Page 46 of The Innocent Sleep

Together we ran, all but side by side, through the darkness, emerging in the streets of Vallejo. By this point, we knew the way well, and had no trouble walking the short remaining distance to the Library.

Magdaleana was already in the doorway, looking bemusedly out as we approached. “Tybalt, Ginevra,” she greeted. “I didn’t expect you. I thought you were going to the Undersea.”

“We did,” I said, and held up the key. “We need to know what this is.”

Her eyes widened as she gestured frantically for us to get inside. She shut the door behind Ginevra. May appeared in the hall behind us, blinking blearily. “What’s going on?”

“Tybalt appears to have found a prize at the bottom of his cereal box,” said Magdaleana, sounding more irritated than I had ever heard her before.

I held up the key for May to see. She blinked again.

“Huh. Would have expected Titania to give that back to Eira, if she was passing toys around.”

“I found it in the Court of Cats,” I said, lowering the key. “We went to the Undersea. A Roane Seer informed us that we would need to be patient until Moving Day, but said resolving this would require finding the Luidaeg. What did she call her, Ginevra?”

“A keyhole waiting for a key,” supplied Ginevra.

“A keyhole waiting for a key,” I repeated. “Ginevra suggested we search one of the rooms at Court where lost things go, and we found this. It smells of the Luidaeg. I remember her showing it to me once . . .”

“May I?” Magdaleana extended her hand expectantly.

I dropped the key into her palm. She pulled it closer to her eyes, wings vibrating with what could have been either excitement or fear, and studied it for a moment before offering it back to me.

“I’ll have to look it up to be sure, but yes, I’d say this is a Summer Roads Key. It should grant access to whichever road or roads it’s been connected to. Given that the Luidaeg had it, I’d be willing to wager on it opening the Thorn Road, which belongs to the children of Maeve. The Luidaeg is rumored to have a key for that one. Perhaps more importantly, October was with her the last time the key to the Thorn Road was used.”

“Why does that matter?”

“A lot of the items made with old magic remember who they belong to, but can be coaxed into allowing their most recent user’s name to be added to the list of people who can use them,” said Magdaleana. “The keys tend to operate that way. It belongs to the Luidaeg. October should be able to use it, when the time comes.”

“We have the key,” I said. “But we need October to use it, and we need the Luidaeg to finish this. What do we do now?”

Ginevra grimaced sympathetically. “What we were told to do, I guess. We wait until it’s time to take a key and find a keyhole—and when that time comes, you won’t be coming with us.”

I stared at her for a moment, eyes going wide as I felt my claws pushing against the tips of my fingers, desperate to be freed. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” She looked at me levelly. “She’s going to be confused, no matter what’s going on, and probably afraid. Titania hasn’t left her equipped to understand who she is or what she can do, and you can be a little . . .”

“Intense as shit,” supplied May.

“Yes, that,” said Ginevra. “You can help us find her, and convince her, but when the time comes for us to use this key, you’re going to be somewhere else.”

“I don’t . . .”

“I’m sure you can find something to keep yourself occupied. If you’re there, our chances of success go down. We could lose her.”

Those were the magic words that were intended to make me agree. I looked away, clenching my hands into fists I had no intention of using. I wasn’t going to be manipulated by a Princess less than a quarter of my age. I wasn’t going to be sidelined, not in this fight. Not when it mattered.

“I am not having this conversation with you,” I said, through gritted teeth. “I am not going to agree to stay behind and allow you to gallivant off with my wife to seek the sea witch on a locked, forbidden road.”

Ginevra had obviously expected my resistance, and refused to be put off. “Please, Tybalt. You remember what Mary said—”

“Do not think to interpret Roane prophecy to me, child. I heard the speech of Seers centuries before you first drew breath. Mary said I was to stay away until Moving Day, and not a moment longer. I pray you will consider the matter closed with this refusal. Now I’m going outside before I lose my temper and this becomes physical.”

“You do that, kitty-cat,” said May. As I stalked away, I heard her ask: “Since you’re all here, anyone want pizza?”

THIRTEEN

THE NEW PATTERN OF our lives was a cold, terrible one. I was no longer accustomed to sleeping alone, nor to rising in the Court of Cats, surrounded by my people and their many demands. It may seem petty, to complain of the duties of kingship, but as I had been weaning myself away from those duties for some time, it was a shock to resume them so abruptly.