Page 31 of The Innocent Sleep

In short order, we had completely filled our carts and were ready to push them through the Shadow Roads. Exchanging a look, we filed into the dark, our ill-gotten gains slowing us enough that what had been a journey of some seconds became an almost ten-minute trudge through the cold. Still, it was balanced by the looks of surprise and delight when we emerged into the garage and handed off our burdens to be unloaded.

“We’ll come through to collect these carts when we bring the next batch. Humans sometimes put tracking devices on things they own, and I don’t know whether that includes shopping carts. Better not to find out the hard way,” I advised.

Gabriel nodded, hoisting a massive bag of kibble onto each shoulder. “Of course, sire,” he said. “Whatever you desire.”

I flashed him a smile and dove back into the shadows.

We repeated this process half a dozen times, stripping the store of everything a cat might like, as well as every can of meat or fish, every pound of meat in the butcher’s department, all the fish in the fishmonger’s case, the cheese and preserved meats, the canned fruits and easy snacks for two-legged children, soft drinks and bread and so much else. Eggs and green things, fruit and pastries, toothpaste and brushes, diapers and cans of formula, until all three of us were exhausted and our willing helpers in the garage stood amidst towering piles of supplies.

Our last trip was just the three of us pushing the final set of empty carts through the shadows and out into the denuded store.

“They’re going to be mad in the morning,” said Ginevra.

“Let them be. They probably have cameras, but they’ll show nothing but three strangers and what seems to be a strange glitch in the security. Now come. We must away.”

“To Shade? Tonight?” She looked at me pleadingly. “With as much as we’ve just collected, we might actually be allowed to sleep. Please, Tybalt, I need to sleep.”

“What you have done with Raj in my absence is what Shade has done by herself,” I said. “Alone, with no one else who can exit the Court on her behalf. She needs this. Her people need this. She has been an ally to me and to our Court often enough in the past that if we can aid her now, we have a duty. Erda would ask no less of us.”

Ginevra sighed. “All right. We go.”

“Excellent. Come, Raj.” The three of us threw ourselves into the dark, racing along the Shadow Roads toward Shade’s Court. It was a brief-enough journey, sped by exhaustion spurring us to move as quickly as we could, and in what seemed like the blinking of an eye, we were emerging into Shade’s Court.

None of her people attacked me this time, for which I was profoundly grateful. They lifted their heads and looked at us warily, and I seized the opportunity to beckon to one stripling a few years younger than Raj and ask, “Will you go and find your Queen for me? I have a proposal she will want to hear, and quickly.”

The child bobbed a quick bow and scurried away, vanishing into the shadows of the Court, which were shallower and less consuming than the shadows we’d been moving through for the last hour. I moved closer to Raj and Ginevra, both of whom were looking with horror at the gathered cats.

“As I said, she’s been doing this alone,” I said. “She seemed particularly concerned for the kittens. The four of us together should be much better equipped to support two Courts, even if I am of necessity often absent.”

“You are returned,” said Shade, voice radiating relief. I turned and smiled as she walked up to me, her earlier exhaustion still present, etched into the bones of her, but no longer drawn quite so tightly around her lips and eyes. “I was afraid you might decide to run instead of dealing with my problems.”

Her voice caught for a moment as she caught sight of Ginevra, and I had the distinct impression that the whiskers she didn’t currently possess were flattening themselves against her cheeks in displeasure at the obvious intrusion of her territory.

Raj and I were male. I was a King, and he a Prince on the cusp of Kingship. Ginevra, for all that her current position was difficult to define within our hierarchy, was a Princess at the absolute least, and radiated the power of a rival Queen thanks to her time in regency over my Court. For her to enter Shade’s territory was on the absolute cusp of active challenge, and while Shade might say she’d be happy to hand the responsibility off to someone else, she wouldn’t be able to resist the need to fight if she were pushed. I stepped in front of Ginevra, not blocking her, but breaking Shade’s eyeline.

“This is my heir, Rajiv,” I said. “He will be King of Dreaming Cats very soon. Until that time, as my lady needs me enough to make me unable to properly occupy my throne, Ginevra Field stands as his regent.”

“I am honored by admission to your territory, Your Majesty,” said Ginevra. “I have no interest in offering a challenge, as I have promised my father, the King of Whispering Cats, that I will return and stand as his heir when my time in the Mists is done. He understands the rituals necessary for passing a Kingdom from King to Queen, and is well prepared to perform them for my sake.”

Shade relaxed slightly. “If not to challenge, why are the three of you here?” she asked, with a note of wariness in her voice.

I couldn’t entirely blame her for that. Still, we needed to move, and quickly. October wasn’t in active danger that I knew of, but my patience was not a construct without limits, and I had need to learn more about this remade world.

“We have a proposal,” I said, and smiled at her, waiting for the moment when understanding lit her eyes and she gestured for us to follow her deeper into the Court.

It was going to be a long night.

NINE

THE SECOND COSTCO WAS even easier to rob than the first, being somewhat larger and less filled with twisting corridors of merchandise. Shade managed to rouse four of the larger members of her Court to unload our carts and stand guard over the goods, and by the time we finished emptying the store, she was all but weeping with the joy of knowing her people would be cared for.

“Whatever your Court requires of mine, always,” she said, embracing me as we made to go. “We are allies evermore.”

“We can come back,” said Ginevra. “Raj and I, I mean. Tybalt needs to deal with some personal stuff, but there’s two of us and only one of you. We can check in, and then we can do another run when necessary.”

“I would like that very much,” said Shade. “I grant you permission of passage in my lands for so long as this crisis continues. We will protect the Courts together, as the royal cats always have, even back to Malvic’s day.”

“And on that loving note, I must away,” I said. “I’m meeting a knight of Sylvester’s service, who says he can get me into the Library of Stars. According to him, the books don’t change when the world is rewritten. I have cause to hope I might find more of what I’m seeking there.”