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Unlike the weird stone with its strange markings, he didn’t scare me. Not anymore.

He was familiar, but not in appearance.

Then what?

Remember.

I’m trying.

Who is he?

I don’t know.

Wrong.

Satisfied with the fire, Tusks started scavenging our surroundings, pulling long grass and chamomile flowers from the ground to lay them out in a pile, until he’d built a nest out of them.

The piglet had made herself immediately at home, settling into the bedding and drifting off to sleep before he’d even finished.

Tusks made a low huff at me, then gestured to his creation.

“What?”

He huffed again and patted it in invitation.

“You made that for me?”

He nodded.

I didn’t know what to think anymore. I’d been planning on staying out here with him, and hopefully being able to escape the moment he fell asleep. But I’d never get answers that way.

I ran a hand through my hair. Wanting to remember wasn’t enough. I needed to. It was very important. Even if I knew nothing else, I accepted that.

Remembering who he was would tell me who I was. Or who I’d been, maybe.

I had so much rage inside me, so much grief and longing. I’d never been able to process it. It was trapped inside me behind a wall taller and thicker than the one around this place. That’s why I was here. Because I needed to remember.

I sighed as I made my way over to the grass bed and sat down in the center. His lips pulled up around the protruding tusks in a smile that made his eyes crinkle.

“I’m still not pleased with you keeping me here,” I informed him, and he huffed at me.

Honestly, there weren’t much back in Hollow Creek I was desperate to get back to. Except for plumbing, warm showers, and a soft bed with a blanket. And Tash. So I could rough it out here for a few days if it would give me answers. But that didn’t mean I’d forgive him for holding me prisoner, and I wouldn’t let him believe as such.

The grass bed was better than sleeping in the dirt, though it still weren’t the most comfortable. The fire kept me warm enough, though I wished I still had a shirt at least.

The stars were bright tonight. I pretended to look at them as I thought about everything that had led me here, and as I tried to break through the wall that held so much information, about him and about myself.

He didn’t rest or try to sleep. Just sat tall by the fire, his ears twitching in various directions as he clearly picked up sounds I couldn’t hear. I didn’t know him yet, but I realized I did trust him to stand guard over me while I slept.

I shouldn’t be here, I knew that, but the trees had always kept my secrets.

It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in the Others. Only I didn’t believe we were as significant to them as everyone else in the village seemed to. As long as they got their rituals and worship, what would it matter that one human would occasionally climb the wall to go for a walk? I didn’t take anything from the other side. I left no mark here. I simply wanted to be, out here where I wasn’t being perceived and didn’t have to pretend.

I’d been out here many times, and nothing bad had ever happened. No one had ever seen me and there’d never been any consequences.

At least, that had been the case before today.

I felt his eyes on me before I saw him. And I knew I was in big trouble.