Page 79 of The Innocent Sleep

And here I was, unable to protect her, unable to even tell her what she needed to be afraid of. I had never felt so helpless in my life.

The sweet October air no longer seemed quite so sweet. I opened my eyes and lurched to my feet, graceless and tense. I couldn’t go with them. I could, however, remind Ginevra of just how precious her companions were, of how much care she needed to take with them.

I could do that, and she could laugh at me, because I had already stressed that point more times than either one of us could count. I’d just slow her down. I’d just make everything harder than it had to be.

I was already moving, walking stiffly toward the door back into the knowe. Maybe I couldn’t do anything to prepare them, but I could at least be there when they left. I could know that this step had been completed successfully. I could try.

The door swung open when I was almost there, Garm stepping out into the night. He was alone, no tall, silent Candela loping along behind him, and his motions were tense as he looked around, relaxing only when he caught sight of me and changed his angle so that he was moving directly toward me. I stopped, letting him come.

He stopped a few feet away. “They’re gone,” he said.

I closed my eyes involuntarily, taking a short, sharp breath. “Did the key work?”

“It did.”

I opened my eyes again, looking at him gravely. “Then we have to hope that prophecy and justice will combine, and we’ll have them back again. Where is Grianne?”

“She went with them, to help.”

“Good. Ginevra is still new enough to her powers that I worry she’ll be overwhelmed. If the Luidaeg’s memories are muddled . . .”

“If you really thought that was a possibility, there’s no way you’d have let this happen. You would have grabbed October and repeated your little ‘jumping off a cliff’ trick before you allowed her to go into the dark without you.”

“Don’t think I wasn’t tempted,” I said, softly.

“Anyway, Arden told me where to find you, and while I know this isn’t going to be the best thing you’ve heard today, Simon and August are waiting inside.”

I blinked slowly. “To what end?”

“They want to help.” Garm shrugged. “They couldn’t go into the dark with October, but they know she might be in danger, and they love her. Not the same way you do, I guess, and maybe their love was fabricated for them by Titania, but it’s still love. I guess you could run if you don’t feel like being the bigger person and letting them do something to feel like they’re being useful. It’s not like you can hurry things up.”

I looked at him, briefly considering how easily his flesh would rip beneath my claws, but shook the impulse away. He was my ally, and I was not a beast, no matter how Titania would cast me if given the power to do so. Simon and August had done nothing to hurt October. They were victims here as much as she was, and they had done much to make her time under Titania’s spell more pleasant than it could have been. They deserved what grace I could extend in their direction.

“I asked April to pass a message to Raj, while I was in Dreamer’s Glass,” I said. “It’s a bit of a stretch, but if this works as I had hoped, our allies from Saltmist may be intending to meet me near Muir Woods, at a beach where we have sometimes come together after an adventure. I have hope that they’ll be there. No certainty, but . . . hope.”

“You really think they can get out?”

“I think we were told that Moving Day would be the time to move, and while people move in and out of the light—few fae are fond of sunbathing—the barriers on the divide between land and sea are in steady sun from dawn until dusk every day. The spell is eroding in those areas. We know that to be true. I think there’s every chance a determined Firstborn and a furious Merrow will be able to batter their way through, even if they can’t break much more than a crack in the wall that’s been constructed. I think . . .”

I sighed, heavily.

“I think it’s worth trying.”

“At this point, everything seems worth trying, and if it lets them feel useful, we may as well give it a go.” Garm shrugged. “Only thing to worry about is how many of us there are. I don’t think you can take everyone through the shadows that distance, and it’s not like the Windermeres are going to play shuttle service.”

I grimaced. “I have a solution. I doubt any of us are going to like it, but it’s worth trying. Have you ever heard of muscle memory?”

Garm looked at me blankly.

TWENTY-TWO

CONVINCING THERON TO LOAN us a vehicle turned out to be the easy part. Golden Shore maintained a small fleet of mortal cars and trucks, modified to strip out as much iron as possible and muffle what was absolutely integral to the engines with rowan and with marshwater mixes.

Convincing Simon to get behind the wheel of a car, well. That was harder.

“I swear, in my world, you know how to operate one of these things,” I said, gesturing to the boxy black sedan that had been provided for our use. “You’re quite skilled behind the wheel, at least according to October, and as she drives more than anyone else I’ve ever met, I believe her. We know that memory lives in blood. Even if you don’t automatically know how to drive, you should be able to bleed yourself and access the information.”

Simon looked unsure. “My lady would never . . .”