When Callum Reed asked me to feed June Bell's little snake, he told me it was harmless, easy, and temporary. I believed him because I had believed him since we were children. By the time Professor Mara Voss returned early from her private retreat, the skinny gray serpent had grown thick as my wrist, the conservatory's ward lamps were flickering, and every senior keeper in the room was staring at Mara's pregnant belly. Callum said I had caused the danger. He also said he was trying to protect me. I knew what he wanted me to remember. I just didn't know whether the boy who once held my hand through every storm could still love me, or whether I had been loving a version of him that never existed.