Shana gazed with awe as she stepped through the door under Midnight Bridge and into the Library of Solitude’s entrance hall.
She’d only been here once, and then very briefly, during the time between saving the Library and returning to Grimoire. Back then, it had been empty and barren, in a dismal state of disrepair. But there had been hope, as the darkness had been forced out and there was a chance for light to return.
Now light had fully returned to the Library. Large windows to the left and right let in beautiful golden rays of sunshine. A domed skylight, several stories above them, glistened with many colors, its stained glass forming a picture of ten girls – the Princesses of Solitude – holding hands in a circle around their mother.
Along with the light was the change in the state of things. The tattered, faded carpet had been replaced, bright blue and soft beneath Shana’s feet. The walls shone white and clean, and the broken chandelier was repaired, its crystals refracting light in a dozen different directions.
And there were people!
In the center of the hall was a circular food stall, with bright pennants hanging from a top railing, while large signs displayed descriptions and pictures of the mouthwatering delights for sale. An older woman with rosy cheeks and kind eyes manned the stall, smiling as she served several children.
To the right was a wide, semicircular stone counter. A blue cloth was laid over it, and several glowing displays showed three-dimensional maps of the Library’s different sections. Younger women spoke with interested patrons, while an older man with half-moon spectacles gave gentle instruction where needed.
For the size of the hall, there weren’t many people. This hall alone could house hundreds without being crowded, and there were only about two dozen here. But after spending so much time in the dark, abandoned corridors of the Library, such a change was a wonderful transformation, and Shana beamed.
Her smile only widened when she saw the redhead racing towards her from the far side of the hall.
“Annabelle!” Shana cried out, rushing to meet her.
“Shana!” Annabelle called back, speeding even faster on bare feet. The two met by the food stall, and Shana held the little girl tightly in her arms, her face instantly buried by her mass of red curls.
“I missed you,” Annabelle said softly, her breath warm against Shana’s ear.
“And I missed you,” Shana said, laughing. She pulled away, looking around the hall. “This is amazing! I can’t believe so much has changed so quickly!”
“And it’s all because of you,” Annabelle said. “Not only was the Library abandoned and infested, it had joined the growing ranks of Lost Locations. It was disconnected from the Dominion, making it very difficult to reach. But because of you lighting the Dream Forge, the Library isn’t lost anymore. Merric helped get the word out, and people are flocking back.” The little girl looked around as well, her eyes shining. “So many people I’d thought lost forever have returned. The Library is alive again.”
“And your mother?” Shana asked.
Annabelle’s face fell, and she shook her head. “We still haven’t even the slightest idea where she might be. She left with Maribelle and Isabelle to look for me and the other Princesses. But they were separated, and neither of them know where she vanished to.”
“I hope you find Lady Kodoka soon,” Mister Midnight said. “I continue to keep eyes and ears open, hoping for some word or sign of her.”
Annabelle stood before Mister Midnight and, after a moment’s hesitation, bowed in front of him. “I have to thank you,” she said, “and words are far from enough. But you helped Maribelle bring back Sarabelle. My family’s more whole than it’s been in far too long.”
“It was all Maribelle,” Midnight said. “But now we’re here hoping for your help, and the help of your sisters. Can we meet with them?”
“Everyone else is already waiting for you,” Annabelle said. “In the Outer North Courtyard. Follow me!”
Annabelle led the way, and Shana’s large group followed. Shana kept looking back, amazed at how many people were with her now. Not only were there her group, the Dawn Riders, but also Mister Midnight, and even Fae, and the Falling Stars, and Gerick.
It’s wonderful being with so many people.
But she noticed that Fae looked uncomfortable. Slowly, she drifted back in the group, until she was next to her sister.
“You okay?” she asked, looking up at Fae.
“Yeah,” Fae said, in such a noncommittal tone that it was obvious her answer was false.
“I missed you,” Shana said, smiling.
“Yeah,” Fae said, looking away.
Shana fell silent, thinking of what to say. She’d only had her sister back for a little while, and then she’d vanished on her own journey. The first ten things that Shana thought of saying, though, she rejected.
I can’t talk too much about how I missed her, or how she vanished without saying anything… I don’t want her to feel guilty.
I want her to know how glad I am to be with her, even for a little while. I want her to be happy to be with me.
“Looks like you’ve made some cool new friends,” Shana finally said, grinning.
Fae smiled softly. “Yeah, I have,” she said. There was a genuine joy in her voice, and Shana’s smile widened.
“Seems like we’ve both been on some pretty wild adventures,” Shana continued. “When it’s all over… however much more is left for both of us… we’ll have tons of stories to trade. I can’t wait.”
Fae let out a breath, shook her head, pushed up her glasses. “You…” she started, halting for a moment. “You aren’t… mad at me?”
No!
“Nope,” Shana said pleasantly, not shouting it out like she did in her mind. “You had important things to do, right? And you still do. I’m just glad we can work together on something, even for a little bit.”
Fae nodded.
“You look a bit older,” Shana said. “Not, like, in a bad way. I mean… you look like… like what Mom says sometimes. You look wiser. Like you’ve learned a lot and grown a lot.”
Fae smiled, just a little. “Maybe you’re right.”
Up ahead, Annabelle drew everyone’s attention to her.
“The Library is a huge place if you try to walk everywhere,” she said. “And while there’s still a lot of walking to do, we have managed to bring back to life some of our shuttles. We’ll be able to take this one to just next to our destination.”
They passed through a narrow hallway and out into a vast, windowless cavern. Lights set into the wall shed a soft white light against grey stone. When Shana got a little farther out, she realized that the cavern stretched to both the left and the right as a tunnel, and that their entire group was standing on a platform above the ground level of the tunnel, which had metal tracks lined up along it.
“It’s a train station,” Shana said.
There was a faint whistle, echoing down the tunnel, and to their right a faint blue light appeared. The light grew closer and brighter, accompanied by a steady whoosh of sound. It all looked and sounded quite like a train, but far quieter than Shana had expected. The Library’s shuttle ran lightly, like a whisper in the night, and came to a soft, gentle stop in front of the platform. It was a series of blue-and-white train cars, constructed in light, inviting curves and cheerful lighting. Inside, there were many cushioned, circular seats to rest on, and most of the group did so, including Annabelle, who made sure to sit next to Shana. The only one who stood, holding a railing overhead, was Midnight.
A whistle blew, light and clear, and the shuttle spurred into its quiet motion. It picked up speed shockingly fast, and yet Shana barely felt it, only knowing they were zipping along by the blurred outline of the tunnel walls out the window.
“This makes getting around the Library so much easier,” Shana said.
Annabelle nodded, smiling. “It’s important for us to bring all of the shuttles back to life as quickly as we can. The more people return, the more valuable it is to have speedy transportation throughout the Library.”
“How many people live here now?” Shana asked.
“Along with my sisters, Merric, and me,” Annabelle said, “we’ve already had seventy-five return to the Library, and twenty-three newcomers who have taken up residence.” She smiled. “It’s still very empty, but it feels like home again.”
Their shuttle came to a stop at a new platform, and everyone disembarked, following Annabelle. Through a narrow passage they went again, emerging this time into one of the many circular hub rooms that dominated the Library’s architecture. Before them, long stairs led down through concentric rings to the center, and out from that center, parallel to the stairs, were many rows of bookshelves. This pattern continued all around the circle, broken up occasionally by small study areas with chairs, couches, cushions, and tables.
On the highest level, around the perimeter of the room, there were a dozen tall, arched doorways that led off to different places. Annabelle led them around the high perimeter, towards a doorway that had light coming through from what lay beyond. Passing through, Shana gasped.
She’d been in one of the Library’s gardens. It was the first place she’d arrived the first time she was here, in fact. But back then it had been dark, gloomy, with long shadows and strange shapes that left her unsettled and uncomfortable.
She was in a different garden now, but it was similar in layout to what she’d seen before. Only this time, bright golden sunshine shone down from a white sky. Flowers bloomed in a million different colors. Fountains sprayed shimmering water into the air. There were even birds, flitting through the air, singing their songs. Shana even saw earthbound creatures that looked like orange, long-eared foxes with bushy tails, darting into and out of the bushes.
“It’s beautiful,” she said breathlessly.
“As it should be,” Annabelle said. “Come on, this way.”
She led them around a tall hedge of bushes and into a wide, circular clearing around a three-tiered fountain. Many stone benches and round stone tables were arrayed in this space, and had clearly been moved to all be on one side, where two women and a girl sat waiting.
Shana stared. Maribelle and Isabelle looked much the same as she remembered them, as did Annabelle. What amazed her was Sarabelle.
She’d only met the woman once, very briefly when she’d first arrived at Midnight Bridge. But that brief meeting had left her stunned, seeing the sorry, wasted state of Maribelle’s sister. She’d been gaunt and weak, and it had been all she could do just to barely speak, being carried everywhere she went by Maribelle.
She still bore signs of an ongoing recovery. She was thin, unhealthily so, her arms gaunt and skeletal, but her face had regained its composure before the rest of her body. While Isabelle and Annabelle, twins, had round faces, and Maribelle had a similar but more mature facial structure to the young ones, Sarabelle looked regal. In a way, she reminded Shana of her mother, with more angular features than her sisters, but not in a harsh or unpleasant way. Her eyes weren’t as big and expressive as her sisters’, but shone bright and blue. There was a bit of a haunted expression to her face, but when she smiled, it looked genuine. She sat closest to Maribelle, while Isabelle – in much the way that Shana had often seen her in her previous visit – sat atop Maribelle’s shoulders, bobbing this way and that, playful as ever.
“It seems it’s time for me to return your favor,” Maribelle said, nodding to Midnight. “I don’t know that I can ever properly repay you for what you’ve done for me and my family, but I will do all I can.”
“There’s no need to put it that way,” Midnight said. “That wasn’t a transaction – you owe me nothing.” He nodded to Sarabelle. “You’re recovering quickly.”
“I am,” Sarabelle said, her voice warm and soft compared to the bright clarity of Maribelle’s. “Thank you.”
“How can we help?” Isabelle asked. She was looking alertly at the group, but after a moment her shoulders drooped. “You didn’t bring Caleb or Chelsea or Lorelei or Delilah or Gwen.”
Maribelle laughed. “Quite a list,” she said.
“They have a lot on their plate right now,” Shana said, though the mention of Delilah’s name stung her heart. “But I’m sure they’ll come visit you when they can.”
“Oh, goodie,” Isabelle said, burying her face in her sister’s hair, grinning happily.
Everyone sat, and Midnight, Shana, Shias, and Fae took the lead on telling their story, with a few others chiming in now and then with important details. They talked at length about what they’d learned before going to the Nightmare Citadel, how they knew they’d need people to help save Nocta, and then continued with every detail they could muster about the journey to the Citadel and back. The perfect memory of Shana and Shias paid dividends here, recounting everything they’d seen, heard, and felt with complete accuracy and clarity.
The Princesses were all silent for a moment after hearing the story. Isabelle in particular looked focused, her nose and forehead scrunched up in intense thought as she leaned on Maribelle’s head.
“We may not be able to help you as much as you’d hoped,” Maribelle said sadly. “It seems to me, especially from Fae’s account about the candlestick bell and the writings of Maxwell, that you know more about Collapse and avenues for curing or destroying it than we do. You’re welcome to peruse our archives – we have the greatest collection of recorded knowledge in the entire universe, after all – but I find it unlikely you’ll learn more than you already know.”
“I do believe that Mister Midnight is right,” Sarabelle said. “Eliminating the Intangible Collapse before freeing – or at least partially reaching – Nocta would, to me, be far too risky. If she is so heavily in its thrall, then destroying the Intangible, while I doubt fatal, could still leave her with painful scars. Such a vicious illness may only be curable through such harsh, forceful means, but most poisons must be drawn out with care. Pull too forcefully and you risk causing greater harm in the process.”
“So… we might need to just keep going back and forth?” Shana asked. “Just try again and again and hope for the best?”
“Many trials are best conquered with patient, ardent repetition,” Maribelle said.
“I got it!” Isabelle said suddenly, leaping up and over Maribelle’s head to land on the ground in the middle of the group. She raised a closed fist overhead, pointing one finger towards the sky.
“You… do?” Sarabelle asked, staring in surprise at her little sister.
“Yup!” Isabelle said. She relaxed her pose, nodding thoughtfully. “Nocta’s an owl, right? And all that writing on the outside of the Citadel says how lonely she is, right?”
“Yeah,” Shana said, listening intently.
“Then you need Chelsea!” Isabelle said.
A long, stunned silence filled the courtyard.
“Wait, what?” Shana finally asked.
Isabelle pursed her lips. “I said, you need Chelsea.”
“I think they want you to explain why, Belle-Belle,” Maribelle said.
“Oh,” Isabelle said. She nodded. “Okay, so, Nocta’s lonely, right? And she’s an owl. Well, Chelsea has an owl, and she said when he came to her, he seemed really lonely, too. She said something like… well not just that, but… that she and the Will Wisp that became her owl were ‘the same.’ So if you bring two lonely owls together, that could help them both be happy and hopeful. And hope’s how you escape Collapse, right?”
“The same…” Midnight said softly. “She said that? That they were the same? Those were her exact words?”
“Yup,” Isabelle said. “That’s what she told me.”
There was a pained look in Midnight’s eyes. “I see,” he said.
“So we need to find Chelsea?” Shana asked.
“It’s the best clue we’ve had so far,” Midnight said.
“It seems rather slim to go off of just that,” Shias said.
“No,” Midnight said firmly, standing. “It’s perfect.” He looked down at Isabelle and smiled, just a little. “Thanks, kid.”
“Yup!” Isabelle said, grinning.
How does he know from just that?
But, wait… no…
“We can’t work with that, can we?” Shana asked. “I mean… none of us could use our magic on the Nightmare Road or even inside the Citadel. That includes Summons. I couldn’t bring out Altair.”
“And I couldn’t bring out Brutus,” Rae said, nodding in understanding.
“But you’re the Dreamer,” Maribelle said with a smile. “We learned before that you only barely understand your powers. And I’m sure you’ve learned more since then, haven’t you? If anyone can overcome the Nightmares and allow magic to be used in such a place, it would be you.”
“Do you think you can do it?” Midnight asked. He stared at Shana. Under his direct gaze, Shana found his eyes unnerving – pure white, save for a tiny black point at the center of each that, despite how small they were, seemed like endless pits of blackness. She looked away.
He’s counting on me so much. And…
He truly believe Chelsea can save Nocta. And for that, we need her owl.
So…
If it’s what we need, then it has to be possible, right?
Shana knew how many holes Shias would poke into that kind of reasoning if she said it out loud, so she kept it to herself.
Because in the end…
I want it to be possible. And in dreams…
Well, anything’s possible in dreams, right? I was able to do things on the Nightmare Road I could never do in the real world. So what if…
I need to talk to Heart. But I think she’ll show me the way.
Either way, it needs to be possible. So it’s up to me to make it possible.
“I’ll do it,” Shana said, meeting Midnight’s gaze. He nodded once and looked away.
“You have to leave again, don’t you?” Isabelle asked, pouting slightly.
“Only because next time we come, we’ll bring Chelsea,” Shana said. “And maybe even Caleb and Delilah, too.”
Isabelle’s eyes lit up. “And Lorelei and Gwen, right?”
Shana grinned. “We’ll make it happen.”
“I’ll walk you back to the entrance,” Annabelle said.
“Can I come, too?” Isabelle asked.
“I think we should all go,” Sarabelle said. She moved to stand, and all three of her sisters flocked to her. She leaned on Maribelle’s shoulder, while the little twins stuck close beside her, watching her intently.
Together, the Princesses went with Shana’s huge group back to the shuttle, and took that back to the entrance hall. During the shuttle ride, Annabelle sat by Shana, but so did Isabelle. Somehow, they’d both gotten attached to Shana.
It’s probably because I made her such a lofty promise.
But that’s okay. I know how much she cares about them, and I know how much they care about her. They’ll be glad to come visit her.
Chelsea…
I hope the fight for Grimoire is over, and I hope you guys won. And I hope, if it’s not over yet, that we won’t be interrupting you too much by asking you to come with us.
I hope…
I hope everything’s okay.
-----
Chelsea stirred, blinking heavy eyes. She looked out the window to see all new sights passing by.
Everything outside the Goodnight Express was constantly changing. She’d seen things she never could have seen elsewhere – stars being born, wild nebulae like storms in space, and vast, alien mountain ranges on distant planets, formed into shapes and arrangements unlike anything on Earth.
She’d also seen many Locations in the Dominion, though always briefly in passing. That’s what she saw now: some dismal grey city where rain came pouring down from a dismal grey sky. The people, or at least the ones she could get a good look at, all looked utterly despondent, crippled by despair.
What a horrible place.
And then it was gone, and the wild reaches between Locations filled her view.
She turned away, looking at the little girl whose head rested on her lap. Adelaide was conked out, totally asleep, snoring softly with a wide open mouth, drooling onto Chelsea’s pant leg.
What is it with kids drooling on me?
Way back at Gwen’s house it had been Delilah. Now on the Goodnight Express it was Adelaide.
Both Chelsea and the girl were bathed in soft white light, thanks to the owl Summon on Chelsea’s shoulders. She reached up, rubbing her fingers against his soft, feathery chin.
“You make a great travel pillow,” she said, leaning her head back into the warm softness of her Summon’s body.
“You’re a good travelp’low,” came the murmurings of Adelaide as she nestled more closely against Chelsea’s thigh.
“Kid, you’re not even asleep, are you?” Chelsea asked, narrowing her eyes.
Adelaide giggled, opening her eyes, “I was until a little bit ago,” she said, grinning as she wiped her face with the back of her hand. “Are we there yet?”
Every single child in existence has that line on standby, don’t they?
“No,” Chelsea said. “Clean up my pants while you’re cleaning your face, will you?”
“But it’s funny,” Adelaide said, giggling.
“I’ll show you funny if you don’t clean it up,” Chelsea said.
“But it doesn’t even show,” Adelaide said, staring at the wet spot on Chelsea’s leg. “Once it dries you won’t even notice.”
“Then I’ll dry it off on your face,” Chelsea said. She lifted her leg towards Adelaide, and the girl squealed excitedly, leaping back.
Ding-dong.
A bell rang softly through the grainy speakers, followed by a dreamy female voice over the intercom. “Attention all passengers. We are approaching Midnight Bridge. Attention all passengers. We are approaching Midnight Bridge. Departure will be on the right. Please watch your step.”
“Hey kid, we’re there,” Chelsea said, poking Adelaide in the stomach, eliciting a series of high-pitched giggles.
They gathered their things – there wasn’t much, just a single suitcase between the two of them – and headed to the doors. Outside, Chelsea could only see gloomy, murky darkness. As the train came to a stop, she also saw dim blue dots of light in the distance, but that was it.
The doors hissed open, and the girls stepped out onto black stone. The doors closed, and the train sped away.
They were all alone.
Slowly, the darkness came into focus, and Chelsea realized it wasn’t just gloom and murk. They were on a bridge, one that sloped down towards the center before rising again on the far side. It looked like more than a mile in length, so Chelsea couldn’t see the far side in the darkness.
“Let’s go see if Mister Midnight’s here,” Adelaide said, starting forward.
“If,” huh?
I never thought of the possibility of him not being here.
Chelsea followed after Adelaide, their trek across the bridge progressing in silence. Climbing up the far side, they came to a wide, open stone platform, in the center of which was a tall, rounded house. Faint lights gleamed in the space between dark curtains drawn closed.
“I guess his reputation makes sense, considering where he lives,” Chelsea said, thinking back on Caleb’s stories about his strict teacher.
“I wanna knock!” Adelaide said, starting forward. Chelsea grabbed her by the collar.
“Slow it down, kiddo,” she said. “Let’s take this nice and easy, huh? We’re strangers on someone else’s turf, after all.”
“Oh,” Adelaide said. “So, we should be polite?”
“You should always be polite,” Chelsea said, poking the girl in the stomach, setting off a string of giggles. “Come on.”
Chelsea knocked lightly on the wooden door. There was a strange, spiraling pattern in the wood, but Chelsea didn’t get to look at it before the door swung inward, revealing the face of…
A girl.
She had bright silver eyes, and her raven hair tumbled down over one shoulder. One look at her, and Chelsea already knew her name from Caleb’s description of her.
“More visitors!” Ingrid said, smiling at Chelsea and Adelaide. “It’s been a really exciting time, lately.”
Oh, right. Shana and the others came to see Mister Midnight, too.
“Ingrid, right?” Chelsea asked, holding out her hand. “I’m Chelsea. This little troublemaker is Adelaide.”
“Call me Addie!” Adelaide said, shaking Ingrid’s hand after Chelsea.
“Chelsea…?” Ingrid asked, staring at Chelsea. “Then you’re… Caleb’s girlfriend, right?”
A pang shot through Chelsea’s heart as she nodded. “Is Mister Midnight here? We need his help.”
“Small world,” came a gritty voice.
“You’re back!” Ingrid said happily, turning around. There was a spiral staircase in the center of the house, and emerging from a door beneath the staircase was a man that could only be Mister Midnight.
“Small world?” Chelsea asked.
Midnight nodded. “Turns out I need your help as well.” He smirked. “Nice of you to save me the trouble of tracking you down.”