Chimes at Midnight

“Ah,” said Tybalt. “I have so missed people making assumptions about my intentions since my fair October learned I was an ally. We shall have to keep you. You’ll provide some much-needed unpleasantness.”

“At least that’s one thing I can be sure will never change,” said Arden. “No matter how much time I spend in or out of Faerie, Cait Sidhe will always be annoying.” She turned to me. “You said you had a plan. What is it? Or was it just ‘feed me sandwiches.’” Her frown faltered. “I admit, I don’t really see what sort of benefit you’d be getting from the sandwiches, but . . .”

“The sandwiches are a side benefit,” I said. “You should eat, if you haven’t already. But the plan . . . your father’s knowe was in Muir Woods, wasn’t it?”

Arden blinked. “How did you know that? The knowe was sealed after his death.”

“I’ve been there, or at least, I’ve been to the part that’s still accessible. It’s a shallowing now.”

“It’s sleeping,” she said. “Father said it would wait for us forever.”

“And there you go,” I said. “We take you to Muir Woods. You reopen the knowe—you reopen King Gilad’s knowe, lost to us for over a hundred years—and you send out letters to announce that you are the rightful Queen of the Mists.” Pixies make a surprisingly good messenger service when bribed, and Muir Woods was swarming with them.

Everyone stared at me like I had lost my mind. Everyone but Quentin, who just nodded, looking thoughtful.

“In the Mists,” said Arden, without varying her expression at all.

I smirked.

“Are you insane?” asked May.

“She’s insane,” said Danny.

“The Queen will have to attack immediately or risk granting legitimacy to the challenge,” said Quentin. “She won’t even have to wait three days. That kind of treason warrants immediate response, if there’s any chance that people will take it seriously.”

I nodded. “Exactly. And reopening the lost knowe of King Gilad is the sort of thing people are going to take pretty damn seriously.”

“What good does it do me to get myself killed?” asked Arden. “I don’t have an army!”

“You have the Undersea. You’ll have as many men as Sylvester can provide.”

“How is this helping me get my brother back?”

“I’ve been in the Queen’s dungeons before.” I looked to Tybalt. “Iron isn’t really a problem for me right now. So a little jailbreak shouldn’t be that big a deal.”

He blinked as the full scope of what I was asking hit him. “You want to break into the Queen’s knowe. October. Have you lost your mind?”

“You know it’s a good plan when it gets everyone to ask if I’m crazy,” I said amiably. “No, I have not lost my mind. The Queen will have to answer Arden’s challenge with as much force as she can muster, and she’s not going to be expecting anyone to be dishonorable enough to make a sneak attack.”

“There’s nothing dishonorable about taking back someone who shouldn’t have been taken in the first place,” snapped Arden.

“That’s my opinion, too.”

“Uh, not to sound dense here, but how does this fix anythin’?” asked Danny. “Sure, you get the missing dude back, but Arden here is still under attack by Queen Crazy-cakes and her big-ass army, and we’re all gettin’ banished or killed. I’m not really seeing this as a win.”

“We don’t have to win. We just have to hold off her forces long enough to contact a higher authority. Getting Nolan out of her knowe is mostly to make sure she won’t do anything vindictive and stupid when she realizes that the tide has turned against her.” I looked toward Quentin. He met my eyes levelly. “She’s held this throne because she was unchallenged, and because no one higher up than she was ever had the excuse to say, ‘No, that is not yours.’”

“Arden’s claim is good, and supported by the Library,” said Quentin. “I’m sure King Sollys will hear your petition.”

“Swell. Do you think you could relay that to him, then, preferably before the Queen of the Mists decides to kill us all?”

Quentin smiled crookedly, while May and Tybalt looked at me in bewilderment. “I can do that.”

“Good. Because you’re going to be staying here.”

His eyes widened. “What?”

“You heard me. Someone needs to stay here and make sure the Queen doesn’t send people to attack the house. Jazz is asleep. I’d rather she not be ambushed. And we’re going to need May to put on some of my clothes, cast an illusion to turn her hair brown, and go with Arden. We need them visibly standing together, both to draw fire—”

“Gee, thanks,” said May.

“—and because people will assume that May is me.” I looked around the little group. “This is a risky plan. It’s complicated and it’s convoluted and it’s entirely outside of my primary skill set. And it’s the only one I have that stands a chance of working. If any of you have something better, now would be the time to bring it up.”

No one said anything.

I nodded. “Okay. If any of you doesn’t want to be a part of this, now would be the time to leave.”

“Pass,” said May.

“No way,” said Danny.

“I’d love to, but I’m the only one that offer doesn’t apply to,” said Arden.

Tybalt didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to.