He closed his eyes a moment, opening them with an orange in his hand.

"This isn't real," he told her.

Another time, an apple in the other.

"This isn't real," he told her.

He dropped them as he walked towards her, put his hand to her desk.

"This isn't real," he told her.

And pushed it aside. He picked up her notebook.

"This isn't real," he told her.

He waited until he was within a foot of her to speak and when he spoke, there was no lying. These were Words, as much as a Cat was a Cat and a Witch was a Witch and a Wizard was a Wizard. Words that could hold no disguise. Words that could not be anything but what they were.

He looked right at her, tried to meet her eyes.

"Why would I lie to the only real person in my whole world?"