Chapter 11: The Locals

The first suite Mike was shown was insufficient for his needs, and so was the next one. The servant led them all over the castle, showing them larger living spaces that should have been good enough, but Mike rejected them all. The servant never uttered a single complaint. To Vincentius or any of the thralls, he was little more than a grouchy human making demands and trying to get the best deal possible. By the time they were offered up a living space that took up the entirety of one of the remaining towers, he had seen enough to set his plan in motion.

“Will this be sufficient?” asked the thrall.

Mike gazed at the enormous lounge with an enchanted fire in the hearth, then made a show of walking inside to inspect the place. A stairwell around the interior led upstairs to several different rooms, each with windows that overlooked the island for now. At some point, it would rotate and he would be staring at the cliff, but that wouldn’t really matter. This would allow him a view of the village as well as the exterior of the castle as the tower moved.

“I suppose,” muttered Mike as he came down the stairs. “So, what? Are we prisoners here?”

“We have been instructed to give you free rein of the castle and its grounds,” replied the servant. “However, you are not to force open any locked doors nor harm any of the residents in the village. When you are hungry, simply ring the bell cord by the door, and we will have food brought to you.”

“What about clothing?” asked Sofia. “And our other needs? We packed supplies for an excursion, not to be permanently relocated to a castle in another dimension.”

The servant walked to a desk near the hearth and opened it. He withdrew an inkwell and some paper. “You may make a list of the items you require,” he said. “As long as you remain in the Lord’s good graces, any reasonable requests will be provided.”

“Good,” said Mike, narrowing his eyes. “Now leave us.”

The servant nodded, then backed out the imposing doors onto the small bridge that connected the tower to the main body of the castle. The moment the door was shut both Sofia and Mike went to the table.

“There’s another quill in here,” she said, pulling it out of the desk. The cyclops handed it to Mike and took an extra piece of paper for herself. The two of them hastily put together a functional map of the castle, along with some observations added by Sulyvahn. In truth, Mike’s pickiness regarding rooms had been a way for him to figure out the layout of the castle and Sofia had picked up on the scheme right away.

Neither Cerberus or Cecilia could offer much to assist their endeavors and moved to inspect their temporary domicile instead. After roughly twenty minutes, some spilled ink, and three drafts, they had completed one map they all agreed on along with potential escape routes. Mike hadn’t liked the way the false Amymone had been watching them during their meeting. He was half expecting her to drop out of the ceiling and attack them at any moment.

The map completed, Mike had Cecilia and Cerberus show them around the rest of the tower. Their suite was the size of a large home with seven bedrooms, a couple of medieval bathrooms with tubs in them, and its own dining area. There were empty bookshelves everywhere, which Sofia declared odd. If the books had been pulled, it was likely for a very good reason.

The events of the last couple of days crashed into him, and he found himself dozing on the couch. Cecilia, Sulyvahn, and Cerberus all agreed to keep watch as he and Sofia adjourned to a bedroom with a bed large enough for both of them to sleep in. If Vincentius had some way to bypass the living area and attack them directly, at least one of them would be warned by their magic and be able to rouse the others.

It also didn’t hurt that this meant he got to curl up against the cyclops’massive hips. Grinning in spite of himself, he hugged her from behind and quickly fell back into slumber, and eventually, his Dreamscape.

That was where he found Kisa waiting. The cat girl was busy chasing a crab on the beach, the little crustacean blowing multicolored bubbles in her face. On the horizon, a distant storm had boiled over, obscuring what little light came from the setting sun. The cat girl looked up at him and smirked.

“Was wondering if I’d see you today,” she said, then dashed forward to catch the crab. It clamped down on her fingers with its pincers, but was unable to hurt her. “Looks like we finally synced up for the moment.”

“A bit. How is Tink? Anything new?” he asked.

Kisa sighed. “Tink is grumpier than ever, but fine. Beth has the house on lockdown. Best we can tell, our Seelie friends are playing ball because of your agreement with Princess Nyx. However, the Unseelie don’t give a fuck and have hinted that one of their people has gone missing on our property. We’ve gotten reports of mysterious figures around the perimeter, but it’s always out of the corner of someone’s eye. The centaurs have packed up early and returned to their village, but we had Yuki and Ratu screen them first for shapeshifters or any sort of fae possession.”

Mike narrowed his eyes and thunder rumbled in the distance. “Seriously? The fae courts are making a move?”

Kisa shook her head. “There’s no law against looking into our property, though some Unseelie asshole threatened Beth in the park. That’s why we’re on lockdown. She’s keeping a lot to herself. The fae can read minds, right?”

Mike thought briefly about that silver coin he had given Beth. “Yeah,” he said. “But they can’t do it if everyone stays inside.”

“I’m under the impression that they can’t do anything to us for now,” said Kisa. “So we’re in this weird stalemate where they’re clearly looking for a justification.”

“Fuck,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “Every time I leave my house...”

The cat girl shrugged. “At least your house wasn’t stolen,” she said. “Or invaded by mercenaries. We’ve been through worse.”

“We shouldn’t have to deal with anything, though.” Thunder rumbled again as Mike crossed his arms. “Look, we’re currently guests in this stupid castle. Let me fill you in.” He gave Kisa a summary of what he had learned so far. Her ears perked up through the narration, especially when he mentioned how Vincentius was using the Caretaker narrative as his own.

“What do you suppose all of that is about?” she finally asked.

“I don’t know. But I would have no reason to question otherwise if I didn’t know that I was the real Caretaker,” he replied. “The guy is using the narrative to accomplish something, I just don’t know what.”

“Hmm.” Kisa looked down at her hands and realized she was still holding the crab. It had conjured a little flag of surrender, which it waved frantically. She laughed and tossed it out to sea, where it made a little hoot of victory before splashing into the water. “Oh, I meant to tell you. Ratu has been looking all over the house for more of those sculpture things.”

“And?” Mike had honestly forgotten all about it with everything else going on.

“She identified a couple more items that clearly contain some type of creature inside, both were in the Vault. They’re now being studied in the Labyrinth, but as far as she can tell, they’re currently innate.”

“Don’t you mean inert?”

Kisa laughed. “Maybe? They’re not doing anything right now, so whichever word works best, I guess.” She fell back against the sand, which rose up to form a lounge chair beneath her. “So what’s the plan?”

“Instead of splitting resources, have Reggie send a team here to open a portal,” he said. “That way, I can come home, have a talk with the Unseelie, and make them realize they need to be on their fucking way.”

“Are you sure?” asked Kisa. “Yuki has talked more than once about trying to handle it herself.”

“She doesn’t have the same relationship with their queen that I do,” he replied. Kisa smirked. Though he had never explained his agreement with Titania to anyone else out loud, it was very likely that his familiar had figured something out. “I also have more pull with them since I’m technically in charge.”

Kisa laughed. “Little do they know you’re pretty much just making it up as you go.”

“I mean...” Mike shrugged. “You aren’t super wrong. I’m just a guy who wants to live his life and spend time with his family. Speaking of which, how are the kids?”

Kisa looked thoughtful. “Grace and Death were up to something, but Beth put a stop to it. I haven’t seen Callisto much, so at least he’s staying out of trouble. His mom is staying on top of things.”

“Naturally.” Mike turned to the beach behind him and sent a pulse of magic outward. The sand rose up and transformed, becoming a replica of the room he was staying in. “This should be enough for the rats to start looking,” he said. “Think you can pass it on to Reggie?”

“I’ll do my best,” she replied. “Would help if Lily was around to directly convey the imagery, though.”

“I’m surprised she hasn’t come home, yet,” Mike said.

“Apparently she and Dana got caught up in their own drama,” Kisa replied. “Coming home for this would just cause more problems for us down the road.”

“For us?” he said with a frown.

Kisa nodded. “Yeah, Eulalie is keeping pretty quiet about it. She’s been super busy handling the issue with them.”

Mike started tapping a finger on his leg impatiently. He didn’t like the idea of Lily or Dana being in trouble when he couldn’t go help them. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time they’d handled a bad situation without his involvement. “Keep me posted on that,” he muttered. The breeze picked up, ruffling his hair as the first drops of rain caressed his face.

The cat girl frowned at the sky. “Are you handling everything okay?” she asked. “The weather implies things aren’t good.”

“Not really.” He looked up into the storm. “I haven’t figured out yet how angry I need to be over what’s going on here.”

“Try not to kill anyone,” she said with a wink, then made a face. “Ah, fuck. Tink is ringing the Help Me bell.”

“Send my love,” he said, and Kisa nodded before fading from sight. He let out a sigh and sat in the sand. The storm raged around his island, not quite bringing its wrath onto land. He stewed in his thoughts for a bit, then let his mind wander as time fractured and sped up for him. Moments later, he found himself lying in bed with Sofia facing him, the cyclops dozing peacefully.

He studied her face in silence, noting how relaxed she actually looked. When was the last time he hadn’t seen her brow furrowed in concentration or annoyance? His touch against her face was gentle as he traced the curve of her cheek, pausing to tuck a stray hair away. The anger he was holding fled as he embraced the moment, fully appreciating the beautiful creature who slumbered across from him.

The cyclops winced in her sleep, and he was startled by a sudden image of a mountain of books and the sound of creaking rope. Was he seeing Sofia’s dream? The intrusion had been accidental, and he immediately backed his mind out of it. Sofia winced again and he slid his hand down her arm until his fingers found hers.

Her eye snapped open and focused on his face.

“You were having a bad dream,” he said.

“Wasn’t a dream,” she replied, then seemed to realize they were holding hands. Her cheeks darkened momentarily. “Bad memory, actually.”

“Enough of those to go around,” he replied.

“Yeah.” As if suddenly shy, Sofia let go of his hand and sat up. “How long were we out?”

“Between six and ten hours,” replied Nyx from a nearby chair. Both of them sat up to see that the fae princess was currently holding a loaf of bread, but not eating it. “I can’t be sure exactly when you dozed off.”

“Who let you in?” Mike demanded.

“Was I not allowed?” she replied. “Am I not an ally?”

“Humans don’t typically like being watched over in their sleep,” said Sofia. “Neither do I, for that matter. You should remember this.”

“You are incorrect,” said Nyx. “You see, I already know about the sleeping habits and customs of others. You should ask me to abide by the rules, or even respect them. I am perfectly capable of remembering things you don’t want me to do as I do them.”

“How do you and your kind get anything done?” asked Mike. “Doesn’t every conversation essentially dissolve into some form of verbal combat?”

Nyx’s eyes flashed in delight. “You now understand my kind even better,” she declared and stood.

“Is there a reason you were waiting for us to wake up?” asked Mike. “Did something happen?”

“Plenty happened,” she replied. “Things are always happening to everyone. I came to speak with you about some things I have learned in the spirit of cooperation.”

“Have you figured out what’s going on with Vincentius?” he asked.

Nyx nodded. “I learned much about the man and his vassals already,” she replied. “But I shall only speak to those that affect our current agreement.”

“What?” Mike scowled. “Why would you keep information to yourself?”

“We agreed to work together to figure out what is going on and to find a cure for your wife,” Nyx replied. “Many of the facts I already know don’t seem to progress either of these agreements.”

“I don’t follow.”

“If I had learned that Vincentius’ favorite color was red, does that mean anything?” Nyx grinned. “Would it explain how Avalon has been taken? Will it restore Tink’s youth?”

“What if it did?” asked Sofia. “Suppose that knowledge led to such answers?”

“Until I know that it does, I don’t have to share it,” Nyx replied.

Mike groaned. “Verbal combat,” he muttered. “You’re keeping stuff to yourself because it amuses you and doesn’t violate our agreement.”

She laughed. “There’s a natural progression to these things. I will tell you everything I know for a price.”

“One I can’t afford,” said Mike. “But the fact that you’re here means you’ve learned something that either amuses you or definitely progresses our goals.”

“I have. It’s up to you to figure out which.” Nyx chuckled and moved to the window. “We look out over the cliffs right now,” she said. “Cliffs that shouldn’t exist.”

“Is that some sort of clue?” asked Mike.

Nyx raised an eyebrow. “Is it?”

Sofia groaned and stood. “I have to pee,” she declared, then headed toward the bathroom. Nyx watched the cyclops leave, then looked at Mike with a grin.

“I could smell your dreams,” she said. “There was salt in the air and the smell of a coming storm.”

“It’s rude to intrude,” he said.

“And yet you did the same with the Head Librarian,” she countered.

“That was an accident.”

“Tell me. What sort of woman would you not lie with?” Nyx moved toward the bed with a salacious grin. “If I were to express interest, would you turn me away?”