Page 80 of Sleep No More

“I said ‘the Liar,’” said the Luidaeg, picking herself up from the ground.

“Riordan lied plenty when I knew her,” said Chelsea, expression going hard.

The air shimmered just before Grianne stepped out of it, pulling Raysel along. Etienne rushed to her. “The Duke?” he demanded.

“Under arrest for sedition,” she said, sounding almost amused as she let Raysel go and brushed herself off with her hands. “Guess someone told Queenie he might be willing to talk to a renegade changeling. One of his knights had been acting erratically.” She raised an eyebrow, silently indicating that it couldn’t have been her, since she’d been gone all night.

“We have to go back,” said Etienne. “We have to rescue him!”

“From the Queen?” asked the Luidaeg wearily. “When you know she’s got the backing of the lady who created this whole mess? Please. It’s not going to happen. We need to focus on our mission. Titania’s going to be too busy trying to organize a Ride without horses to oversee a kangaroo court. Sylvester can wait out as much time as we have left on the clock.”

“If I see that little snake, I’m going to knock his smug teeth down his throat,” I grumbled.

“No, you won’t,” said the Luidaeg. “Believe me, once he’s himself again, the kid’s going to be just as upset as you are right now. Guess a world without you playing your normal merry havoc on everything around you is a world where he got to be the prejudiced little princeling my sister was aiming for when she brought him here in the first place. So at least we know she’d be happy here, if she weren’t missing the whole thing. Titania didn’t actually change history. If she had, I doubt we’d be having this conversation, since I’m not sure even getting rid of her sister justifies the thorn in her side that is you. She just made everyone think things had happened differently, and that means all the same pieces are in play.”

“I hate this,” moaned Raysel, and sat down on the little bench Father kept for his tools—and his daughters. She put her head in her hands. “I should have stayed asleep.”

“Why are we here?” I asked. “This is my mother’s tower.”

“Exactly,” said the Luidaeg. “The wards are set to admit family and people family allow, and no one else. If you let us all in, we’re safe.”

If I let them all in, I was dead as soon as my mother found out about it. Then again, that was already the case. “Sorry, Mom, decided I didn’t like being a lady’s maid anymore, so I went and helped the sea witch upset the natural order of things” wasn’t exactly the sort of excuse she was going to accept.

“Right,” I said.

“Before the Queen’s guard figures out where we went, if you don’t mind,” she added, with a slight edge to her tone.

“Right,” I repeated, and moved to open the back door. “As guests of the house, you are welcome in my company,” I said.

“Great,” said the Luidaeg, and tried to walk past me, only to bounce off the wards and fall down.

I blinked at her. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Well, it did!”

“I’ll go see what’s wrong,” I said, and tried to walk through the open door—only to bounce off exactly as she had.

I wasn’t on the tower wards.

TWENTY-TWO

I STOOD THERE, LOOKING BAFFLED and betrayed, as the Luidaeg got her feet back under her.

“Motherfucker,” she said, with fervor. “I should have thought of this.”

“Thought of what?” I asked.

“Have you ever gone anywhere alone that you can remember, or—let me amend that—have you gone anywhere alone in the last four months?”

“Of course,” I said. “I mean . . .” I trailed off, realizing I couldn’t actually remember a time when I’d left the tower without either August or Father by my side to make sure I got back safely. I paused for several seconds, blinking, then looked up at the Luidaeg. “No. I haven’t.”

“That’s what I thought. Remember, I said this wasn’t a real world, just something cast on top of the real world. Which means that really, you’re the daughter who chose her other parent in the divorce, and really, you’re the one she was more than willing to lose. She took you off the wards.” The Luidaeg sighed. “We can’t hide here.”

“Then where are we supposed to go?” asked Dean. “We can’t go to Goldengreen, we’ll never make it to Golden Shore with just Chelsea capable of covering that kind of distance, the Queen is looking for us, Toby’s wanted for murder, and half of us don’t exist!”

“I’m wanted too, now,” said Grianne. She didn’t sound particularly troubled. Rolling her shoulders in a shrug, she looked at me. “Quentin saw me grab Raysel. He knows I’m on your side.”

“This just gets better and better,” I said. “Okay. Where else can we go?”