For the sake of such an earnest, hopeful child, Blue felt the compulsion to lie. Yet the space around them was a mix of two consciousnesses; the lie would be plain. It didn't make it an easier decision, avoiding the lie, for all it seemed to Blue was that his presence brought sadness.

"Maybe so," he said at last. It wasn't a lie, but the doubt lingered like a smell air. He could say perhaps, but there was no faith in it, not with what he already knew.