Chapter Fifteen
Well, everything he’d told her was bat shit. But… if Addie had learned anything over the last twenty years, it was that life was bat shit. It was so much worse than people thought, and so much better than they dreamed. And there was more to it, more in every sense, than limited minds imagined. She was psychic, after all.
When Addie was nine years old, she’d been on a school field trip going somewhere that she couldn’t even remember. What she did remember was that they’d passed by a field of grazing horses on their way to that unmemorable place. Addie had gazed out at the horses in wonder of their beauty. One of them was obviously a new mother. Just behind her and underneath, a bright white foal was nursing from her.
Addie couldn’t see the foal in its entirety; its head was hidden behind the mom. But as the bus passed the field and Addie’s perspective shifted, the foal stopped nursing. It stepped out from behind its mother and into the sunlight.
And Adelaide saw its horn.
It was a baby unicorn. The realization of what she was seeing left her stunned and immobile for far too long. When she could finally move, when she’d at last convinced herself she wasn’t imagining it, she turned to her friend sitting beside her. “Do you see that?” she asked.
But by then, the bus was heading under an overpass, and the field was out of view. Her friend had been writing something on her hand and hadn’t even seen the field, much less the horses in it. Across the bus aisle, two other students were playing a paper fortune teller game. No one said anything about any horses, much less any unicorns.
But she knew what she’d seen.
She would never forget that moment. Not even death could take the memory from her. She knew from experience – because when she was fourteen years old, that was exactly what she’d done. Died. For seven minutes and thirteen seconds.
Adelaide Lane had been through a lot in the thirty-some years of her existence. She’d seen unicorns. She’d seen people with pointed ears trying to hide them beneath hoodies. She’d seen the ends of alleyways that seemed to warp and wave before settling down into a solid again. She knew Santa Claus was real. She knew there were leprechauns. She knew what was waiting beyond the veil of life. And she knew that psychics existed.
So, being introduced to a world that contained “Nightmares,” while a lot to swallow at first, was not as straight-jacket inducing as it could have been. She was handling it. Either that, or she’d crossed the line and was full-on delusional now.
The problem was, they still hadn’t told her how and why they knew her.
A shadow fell over her, and Addie looked up. The foyer of Nicholas Wargrave’s castle was like a scene from a Dungeons and Dragons adventure, tall, dark, and topped with crippling architecture that could stave off an army or ten. The hallways were labyrinthine, twisting off into countless unknown destinations. Staircases carried travelers to equally countless stories above. Most impressive of all, swirling dark purple portals waited here and there for easy transport throughout the castle. Andros explained that only Nightmares could use them; they were a defensive precaution, which made Addie wonder if they did indeed ever have to fight off armies.
She’d taken off her jacket and wrapped Hastings in it, in case the pain killers he was on made him feel cold. He’d promptly fallen asleep. Andros had graciously taken the dog and his jacket-blanket from her and was holding the puppy himself. Addie was grateful. Hastings may have been a puppy, but he was a Pit bull puppy, and even puppies got heavy after a while.
The leather soles of their shoes made hollow sounds on the stone beneath their footsteps. Each beat was a reminder of the overwhelming weirdness around her. At her side walked Nicholas. Behind them walked Minnaea and Andros, who were apparently also Nightmares, but different from the others in that they only existed when the king was reborn. Which, also apparently, had just happened.
They rounded a corner and came to a set of massive double doors. The doors were black wood, reinforced with thick bands of wrought iron. “Who exactly are these meant to keep out?” she asked. Curiosity was getting the better of her.
“Fae,” replied Andros.
“More specifically, goblins,” corrected Minnaea.
The confusion Addie felt must have been clear on her face, because Nicholas chuckled softly. “I’m sure you’ve seen Henson’s Labyrinth, and most likely you have a very limited idea of what a goblin is,” he said.
“I take offense to that,” Adelaide said haughtily. The Labyrinth happened to be one of her favorite movies ever.
“Frankly, so do I,” said Minnaea. “What’s not to love about the Labyrinth? I mean, Bowie in tights?”
“And the sheer hugableness of Ludo?” added Adelaide with a smile. She was warming up to Minnaea.
“Exactly,” said Minnaea. “Labyrinth is second only to The Princess Bride.”
“Okay, now I know I like you,” Addie said aloud. She hadn’t meant to, but she was glad she did when Minnaea laughed and they fist bumped.
Nick chuckled. “Okay, my bad,” his gorgeous voice self-chastised. “There’s certainly no beating that little Worm.”
“Oh my gosh, the Worm,” said Minnaea, nodding. “Come in and meet the missus!”
The air around them seemed to lighten as they laughed, and Addie suddenly felt a lot less uncomfortable around these people who were more or less complete strangers.
“In reality, goblins are a species of fae,” Nicholas explained, still smiling. “Iron is caustic to fae, and these are magically reinforced as well.” He gestured to the doors. “Once long ago, the Nightmares and the goblins fell into a dispute of sorts, and we weren’t about to take any chances. But the issue was resolved when Damon Chroi took the Goblin King throne.”
Addie blew out a sigh and closed her eyes, touching her forehead. She felt a little dizzy. He’d just dropped another boat load of bizarre information in her lap.
“I know,” said Minnaea. “It’s a lot to take in.” She stepped forward and placed her hand gently on Adelaide’s back before nodding at Nicholas, who in turn looked at the doors. He spoke a weird, primordial kind of word that echoed down the hall and reverberated off the walls.
The massive blackened doors gave a shudder. Addie wanted to step back, but Minnaea’s hand prevented it. Luckily, the doors creaked slowly inward rather than outward, and she relaxed a little.
The space beyond was entirely dark. It wasn’t a normal dark, the kind that makes its appearance when you finally turn out the lights at midnight. It was thick and impenetrable, and Addie got the impression that if she’d wanted to, she could touch it – and it wouldn’t give.
“This is where we part ways,” said Andros with a nod to his king. “I’ll take Hastings to the kitchens and see that he’s fed and watered.”
“Thank you,” said Adelaide, meaning it.
Nicholas smiled at him and Minnaea, then looked down at Addie. “Take my hand,” he said, once more offering it to her. When she only looked down at it questioningly, he went on. “The quarters beyond belong to the king alone. No one can enter but the ruler of the realm. I suspect you’d be allowed….” He broke off, as if he’d just begun to say something he shouldn’t, then he smiled again. “If you take my hand, you can pass as well.”
There was something about that explanation that sounded fishy to Addie, but at this point, she’d long lost control of her life, and was happy to have any option that didn’t include being locked up in prison. She placed her hand in his.
Nick’s fingers curled over hers warm and tight. It was a grip that could easily have crushed her; she could sense the strength in it. Yet, he was gentle. Restrained.
“I just need a few supplies,” said Nicholas, speaking to the two Nightmares he called his Preceptors. He glanced down at his suit. “And I think a change of clothes.”
“Not quite used to the three-piece cage?” asked Minnaea with a grin. Adelaide’s mind worked. Because he was someone else before, she recalled. They’d told her he was a man named Hesperos.
Nick shook his head, just once. “Not even a little bit.”
Minnaea laughed and looked at Addie. “His previous form was all about jeans and leather. His single mode of transportation was a motorcycle.”
“We’ll meet you in the courtyard,” said Andros, who despite carrying Hastings managed to gently take Minnaea by the elbow to lead her back down the hall.
Nick nodded at them as they left, then turned to the darkness beyond the massive double doors.
“It’s going to suffocate me, isn’t it?” Addie asked softly. She just had this feeling that if she tried to venture beyond the threshold, the darkness would strangle the life right out of her.
“If you were anyone but who you are, that’s exactly what it would do,” Nick told her easily. Then once again, he seemed to realize he was saying something he shouldn’t. And it did make her wonder what he meant by that.
But he just glanced down at her and said, “I have a feeling it will welcome you with open arms.”