Page 86 of The Innocent Sleep

The “love” seemed to calm her. She relaxed a little, still watching him.

“In the last few years, Amandine has been called more and more often to fiefdoms outside the Mists, to attend upon their changelings. I’m not sure what benefit Titania found in seeding discontent within her fictional ideal, but she did, and so Amy has been very busy. She has been at the tower very little these past four months, and when she was there, she was too tired and distracted by her duties to call me to the marital bed. Indeed, in my memory of that other world, she hadn’t called me so since October’s birth. I had begun to fear that carrying another man’s child, even a human man’s child, had soured her love for me. Now it seems that Titania was simply clever enough not to cross certain boundaries where I was concerned.”

“She’s not smart enough to leave my family alone, but she’s smart enough to know I’d kill her,” said Dianda.

Simon touched her cheek. She leaned in, then, and kissed him like she thought she might never see him again, not in all the time the world had remaining. Patrick stayed close, putting his hands on both their shoulders, keeping their circle intact. I looked away. This felt too personal for me to share.

If I hadn’t turned my head, I might not have seen the people now coming down the beach toward us. It was a small group, maybe ten in all, but they were moving directly toward where we were gathered, and the fact that none of the other beachgoers seemed to see them told me without question that they were fae.

“And that’s our cue,” said Amphitrite. “Dianda, I can’t hold us here.” The rosy glow in the water around her was getting brighter and brighter, shining above the surface now, glittering like a crystalline shell that extended almost to her knees. She was looking more strained by the second.

“We’re coming,” said Dianda.

“I am your First, and I am telling you to come faster,” said Amphitrite tightly.

“Can we take him with us?” asked Dianda.

August made a wordless sound of dismay, finally pulling her hands from mine. Her fingers no longer felt like icicles, which was something; they were still too cold, but the worst of it seemed to have passed.

“No!” she half-shouted, half-yelped.

Dianda and Patrick both looked at her and grimaced, unhappily. “Can’t you give yourself your memories back?”

“It doesn’t work like that,” said August. “I’d need October to break the enchantment. And I’m still not sure I want to.”

“You will,” said Patrick. “I promise, you will. Simon, even if Amphitrite could take you down with us—”

“Big ‘if,’” said Amphitrite. “He belongs here, we don’t. Come on.”

“Even if she could, we couldn’t force August to go. Do you want to leave her alone up here?”

“No,” said Simon, voice very small. He turned to look at August, repeating, with more strength, “No. I’m sorry, but no.”

“Sweetheart, that’s the right answer,” said Dianda. “We’ll be back as soon as we can. It should be easier now that we know it’s possible.”

Amphitrite grimaced, making me wonder how true that statement really was. Dianda and Patrick gave Simon one last quick hug before retreating across the water to the increasingly bright pink glow. Amphitrite looked at me and nodded, an acknowledgment and gesture of respect.

“Stay safe,” she said. “Try, at least.”

The light got brighter. Then it flashed, and they were gone, leaving the surface of the water smooth and undisturbed.

Simon stared at the place where they had been, tears running down his cheeks as he put one hand over his mouth. August moved to stand beside him, putting a hand on his arm, and he whirled around, burying his face in her shoulder as he pulled her tight against him.

“Um, Tybalt?” Garm shifted to stand closer to me, glancing uneasily at the approaching group. They were still too far out for me to see any details, but they appeared to be moving in some sort of formation, and I could tell they were all wearing the same thing, a combination of dark gray trousers and lighter-colored tops. Beyond that, nothing was clear.

“We should go,” I said. “Simon, August, come. We’re going back to the car.”

I started back across the beach, heading for the pedestrian walkway. The others moved with me, Simon leaning against August, both of them clearly shaken by what they had just seen. At least there was no question left of whether they believed me, and now we knew that August’s magic extended to the same unweaving trick as her sister. We would be able to release October, once she granted her consent.

I would have her back again.

As soon as we started to move, the people who’d been approaching changed trajectory to intercept us, moving faster, still attracting no notice from the people around them. “Garm?” I asked, tightly.

“Yes?”

“Illusion?”

“Let me check.” He squinted at the group for a moment, then nodded. “Yes. A strong one. Not as good as mine, but then, it doesn’t need to be. They’re still obscured, and that’s what matters.”