Page 34 of The Innocent Sleep

There was a soft pop and a flare of light as Grianne emerged from the shadows and stood impassively back, watching Garm’s recovery.

“He knows,” she said, voice tight as always. “Doesn’t care much.”

“You haven’t let me suffocate yet,” said Garm.

“First times happen,” she said.

“I think our Lady Candela has just made a joke,” I said. “Truly, this is a remarkable night. Now, then: for the remainder of our journey, Sir Grianne, if you would lead, I will follow, bringing Sir Garm, who will be taking a deep breath before we depart. I have no desire to haul a corpse through the shadows, nor to deal with the possible consequences of killing a knight of Shadowed Hills while my own title holds even less authority among the Divided Courts than I am accustomed to.”

“Of course,” said Garm, looking chastened.

Grianne shot me a curious look. I waved her off.

“I’m quite sure the Librarian will demand a full accounting, which you can listen in on without the need to ask questions of your own accord,” I said.

She nodded, seeming pleased by this response, and dove back into shadow. A woman of few words.

Turning back to Garm, I offered him my hand. “A deep breath, if you please,” I said. “I’ve no interest in killing the only person I’ve found on land who understands the situation, even in part.”

“On . . . Never mind.” He shook his head and took a deep breath, taking my hand at the same time.

I pulled us both back onto the Shadow Roads, where there was no need to converse, only to run.

It was almost amusing. There had been a time when I viewed carrying October into the dark as a great transgression, a skirting of the bounds which governed my Court. Now I was acting as a taxi service for a knight I barely knew, all in the hopes that he would get me admission to the Library where I might learn more about the current situation.

How the world changes and complicates. How it stays the same.

Grianne turned in the dark ahead of me, the outline of her face limned in green by the glow coming from her Merry Dancers, and gestured for me to follow as she dove out of the shadows and back into the starlit world beyond. I followed, still pulling Garm, and found myself standing behind a house in one of Vallejo’s residential neighborhoods, out of sight of the street. The house was dark, the curtains drawn; no one stirred.

Garm pulled his hand from mine and staggered a few feet away to cough the cold out of his lungs. I looked to Grianne, waiting for further instruction. Would we need human disguises? Did we have a long walk between us and the Library?

Instead, she shook the ice off of her own hands, turned to the house, and walked up onto the back porch, opening the screen door and gesturing for us to follow.

Lovely. I do so enjoy traveling with people who have an allergy to explaining themselves. I sighed and followed her, with Garm close behind me and still wheezing. The shadows don’t care much for intruders.

Grianne waited for us to join her on the steps before she knocked. No lights came on, but I heard someone moving inside, and when Grianne knocked again, I heard the door unlock. She pushed it open, and stepped into the dark hallway beyond, leaving us to follow her.

Which, of course, we did, and as I stepped over the threshold, I felt the unsettling jerk low in my stomach that could mean a rarely used transition between the human world and the Summerlands. It was never the disorientation for me that October had occasionally described, but it was still noticeable, and made me pause long enough for the door to swing shut behind me with a bang. I glanced back at the sound, and when I faced front again, the hall had changed.

Instead of a dark, deserted mortal home, it was a long corridor lined with tall bookshelves and lit by glowing spheres suspended from the ceiling by thin silver chains. Not that I could see the ceiling; the shelves rose higher and higher until they vanished into a pale golden mist. The chains descended from the same mist, which threw back the light that shone upward, making it all the easier for us to see.

“Librarian?” called Garm, voice still rough from all the coughing. “I have a pass, for myself and a guest.”

“I do not have a pass,” I called, assuming he’d want Grianne for his plus-one. “But I am aware of Library rules, and may have information that would be of value to you.”

There was a clatter, before a woman appeared at the end of the hall, moving into view with unseemly haste. She was short and petite, and even from this distance, I could see her long, pliant dragonfly wings, two to either side of her body, half-spread and shedding glitter into the air.

“Librarian,” said Garm, with some relief.

The figure broke into a run, racing toward us, wings starting to beat as she ran, until she looked to be on the verge of taking off. Garm looked alarmed, taking a step back. Grianne tensed but didn’t move. I simply watched. I knew this Librarian. Her name was Magdaleana, and she had been Librarian to the Library of Stars for a very long time. Even if she didn’t know me, I didn’t fear her.

And then she raced past my companions to fling her arms around me, wings snapping fully open as she wailed, “Tybalt! Oh, I thought she had actually killed you all!”

I blinked down at her. We had known each other for a long time, but we had never been what I would consider hugging friends, or even such close acquaintances as to excuse this level of familiarity.

“I thought you said your name was ‘Rand,’” said Garm, sounding hurt.

“It is,” I said. “Royal cats will customarily have two names. The one we bore as kittens, and the one we claim for ourselves after we take a throne.”