Fae stepped through the door and out from the Unreturning onto a silver bridge.
It wasn’t an ordinary bridge. It had been a long time since Fae had seen much of anything that was ordinary. The bridge was suspended in a misty, silvery void, arcing gently upwards towards a set of blue double doors embedded in a sleek, silver wall.
“We…” Mercury started, staring.
“Finally…” Jupiter said, eyes wide with wonder.
“Made it,” Neptune finished, breathless.
“I never thought it would look like this,” Mercury said. “It’s so… impersonal. You can’t tell at all what it’s like inside.”
“Should we… go in?” Jupiter asked, looking at each of her sisters expectantly.
“Of course,” Mercury said. She looked back at Neptune. “Right?”
Neptune nodded. “We finally made it. It’s time for the answers we’ve sought so long.”
They started forward, and Fae, Madeline, Olivia, and Sonya followed. Their footsteps were light, clinking gently like the bridge was made of crystal glass.
“It’s so quiet here,” Jupiter said.
“And so strange,” Mercury said, running her hand through wisps of silver mist. “What is this stuff?”
“It sort of sticks to your fingers,” Neptune said, running her hand through the mist and then staring at her hand. “But not for long.”
Fae ran her hand through vapors of silver mist, then stared at her fingers. Tiny silver sparkles clung to her skin, but after a moment they detached, fluttering away in a wind she neither felt nor heard.
Before she knew it, she’d arrived with the others at the doors to the Silver Star Sanctuary.
“The keyhole sure is strange,” Mercury said, running her hands around the edge of a circular indentation with the Silver Star Sanctuary symbol inside.
“That’s because this is the key,” Neptune said, pulling out the locket. She started forward, but stopped at a startled gasp from Olivia.
“What is it?” Fae asked, looking at Olivia…
Who was staring straight at her in shock.
“You’re vanishing!” she cried, pointing at Fae.
Fae looked down at herself and gasped, too. She could see through herself! “What’s going on?” she asked, reaching for one of her stylus Talismans. But while she could touch her body, her hands went right through her Talismans. The only thing she could grasp was…
A scrap of paper. The paper in her pocket from her message in a bottle, displaying one word: Vicious. The paper glowed in her hand, and was warm to the touch, as if…
As if it had something to do with her vanishing.
She looked up, but the entire world was disappearing around her.
And there was nothing she could do about it.
——
Caleb stared in shock at the Seat of the Seven. It was just like the Court of Time, except made of reddish brown rock rather than the polished, dark blue-and-silver stonework of the Court, and that this place was empty, in ruins. The small stage in the center was crumbled and broken, and the seven empty chairs on the far side had a sunken look to them, cracked and crumbled as they were.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “Why is this just like the Court of Time?”
“Because it used to be the Court of Time,” came a woman’s voice. Caleb, his group with Mister Midnight, and the Crystal Family, all turned as one in surprise at the unexpected voice. Caleb’s eyes widened as he saw…
Anastasia. He’d recognize those violet eyes anywhere. And with her were Sieglinde, Stride, Bronn, and Doctor.
“How in the world are you here?” the Crystal King asked. “You need a writ of —”
“We’re well-acquainted with someone who has lifetime access,” Anastasia said, gesturing with a sapphire-studded ring she held in her fingers. She reached into the inside pocket of her coat, pulling out a familiar black envelope. “And we have an invitation.”
“Just like mine,” Caleb said, pulling out his own invitation.
“Halfchants,” the Queen said softly, derision thick in her voice. “All five of them.”
“Yes,” Anastasia said. “And we don’t have time for your petty superiority. None of you should even be here. We were trying to find all of the invitations, keep others from finding out and coming here…” She sighed. “At least we kept most away.”
“Why?” Midnight asked. “What are you up to?”
“It’s not about what we’re up to,” said Stride, resting his hands on the hilts of two separate sheathed swords. “It’s about what he’s up to. We need to put a stop to it. Other ‘guests’ will only make things complicated.”
“Who’s ‘he’?” Chelsea asked.
“We’re not going to force you out,” Anastasia said, “and you clearly won’t leave on your own. So you’ll find out soon enough.” Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t take him lightly.”
Caleb opened his mouth to speak, but a gasp from Addie made him look the other way. His eyes widened.
“Fae?” he asked, stunned at the ghostly form of his sister.
“Where am I?” Fae asked, looking around, her body becoming more solid by the second. But even so, it didn’t become completely solid, stopping with a small bit of translucence. “Why are all of you here? How did I even get here?”
“That would be my doing,” came a voice that Caleb recognized. A sort of high-class air, breathy, mellifluous, with slow, particular enunciation. Out from a shadow Caleb hadn’t realized was there on the far side of the stage, Sal appeared, smiling that way he had that seemed like laziness at one point, and like incredible self-assuredness at another.
“Sal,” Anastasia said, staring at the man with a wild mixture of emotions in her eyes.
“Hello, Anastasia,” Sal said. He stepped up onto the stage, looking instantly like he had complete command of the small, ruined platform. “And… friends.” He looked at Caleb’s group, the Crystal Family, and Fae, then back to Anastasia’s group. “It’s so wonderful to see you all. And it’s fantastic that everyone could be here.”
“Don’t act so smug,” Anastasia said. “Everyone?” She pulled out numerous invitations, tossing them in the air. “You left so many invitations, but we got to them first. Whatever you’ve planned here, you can’t possibly succeed at all of it now.”
Sal chuckled. “Who’s smug?” he asked. “And didn’t you check those invitations? I only left so many because I wanted to be sure you’d get one.”
Anastasia’s brow furrowed in confusion. “But they all said…” she started, snatching an invitation out of the air. Stride grabbed another, and Sieglinde yet another.
“But how can this be?” Sieglinde asked, opening the invitation and staring at it. “It’s my name. But before, it said…”
“There were different names on each,” Stride said. He glared at Sal. “Names we didn’t know. What did you do?”
“You five should really take more care in inspecting mysterious letters scattered around the Dominion,” Sal said, smiling. “Now. Since everyone’s properly here, it’s time for the grand reveal. I’ve been looking forward to this for a very long time.”
——
Fae’s confusion at being forced into this place, ripped away from the others, faded quickly as she laid eyes on Sal. This man she’d never seen somehow seemed so familiar, and her mind went to work on deciphering what all this was about.
He smiles, he talks so gracefully, and yet…
There’s something not right about him. Something not right about this place, either.
Seeing Sal stand atop the small, crumbled stage in the center, looking perfectly at ease, totally in command…
It’s like he’s putting on a show, and we’re all his audience.
But what kind of show? What does he want?
“Another Halfchant?” the Queen muttered.
“But of course,” Sal said, smiling at her. “Anastasia, Sieglinde, Stride, Doctor, Bronn… and others we lost along the way… we used to be such the team under Blaise. He was a great friend to Halfchants, at a time when Grimoire was less secretive about magic. When the Enchanted Dominion was more well-known, etcetera. You understand, of course.”
“Whatever you have to say, Sal,” Anastasia said, “you can forget it. We have just a few questions for you. Your answers will determine your fate.” Next to her, Stride shifted his grip on his swords, but didn’t draw.
Sal smirked. “Ah, but you’d ask all the wrong questions,” he said. “And besides, I need to get a few of our guests caught up on the truth.”
“We already know,” Anastasia said. “It’s a truth they don’t need to know.”
“Now why wouldn’t they?” Sal asked. “Why try to shield children from something so simple?”
They’re talking about us — Caleb and me.
Something we don’t need to know…?
Wait.
Fae stared, studying Sal closely, as difficult as that was with one of his eyes being so strange — blue, with a spiral of glittering silver instead of a pupil.
The way he walks, the way he talks… that strange smile, the odd look in his eyes…
It’s all a mask. A mask to hide…
“Sal, what happened to you was horrific,” Anastasia said. “And we should have been there. We tried to be there. We were just… too late. And we couldn’t find you afterwards. We thought you were dead for so long. We should have —”
“Spare me your pity, Ana,” Sal said. “Don’t think I don’t see your game. Reaching out with sympathy, thinking to save me from… what, exactly? From a vengeance I’ve long since let go? From a tragedy that no longer controls me?”
“From the vicious monster you’ve become,” Bronn said, his voice low and dark.
There’s that word.
That’s it.
But…
Can he really be…?
Sal’s smiling gaze turned to Fae. “Ah, she’s figured it out already,” he said. “The clever girl who destroyed Collapse. The clever girl who saved the failed Vessels. Clever enough to see who I am.”
“Fae’s eyes widened as she got a good look at Sal, staring straight at her.
He looks just like…
“Yes, she’s figured all of it out,” Sal said, his voice purring with excitement. “Oh, but this is marvelous! Just as planned, every time.”
“Sal, stop this,” Anastasia said.
Sal held up a hand. “Be silent a moment, everyone,” he said. “I have an important announcement to make, one I’ve saved for this very special occasion, for a very special audience. Some of you,” he looked at Anastasia’s group, and Mister Midnight, and finally Fae, “know or have discovered who I am. But not all of you. So many of you know me as Sal, for it’s the name I prefer. A nickname, nice and short, easy to remember, while having so much mystery to it. It’s perfect. But it’s simply a shortening of my full name: Alexander Salazar…”
He paused, long and steady, arms outstretched, holding the dramatic tension in the air.
But Fae already knew the next word, his last name, before he finally spoke it:
“…Greyson.”
——
“Alexander Salazar Greyson.”
Lady Kodoka spoke the name, but it meant nothing to Delilah. “I’ve never heard of him,” she said.
“What’s a Greyson nobody knows have to do with anything?” Alice asked.
“Everything,” Lady Kodoka said, a faint tremor of fear in her voice. “And the fact that you two are here… do you have other siblings? Other family involved in the battle against the darkness?”
“Yes,” Delilah said. “In a way, all five of my siblings are. My parents, too, to a lesser extent.”
“He’s orchestrated so much vicious destruction,” Lady Kodoka said, looking out at the veil surrounding the Eye of the Storm. “He started out so… simple. Humble beginnings. I’ve traced his history, followed his patterns and schemes, ever since I became aware of the danger he posed. And that danger is far greater than I ever realized.”
“Wait, but how’s a Greyson still alive now if he’s been doing this stuff for, what, centuries?” Alice asked.
“He’s a Halfchant,” Lady Kodoka said. “Human father and Enchanted mother. He’s blessed with the long life of Enchanted. And… he found other means, other horrific ways to extend that life further, to expand his power.” She looked out at the veil again.
“You don’t mean…” Delilah started, staring in shock. “He made this place?”
Lady Kodoka sighed sadly. “He did indeed,” she said. “And more beyond it, more horrors to face, that we will all have to face in the future. I became prisoner here to contain his power, but if the Endless Night is coming regardless… he’s more powerful than I ever imagined.”
“But how?” Maribelle asked. “A Halfchant, an ordinary person… how does he hold such power?”
Lady Kodoka had a distant gaze, as if staring into the past. “It’s been a very long time since he was an ordinary person,” she said softly.
——
“Greyson?” Caleb asked, staring in shock at Sal. “What… wait, but what does that even mean? You’re…” He suddenly looked at Midnight. “He’s… the ‘other Greyson,’ the one you met long before me, isn’t he?” Midnight nodded. “So… what, then?” Caleb looked at Sal. “Some kind of distant ancestor or something? How far back?”
“Oh, not an ancestor, no,” Sal said with a dismissive wave. “No, same line, but I haven’t had any children, so you can’t be my descendants. Well, I have children, marvelous children, but… no. The line doesn’t continue from me.” He smirked. “But I do have such an interest in my family. I have an interest in a great many things. It’s fascinating, you Greysons, after all this time, who you’ve become, what you’ve been up to.”
“What about what you’ve been up to?” Anastasia asked. “We’ve seen. The Fault Line Dungeon — that was your doing. But how? What have you become?”
“I’ve always had a certain… fascination,” Sal said. “You might even call it an obsession, though a healthy one, of course. Caleb, Chelsea, you two know. I made sure of it, after all.”
A fascination?
“The Prophecy of the Endless Night,” Chelsea said, eyeing Sal suspiciously. “You talked about wanting to challenge the natural order.”
“Yes, indeed,” Sal said. “The Light triumphant over the Darkness in the end… and yet this little prophecy floating in the ether, challenging that assumed truth. I’ve learned a great many things since the day you thought I died, Ana.”
“But what does all of this have to do with your show?” Anastasia asked. “Always a showman, always a performer, but for what? What are you up to this time? Why us and no one else? Why tell them your last name? What’s it all for?”
“You ask too many boring, simple questions,” Sal said. “Think about it for yourself. You might find some surprising answers all on your own.”
“Why bring us here?” Bronn asked. “At least tell us that.”
“Oh, each of you has a very specific purpose,” Sal said. “Some of you will leave here healthy and whole, with further parts to play in this story out in the wider world, made possible by the truths you’ve learned here. This is, after all…” he smiled, staring up at the sky, “just a prelude.” With a long, dramatic sigh, he looked back at his “audience,” sweeping his gaze across them. “One of you will die. Two will be stolen away to a greater purpose. These are all things you cannot prevent. Everything has been set in motion according to a very specific design, a design that none of you has the power, alone or combined, to undo.”
“You won’t be killing anyone,” Chelsea said, stepping forward, a lighter in each hand. Caleb stood with her, pocket watch in hand, ready for whatever came next.
Sal smiled. “Oh?” he asked. “It’s interesting that you say that. From your perspective, perhaps not. After all…” He stared at the pair with a piercing, commanding gaze, “you won’t be here to witness it.”
Chelsea and Caleb both moved to attack. But they barely even took a step before…
Darkness.
Endless, impenetrable darkness, unflinching against the light of day. It swallowed Caleb and Chelsea up. Caleb tried to use magic, tried to grab Chelsea, tried to fight for her, to escape with her…
But he couldn’t move. He couldn’t feel, couldn’t see, and then…
The darkness took him.
——
“Caleb!”
Addie cried out, reaching her hand out desperately for him just as he and Chelsea vanished into the darkness.
No… you can’t…
Next to her, Midnight cried out for him as well.
But the pit was closed. Caleb and Chelsea were gone.
But they can’t…
“You,” Midnight growled, turning to face Sal. His coat suddenly billowed out and around him like the cape of a knightly hero as he held out his hand. Addie’s ears popped at a sudden pressure, and then in Midnight’s outstretched hand was a long black sword, twinkling with thousands of tiny stars. “Bring them back.”
Stride drew his swords as well. Bronn and Anastasia took up fighting stances, and at Sieglinde’s feet was a golden, gleaming aura.
“Oh, don’t be so hasty,” Sal said, as if stifling a yawn. “But then, this is the next part. The great truth you would-be heroes need to grasp.”
Addie watched, growing more puzzled by the second.
Midnight… Anastasia’s entire group…
None of them moved.
And then she noticed Midnight trembling, as if he was exerting himself, pushing or pulling with all his might against something that he couldn’t budge.
“What… have you done…?” asked Stride through gritted teeth. He and Anastasia’s group were the exact same.
And then Addie noticed the strangest thing.
At each of their feet, Midnight and the five in Anastasia’s group…
Their shadows had pooled, collapsing inward into perfect circles beneath their feet. All of them trembled with exertion, but none of them could move. Their circular, pitch-dark shadows didn’t budge.
And out behind Sal stretched a great shadow, long and dark, undaunted by the light of day.
“What… are you…?” Midnight asked.
Sal grinned. “Now you’re asking the right questions.” He looked to the side, towards the Crystal Family. “But the time has come for the final act of this prelude. Don’t worry, though. It only gets more exciting from here.” He nodded.
A cry of pain sounded, and Addie looked left to see…
What…?
There was Prince Glen, standing so close behind his father, pressed against the King’s back. And the King had an expression of pain and shock on his face.
Glen stepped back, pulling a knife free from his father’s back. It dripped with blood. The Queen screamed.
Glen smiled that smile he always did, and it suddenly seemed so horrifically sinister.
A portal of darkness appeared, and Glen grabbed his wounded father, along with his mother and younger brother. Mineria grabbed Garnet, pulling the princess away.
And Glen just smiled.
Into the portal he went, vanishing with his father, mother, and brother.
“There we go!” Sal said, spinning in a circle, his coat billowing around him, his long shadow dark and imposing. “The prelude is complete. The show begins, finally. I’ve waited a long time for this… but patience, as they say, is a virtue, and one that has paid off marvelously. Thank you, one and all. There is work to be done, but not to worry! I’ll see many of you again soon enough. Farewell!”
He stepped through a dark portal and was gone. In that same moment, a wide-eyed, ghostly Fae vanished as well.
Midnight gasped, his sword vanishing from his hand, his shadow returning to normal as he dropped to his knees, panting. Ingrid was at his side, while Mineria held the sobbing Garnet.
“He said one would die,” Garnet said through the tears. “My father… my father, he’s… he’s dead, isn’t he?”
“Mister Midnight?” Ingrid asked, rubbing Midnight’s back.
“I’m all right,” Midnight said. “But he…”
“He’s too strong,” Anastasia said. “Too cunning. How did he…?” She shook her head, started walking towards the exit with her group in tow. “There’s no time. We need to prepare, the best we can.”
And then they were gone. Addie, Midnight, Mineria, Ingrid, and Garnet remained.
“I was powerless,” Midnight said, staring at his hands. “Completely…” He looked up, staring at the space where Caleb and Chelsea had disappeared. “That wasn’t Shadowland, either. That was far, far worse.”
“How do we save them?” Ingrid asked.
“We… don’t,” Midnight said, voice trembling. “How Sal could send them there… I don’t know. But there’s no getting there on purpose, not for us. They’re… truly gone. Whatever happens to them is up to them alone.” He pushed himself to his feet shakily, his shoulders slumped.
“What can we do, then?” Garnet asked. “Glen… and father, and mother, and little Jude… and so much else that’s happening, what can we do? How do we make things right?”
“I don’t know,” Midnight said, shaking his head. “I just… don’t know.” He turned away, starting slowly towards the exit. “I suppose… we’ll have to think of something. Somehow.”
The others were following, but Addie stood where she was, staring at the spot where Caleb and Chelsea had disappeared. After a moment, she sat down on the ground, leaning back against the rocky wall.
“Addie?” Ingrid asked. “What are you doing?”
“When Chelsea went into the dark place before, she came back out the same place she went in,” Addie said, remembering Chelsea’s story. “Once Caleb and Chelsea get out, they’ll get out here. I’m waiting for them to come back.”
There was silence, and after a few moments, footsteps crunched across the crumbled stone floor. Midnight came around to Addie’s right, and then sat down next to her. She looked up at him. For a long time, Midnight just stared ahead at where the pair had been swallowed up.
“I’ll wait with you, kid,” he finally said in a soft voice.
Ingrid came and sat beside Addie, and then Mineria and even Garnet joined them.
Addie nodded, fixing her attention forward.
Waiting.
——
Maxwell sat in his chair, staring at the girl in his secret study.
“What?” he asked. What other question could he even ask?
“And there’s a great darkness coming,” the girl said, continuing along her constant, very fast stream of consciousness monologue. How long had she been talking? She talked so fast. Had she even taken a breath in the last fifty words? “But that’s why I’m here, with you. Because we both have a great part to play in stopping it, really, it’s a mission. A mission! I’m so excited, but I need to curtail my excitement, as the Lady said, because there’s so much work to be done if we’re to succeed, but we get to help people! We get to save the —”
On and on she kept talking, pacing this way and that, even stepping up onto one of the sofas and walking across it, stepping down on the other side, then walking around behind. She moved her hands a lot as she talked, and she was constantly smiling. It was a charming smile, to be sure, but…
“What?”
Maxwell kept asking, and kept being ignored. But truly, how had she even arrived here? She hadn’t come through the door, and as far as Maxwell knew, that was the only entrance into the secret study, his abode, his home in the Basin of Antiquity. Yet here was this girl, with blue hair and glowing blue eyes, a short top hat on her head embedded with many clocks, each ticking away to different rhythms. She had a musical quality to her voice, a warm sort of tone to go with her over-enthusiasm. And Maxwell did rather like clocks.
But how was she even here?
“What?” he asked again, not expecting to be answered.
The girl suddenly looked at him, her striking blue eyes shining. “What, what?” she asked. “Am I going over things too quickly? But I really need to, and you really need to pay attention, so that I don’t waste time explaining things twice. It’s important that we get started as soon as possible! Oh!” Her eyes widened a bit, and she came forward, shocking Maxwell with how close she came. She stuck out her hand. “I didn’t introduce myself! I’m Tock, from the Edge of Time. I know who you are, of course.”
“I…” Maxwell started, shaking the girl’s hand. She had a strong grip and a vigorous shake. “The Edge of Time? Truly?” He pushed up his spectacles with his free hand. “That explains your hair, your eyes, your attire. But… if you’re one of the assistants, you shouldn’t be able to leave. Or rather, you shouldn’t —”
“—remember who I am and where I came from,” Tock said. “Yes, I know. Isn’t it exciting?” She let go of Maxwell’s hand, spinning in a circle. “Ah, this is the outside world! And I’m allowed to be a part of it! Like I said, I’m on a mission. And you’re a part of this mission, Maxwell! So really, you do need to listen.”
“But… why me?” Maxwell asked.
“What do you think this place is?” Tock asked, gesturing at the entire study. “What else could be more suited to our mission? And —” she leaned up, tapped a finger against his forehead, “what do you think this is? I need your knowledge! You’re brilliant, and brilliance is what we need most right now. I know I’m excited, but don’t let that fool you. Things have gotten really, really bad. The worst they’ve ever been, in fact. And it’s only going to get worse.”
“But… I still have so many questions,” Maxwell said.
Tock smiled brightly. “It’d be weird if you didn’t!”
“I…” Maxwell started, but he was struggling so much to put his thoughts together. “What… what exactly is this ‘mission’?”
“Saving the universe, of course,” Tock said. She started toward a bookshelf, pulling a book that tripped a switch and opened a secret door.
“You shouldn’t know that exists!” Maxwell said.
Tock grinned. “But I do!” she said. “Come on! This isn’t just a study. But you already knew that. We have so many places to go, and so little time to go there! We have people to meet! We’re putting a team together, lots of important people to round up, who need to work together, and we’re the ones who are gonna make that happen!”
“I…” Maxwell started, but then finally started after her. “I’m coming!”
He still had so many questions, but there was no denying his own excitement.
He was going on an adventure.
Here ends arc IV: Grand Tour
The Story Continues in Arc V: Daybreak