Mr. Elian put a warm hand on hers. “Mira, the message isn’t for me. It’s for you. Read it as if the letters are one step behind what they want to say. Shift your perspective , not the letters.”
p→q, space, s→t, v→w, c→d, l→m, space, f→g, v→w, b→c → — nonsense.
Now: — still nonsense. Then Mr. Elian gently said, “What if she wrote it in reverse order?”
Her breath caught.