Page 65 of The Innocent Sleep

August paled.

“So yes, my sister and I are the snatchers. We’re the bogeymen in your closet, and we’re glad, because we keep a few people from hitting their kids. ‘Beat your changeling and the snatchers will take them away in the middle of the day.’ We’re terrifying because they never see us coming.”

“And half the time they blame the children you snatch on Blind Michael,” said Chrysanthe. “If that man ever spoke to adults, he’d find himself responsible for twice the abductions he’s actually performed.”

“Possibly so,” said Nolan.

“But Blind Michael is a monster,” said August. “Why would you be happy to be compared to a monster?”

“Because we’re doing something that needs to be done,” said Nolan. “I only wish we could do it more often.”

Silence fell then, heavy and oppressive. I looked back to Ginevra, who had been silent through this whole exchange. She was watching me wearily, and it struck me again how much the people who depended on me had paid to see my quest advanced this far. With my distraction over October leaving me unable to fully devote my time to the Court, she and Raj had both been wearing themselves thin, and all for the sake of my family. She could have run back to her father and left me to do my job, which had been too long settled on her shoulders, and instead, she had stayed.

I moved toward her, saying quietly once close, “You can return to the Court for now if you like. Simon is a talented brewer. If he says he can get the Windermeres past the iron, he means it, and with the level of exposure she’s likely had, October will be unconscious for some time.”

“What, and miss the denouement of all this nonsense?” She kept her tone soft, almost teasing, and smiled a little as she said it, making it clear that she was trying to lighten the mood. “We’ve come this far, Tybalt. I’m not leaving you now. Not when she’s almost back—and won’t be back at all.”

My face fell. “What do you mean?”

“Iron alone isn’t going to destroy a spell cast by Titania, and you know that, but I can still see the hope in your eyes. You hope she’s going to leave that dungeon as herself, and she’s not.” Ginevra sobered, attempts at levity dying. “She’s still going to be the person Titania turned her into.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I’ve read many of the same books you have. I do.” She turned to Garm. “You’re Gwragen. You know illusions. Will iron erase this one?”

“The Lady of Flowers can cast illusions that overpower even iron,” said Garm, uncertainly. “She’s been known to do so when under duress, such as when Faerie and the human world went to war.”

“That wasn’t the only time,” called Nolan. “Be honest. We’re all friends here.” Then he laughed, a high, cackling sound.

Garm looked down. “Or when she wanted to lure the children of Maeve into an ambush,” he admitted. “She can conceal iron under veils of light and shadow, so that you’re almost upon it before you feel its presence. Even when she doesn’t go to such lengths, her truly deep works won’t collapse when iron is involved. Not like a normal person’s might.”

“You see?” Ginevra turned back to me. “I can’t go back to the Court. Not when you’re preparing to break your own heart, and not when I need to be here to talk to Toby as soon as she wakes up.”

A portal opened in the air then, sparing me from the need to reply, and Arden stepped through, Simon close behind. She waved a hand. The portal closed.

“C’mon, Nolan,” she called. “We’re off to perform a jailbreak.”

“You have the potions, then?” asked Chrysanthe.

Arden turned, bowing to the Queen on the Golden Shore. “As promised. Four doses. One each to get there and back today, despite the interference of the iron, and one each to repeat the trick when it’s going to cause the most possible chaos. We would have been back sooner, but he also whipped up a bunch of sludge that’s supposed to bind to any iron that gets into our system and pull it out before it can do real damage. Awful nice of him, or it would be, if I didn’t have strict instructions to save the majority of it for this changeling chick we’re picking up.”

“No side trips,” said Theron sternly. “I know you have many opportunities to help during this period, but our guests are worried for their friend, and she needs to come first in this instance.”

“Sure, Dad,” said Arden, rolling her eyes. She crossed to Nolan, handing him a small bottle from inside her jacket before hooking her arm through his. She sketched a portal in the air, and both of them vanished through it, and we were alone.

EIGHTEEN

SIMON WAS THE FIRST to break the awkward silence. “They’ll be resistant to the iron blocking access to the Queen’s dungeons for at least an hour. As long as they’re reasonably quick about things, it should be more than enough to get them in and out without issue.”

“The Windermeres are immature in self-defense, as exiles with no hope of ever returning to their family holdings, but they conduct their duties responsibly and with remarkable skill,” said Chrysanthe. “I have never known them to fail once they set their minds to something, unless there’s outside intervention.”

“Outside intervention is exactly what I’m concerned about,” said Simon darkly.

“Will this potion you’ve brewed work for me, and the Shadow Roads?” I asked. I should have asked before, should have provided an alternate plan, but he had seemed so sure, and I hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in so long—

“I have no way of knowing,” said Simon. “Not without a sample of your blood, which would grant me a sample of your memory. That might be a swift way to verify whether your wild stories are true. No one can rewrite the secrets stored in blood.”

I flinched at the thought of bleeding for the man, but . . .“If I bleed for you, if you see the truth of what I’ve told you, will you help me?”