Sneakyone.gollums-precious.1.var -

Gollum’s face split into a grin so wide it looked like a wound.

“No,” Frodo whispered, more to himself than to Gollum. “I’m not like you.”

“Oh, but you will be, hobbit. You will be. The SneakyOne always finds the Precious. And the Precious always eats the SneakyOne from the inside. We knows.” He tapped his chest. “We’s full of holes.” SneakyOne.Gollums-precious.1.var

Then a whisper, wet and chittering, sliced through the silence.

Gollum.

“It burns us, doesn’t it, precious?” Gollum hissed, staring not at Frodo’s face, but at his clenched fist. “Yes. It whispers. Always whispering.”

Gollum’s eyes narrowed. The sorrow vanished, replaced by something sharp and ancient. Gollum’s face split into a grin so wide

The way he said it— SneakyOne —was not a name. It was a title. A sacred thing.