hand and tapped the glass.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then he smiled.

The first Sol stepped backwards.

"Close it."

Jude pushed the silver door.

It didn’t move.

The second Sol placed his palm against the glass.

The window opened.

Not outward.

Inward.

The other boy climbed through, stepping into the room as though he had been waiting on the other side all along.

"Hello," he said.

Jude placed himself between the two children.

"You again."

The second Sol tilted his head.

"You make it sound as though I have been bothering you."

"You have."

"That’s unfortunate."

His gaze moved past Jude.

He looked directly at the first Sol.

"You’ve been away for a long time."

The first Sol didn’t respond.

"Did you find the book?"

"Don’t speak to him," Jude said.

The second Sol smiled faintly.

"Still protecting him?"

"He’s a child."

"Is he?"

The words settled heavily in the room.

Jude’s expression hardened.

"Whatever game you’re playing, it ends here."

The second Sol glanced at the wooden bird on the windowsill.

"Do you remember making that?"

The first Sol shook his head.

"Do you remember who gave it to you?"

Another shake.

"Do you remember the room without windows?"

Sol’s breathing changed.

"Stop," Jude warned.

The second Sol took a step closer.

"Do you remember the tree?"

"Stop."

"Do you remember the first house?"

The first Sol covered his ears.

The second boy’s expression softened.

"It’s all right. You don’t have to be afraid. You only have to remember one thing."

He held out his hand.

"Your real name."

The silver door began to close.

Jude grabbed the edge.

"Sol, come on!"

The first boy didn’t move.

The second Sol extended his hand further.

"Come back."

A strange sound came from the village outside the window.

A bell.

Then another.

And another.

Jude looked towards the window.

The people in the village had stopped moving.

Every single person had turned towards the northern mountain.

Even the birds in the trees were motionless.

A thin silver line appeared across the sky.

It stretched from the mountain peak to the shared house.

Then another line appeared.

And another.

Soon the entire sky was covered in a pattern of silver threads.

The second Sol looked outside.

"It’s beginning."

"What is?"

"The opening."

The first Sol suddenly moved.

He rushed towards the second boy and grabbed his wrist.

"Don’t let it open!"

The second Sol looked down at the small hand holding him.

For the first time, his smile disappeared.

"You remember."

The first Sol let go immediately.

The second boy stepped backwards.

The room shook.

The wooden bird fell from the windowsill and struck the floor.

Its beak broke.

A tiny folded piece of paper slipped from inside.

Jude snatched it up.

The paper was old and yellowed. A single sentence had been written across it in dark ink.

THE NAME IS THE KEY. THE CHILD IS THE DOOR.

Jude looked at Sol.

"What does this mean?"

The boy shook his head.

But the second Sol was already moving towards the window.

"Wait!" Jude shouted.

The other boy turned.

"You wanted to know why there are two of me?"

"Yes."

"Then ask the one standing beside you."