The Nominal Hero, chapter 5: Verbing Weirds Everything
“This is better than your water jar, Masami,” Hunter whispered. The second Noun had a duck’s head, rather than its head being an entire duck the way Fish’s head was an entire fish. A small part of Caden’s mind wondered why, while the rest of his thoughts spun frantically, trying to figure out a way to tell them both to get behind the racks that wasn’t also another noun. Down was a type of feathers. Hide was a type of skin. You had to say the words by themselves, Bookshelf had told him. Caden took a deep breath. “Please-get-down-here-where-nobody-can-see-you,” he said all in a rush. This was a success in the sense that no more Nouns appeared, but a failure as far as getting them to listen to him went. “Would you please get down here!” he repeated, louder. “Humans!” the fish-headed one exclaimed, sounding delighted. “I thought they were a myth!” “Nah, my cousin’s met a bunch of them,” the duck Noun said loftily. Their voice was a sort of nasal honk. “They’re not so much.” “Your c...