An Artificial Night

She chuckled without a trace of humor. “You have no idea.”


“Yeah, well. There’s no field guide to the Firstborn.” Quentin shivered under my hand. I tightened my fingers. “I just keep tripping over them.”

Luna made a small, pained sound, visibly forcing herself to keep her composure before she asked, “How many . . . how many of the children did you get out?”

“The ones I went for and as many of the others as I could manage. About twenty, all told.” I kept watching her. “Katie’s the only human kid I got out.”

“You stole twenty children from my—from Blind Michael?” asked Luna, eyes going suddenly wide.

“They weren’t his to have,” I said simply.

“Oh, Toby. Oh, my dear.” She shook her head, eyes closing. “Do you know what you’ve done?”

“What I had to.” I turned toward Sylvester. “Can they stay here with you? I have to finish taking care of the others.”

“Of course,” he said. “They’ll be safer here than they could be anywhere else.”

That was one less thing for me to worry about. “Great.”

“Are you hurt?”

“Not really. A little scraped up, and I could use some Band-Aids for my hands, but I’m mostly just stressed and exhausted.” I looked back toward Luna, very deliberately removing the black rose from my hair and holding it out to her. “I brought you a present.”

She paled, staring at the flower like she expected it to bite her. It was like she hadn’t seen it until it was offered. “Where . . .” she began, in a stunned whisper, and faltered before saying, “Where did you get that?”

“From your mother,” I said, calmly. “She misses you.”

“Oh, Toby, what have you done?” She sounded like she was somewhere between choking and crying. Not taking her eyes from the rose, she said, “Sylvester?”

“It was bound to happen one day, Luna,” he said wearily. “I’m honestly amazed that it’s taken this long. Maybe if Amandine hadn’t stood aside—”

“But she did,” said Luna. Her tails were lashing, stirring her skirt into a wild tangle. “Please, Sylvester.”

He sighed. “What would you have me do?”

“Take Quentin and his . . . his friend . . . to the Children’s Hall and get them settled comfortably. Bring them drinks and go down to collect the others.” She glanced at him, then away, as if the sight of him hurt her eyes. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“This is your garden as much as any other, Luna. You planted it. I love you. But don’t you dare try to deny the need to harvest.” Sylvester gave Luna a disgusted look, helping Katie to her feet. She stood without protesting, moving easily on legs that now bent the wrong way and tapered into dainty, fully formed hooves. Her glossy smile didn’t change as Quentin slid his arm through hers; I wasn’t even sure she knew he was there.

Luna closed her eyes, standing silent as the three of them made their way out of the hall. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks, flowing freely by the time she sighed and said, eyes still closed, “So you’ve met my mother.”

“You could’ve warned me.”

“No, I couldn’t. I might have tried, if I thought you’d reach her forest alive, but I didn’t think you’d make it that far.” She made the admission without flinching. When I left for Blind Michael’s lands, she didn’t expect me to come back. Opening her eyes, she looked at me sadly, and asked, “She gave that to you?”

“She asked me to bring it to you.”

“Did she tell you why?”