As she contemplated, her eyes began to close. But her thirst was great. She moved heavily over to the pitcher and drank. Then she climbed up the bone mountain and grabbed a small bone at the top. She tapped lightly along the gold wall to see if she could hear a difference from one spot to another. Perhaps there would be a hollow sound if she found the spot she needed.

But everything sounded the same. After a few moments, Thisbe concluded that the tunnel must have been filled in, making her job even more impossible.

She set down the bone. As she prepared to slide down to her sleeping area, a familiar sound met her ears: three distinct knocks from the other side of the back wall.

Old Familiar

Thisbe turned with a start. It couldn’t be Rohan tapping the wall like old times, could it? But what else could it be? Three taps—that was their signal. Though she’d never mentioned it to Rohan, in her heart his three taps stood for words. “How are you?” Or even “I miss you.” She blushed furiously and picked up the dragon bone again. She tapped the gold wall four times in response. “Oh, Rohan,” she whispered. “I miss you, too. Please come back to me.”

Having her dearest friend so close yet unable to recognize her was already terribly difficult. Knowing who he’d been before he was under the Revinir’s spell made it all the harder to see him like this. Like a shell that the real Rohan had abandoned. Had their bond somehow brought him back? For a moment, at least?

Thisbe strained to listen. Then two taps came, and this time Thisbe was certain beyond a doubt that somehow Rohan was doing it. She tapped twice in response. “Good night.” And then she slumped, barely able to stand there. All sorts of emotions churned and poured out of her, leaving her body feeling utterly broken and exhausted.

She had to rest or she’d never be able to pull off her glassy-eyed ruse without messing up. Hopefully there would be time to figure out how to get through the back wall tomorrow. But for now . . . she waited.

There were no more knocks. Still, Thisbe stayed another minute before finally sliding down the bone pile. At the bottom she curled up with the thin blanket and tried not to think about how this very room had seen some other harsh action too, after she’d escaped. Alex had died here, not far from the spot where Thisbe lay. Trying to find and rescue her. There was perhaps nothing more horrible than imagining what Alex might have looked like, dead on the floor in this lonely, forsaken place.