Chimes at Midnight

Moving the car would certainly lend credence to the idea that I was desperately racing around the Bay Area, looking for a way out of my banishment. And Tybalt didn’t need the strain of transporting two people along the Shadow Roads for more than a few miles twice in one night. I nodded. “Works for me.”


Quentin and I each took one of Tybalt’s hands, and together, we stepped into the dark, leaving the warm, uncomplicated halls of Goldengreen behind us. It was a shorter passage through the darkness than many of them, maybe because we were traveling such a short distance, maybe because we were moving from one familiar location to another. Whatever the reason, we stepped out into my living room not much later.

I wiped the ice from my eyelashes and called, “Hello, the house!” A rattling noise answered me as Spike—my resident rose goblin—woke up and jumped onto the back of the couch, making a puzzled mewling sound. I leaned over to scratch behind its thorny ears. “Hey, buddy. Where are May and Jazz?”

“Jazz is getting some sleep, and it’s my turn to keep watch,” said May, stepping into the living room with a cup of coffee in her hand. She held it out to me. “She’s gone to bed. We’ll switch off in an hour or so. Where’s Raj?”

“We left him at Goldengreen,” I said, taking the cup. “What are you up to?”

“I did laundry, I cleared some things off the TiVo, and I waved to the men the Queen has lurking around the edges of the park, trying to look unobtrusive.” May grinned. “I mean, to be fair, I probably wouldn’t have known they were there if I weren’t, you know, a Fetch, but wow, did I freak ’em out.”

May’s fae abilities were something of a guessing game, since no Fetch had ever existed this long before. One of the first things we learned about her powers was that she was virtually impossible to sneak up on, especially if your intentions weren’t good. I frowned. “How do you know they’re freaking out? I thought you couldn’t see through illusions.”

“Oh, I can’t see them—I just know where they are, and every time I wave, they run around and get into new hiding positions, like that’s going to fool me somehow.” May looked entirely too pleased with herself. I couldn’t say that I blamed her. “Hours of enjoyment. Seriously.”

“Well, we’re about to take your pretty toys away.” I sipped my coffee as I outlined the plan, using as few words as possible. Tybalt and Quentin chimed in a few times, but mostly left things to me. That was probably for the best; it was confusing enough as it was.

May waited until I was finished before nodding and asking, “Is there anything I can do?”

“Start packing,” I said. “I’m sure some of the Queen’s men will stay to watch the house, even if most of them go after me. Make it look like we’re planning to leave the Kingdom if we have to, while I try to convince them I’m frantically looking for a loophole. Hopefully thus concealing the one loophole we have managed to find.”

“Arden,” said May. “It’s risky.”

“What about this hasn’t been?”

She sighed. “Right. Well, just be as careful as you can, okay? I don’t think Sylvester will let me keep the house if you get yourself slaughtered.”

I laughed. “I love you, too. I just need to get some more coffee in me, and then I’m good to go. Quentin, if you need anything from the house, now would be the time.”

“Okay,” he said, and turned to head off toward his room. May followed him, running a hand through her hair as she walked. It was a gesture she’d borrowed from her memories of being me, rather than any of the other people who made up her patchwork lifetime. She still made it entirely her own.

Tybalt touched my shoulder. I looked back at him and smiled.

“Hey.”

“Hello,” he replied. He raised an eyebrow. “You’re in surprisingly good spirits for someone who’s been given every reason to be furious with the world. Should I be checking to be sure you’re not your own Fetch in disguise?”