Page 35 of The Innocent Sleep

“Librarian’s crying,” said Grianne.

That made me pause to look at Magdaleana again. She was, indeed, crying as she clung to me, wings fanning lazily and leaving trails in the air. “May I hazard a guess that you remember the world as it is meant to be?” I asked.

“You may,” she said, finally letting me go and taking a step back to wipe her eyes. “Titania can change things outside as much as she likes, but she has no authority over the Library system. She never has. None of the Three do.”

That was a fascinating wrinkle on the mystery that was the Libraries. No one really knew where they had come from, who had opened them, when, or why. They were independently mobile, politically neutral, and took steps to protect themselves.

“Then why did you relocate?” I asked.

“Somehow Titania’s managed to dispose of Queen Windermere and put that woman back on the throne,” said Magdaleana. “That woman was always fond of interfering with the Library, or trying anyway, when she was actually in charge. I didn’t feel like being played with, and neither did the Library, so we moved a few towns over to weather things out. I didn’t know what had happened until the Gwragen started showing up and asking questions about revisions.”

“I wasn’t the first,” said Garm.

“No, you weren’t,” agreed Magdaleana. “It seems that while they’re as susceptible to the changes as anyone outside of a Library, they can see that changes have been made. They can see that there’s an illusion covering everything they know. And since they know it’s there, they can try to figure out what’s changed, mostly by coming here and checking the histories that haven’t been modified.”

“And how do you know that the Summer Queen is behind this?”

“She’s done it before,” said Magdaleana. “Never on this scale, that I can find, but it’s one of her favorite tricks. When backed into a corner, Maeve transforms, Oberon conceals, Titania rewrites. This is her work. But you’re here, and alive! Oh, I am so relieved to see you. And I won’t be the only one, I’m sure. Come, come, all of you.” She stepped back, adding, “Library rules are still in effect, although this is considered a time of emergency. While no open war has been declared, self-defense is temporarily allowed. Protecting yourself will not see you asked to leave, or the defenses of the Library activated against you. Do you understand?”

“This sounds like the sort of speech that normally comes right before turning a corner and finding someone who’s all but guaranteed to attack,” I said, warily. “Is Titania here?”

“No,” said Magdaleana, sounding offended. “She doesn’t have a Library card. Come on, then.”

She walked on, and the rest of us followed, lacking any other choices in the matter.

TEN

THE HALLWAY ENDED IN a large, square space formed by bookshelves, at the center of which several couches and chairs had been positioned to form a reading and conversation nook. Only one of the couches was currently occupied, by a sleeping woman in a voluminous black taffeta skirt and a sequined vest bedazzled in several dozen eye-searing colors. Her hair, while brown at the roots, was streaked in pink, blue, and purple, like a cartoon idea of a sunset.

I stopped dead at the sight of her, staring. “How . . . ?”

“She can’t leave,” said Magdaleana. “When she tries, her body gets fuzzy around the edges, like it’s folding inward on itself, and she screams and runs back inside. I think she’s impossible in the world Titania’s created, and so she has to remain outside it or be forced back into her original shape.”

Which, for May, would be one of the night-haunts. She had this form and face only because she’d sampled October’s blood, a long time ago, when my dear little fish had been trying to solve a murder through some of the most boneheaded methods possible.

Then again, I had just been speaking with the Almere. Maybe I didn’t have as much room to talk about foolish heroics as I wanted to think I did.

“When did she—?”

“About a week ago. When the world changed, and the Library relocated for its own safety. Just appeared, right in the middle of the break room while I was trying to finish my salad. It was very rude, and I’d be furious if she hadn’t been hysterical for most of the time she’s been here.”

“Then she’s taken this change about as well as I have, and I cannot fault her for that.” I walked over to the couch where she was stretched and sleeping, kneeling down behind her and reaching out to brush the hair away from her cheek. She made a small snorting noise, swatting at my hand, and otherwise didn’t move.

I would never have thought to have a Fetch for a sister-in-law, nor to call a death omen a treasured member of my family, but then, I’ve done many things I would never have thought to do in the years since I began my close association with October, and there are few of them that I would trade away. May is nowhere near to making it onto that list.

“That woman looks like October, if she were more mortal,” said Garm. “Why?”

“Oh, that’s May,” said Magdaleana. “She’s October’s Fetch.”

“Right, right, of course she is,” said Garm. “That makes perfect sense. Why wouldn’t she be October’s Fetch? Why wouldn’t the changeling daughter of our Duke’s brother have a Fetch? Yes, this is all very normal and not strange or messed-up at all.”

“You’re the one who told me you’d found a Cait Sidhe,” said Grianne.

The shock of her speaking in a complete sentence was apparently enough to silence Garm, however briefly.

I shook May’s shoulder this time, trying my best to stay gentle. She grunted, eyes still closed.

“May,” I said, wearily. “I don’t have as much patience right now as I’m sure we both wish I did, but things are very difficult at the moment, and I could use another ally.”