Guinevere watched in horror as the riptide came in and swept Alice out into the roaring rapids. Tobias ripped his sword from his belt, threw off his coat, and dove in right after her — dove, without hesitation, into the same raging rapids that had torn apart Lacie’s mechanical monstrosities.
“Ah, the valiant knight races to rescue his helpless charge,” said Lacie’s disembodied voice. “How noble. But possibly very, very foolish. Let’s see how he does, shall we?”
“What do we do?” Guinevere asked, gaping helplessly at the raging waters.
“Wait,” Elliot said, wearing a proud, excited smile as he watched the rapids. “He’ll get her back safe.”
How can he say that? No one could possibly swim in those rapids, let alone with someone else!
But she noticed Flynn, who so often was right on Tobias’ heels, who had raced desperately to rescue him from Saoirse when she’d tried to pull him down with her, standing a safe distance from the edge. Watching, but not barking, not whining, tail upright.
Waiting. Without worry.
How can he…
“Look,” Sheena said, and sounded as surprised as Guinevere felt. Guinevere looked, and gasped as she saw Tobias — fully clothed aside from his coat, with his boots still on — swimming with strong, confident strokes, navigating the raging seas with practiced ease. As if he’d swam such waters thousands of times before. As if he’d spent his whole life braving the dangers of nature, never fearing for his own safety.
But Guinevere kept scanning the waves. Where was Alice? Had she been pulled under? She couldn’t spot her bright blonde hair anywhere.
And then Tobias took a big breath, and went under, vanishing from sight. All stood on the plateau with bated breath, waiting for what would happen. Another vicious riptide lashed up over the plateau, the edge of its spray splashing across Flynn, who shook himself vigorously, but didn’t back up.
Seconds passed. Seconds, approaching minutes. Guinevere could scarcely breathe, felt as if her chest was going to burst, her heart was pounding so hard. Ava leaned into her.
And then, the tension broke. Tobias resurfaced, gasping in a breath, and held in one arm — Alice! She was unconscious, and Guinevere feared for her safety, and for Tobias. How could he possibly swim back to them with only one free arm?
But he did it, somehow. He kept himself afloat, watched the swirling rapids for a moment, as if studying them, as if he could find some pattern, some rhythm, in the madness. And then he started towards the plateau, driving himself forward with just one arm, keeping Alice’s head above water as much as possible.
The raging waters, which had torn apart machines, which had swept Alice away as if she were just a leaf in a storm, which should master everything they touched, were somehow mastered by Tobias. There wasn’t the slightest hint of fear or worry in his eyes — only focused attention. Flynn barked once, his tail wagging as Tobias came closer, and then Elliot ran to the edge, helping pull Alice, and then Tobias, up onto the plateau. They made ample space between them and the edge, and then Elliot laid Alice down, and Tobias leaned in close, listening and feeling for breath. A moment later, he started chest compressions — but he only did seven before Alice suddenly started coughing, then rolled onto her side, spitting out water with painful, hacking coughs.
Guinevere dropped to her knees, the tension leaving her, relief flooding through her. She looked at Tobias, watched for any hint of bravado, of swagger, but there was none. He’d just performed a feat even the greatest of swimmers would struggle to accomplish, and he’d done it with seeming ease, and yet he’d already moved on from that. As if it was just another day, another task performed, another part of his duty. Something expected, and done, with neither complaining nor bragging.
“Take your time,” Tobias said, kneeling by Alice’s side.
“I’m all right,” Alice said, and then coughed violently several more times. She wiped at her face, at her nose, at her mouth, making a disgusted expression. When she turned to Tobias, he was holding out a canteen to her, and she took it and drank heavy, desperate gulps. Finally done, she handed back the canteen and stared at him with her big blue eyes. “You saved me,” she said softly. Tobias didn’t say anything — but Guinevere could swear there was a flicker of something self-conscious in his expression. Alice seemed to notice it, too, because she chuckled softly. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” Tobias said. And then Flynn was all over him, paws on his knee, smothering his face with happy, relieved kisses. “Yeah, I’m okay, I’m okay.” And then Flynn shook himself, spraying water all over him and Alice. Tobias rolled his eyes. “Thanks, buddy.”
“Well!” came the cheerful voice of Lacie. “That was quite impressive, Obsidian. Quite the hero, aren’t you? And look — the tide’s already receding. What fortuitous timing!”
“As if you weren’t in control,” Tobias said, glaring out at the waters that were suddenly, as if on cue, draining away.
“We have to find some escape from this place,” Sheena said. “Any ideas?”
“I saw something,” Tobias said, pointing back out beyond the plateau. “I think… well, I don’t want to hope too strongly that the Library’s Vault is intact. But if it was the Vault’s centrifuge, it might be our key out of here. The Vault is in the Fracture, but she can’t have swallowed up the entire Library yet.”
“Of course not,” Alice said, frowning at her soaking wet clothes. “We were just up in the Long Room, and only felt the faintest tremor, far beneath us. The only signs we’ve seen of anything from the Library down here are pieces of the Vault. If we hurry, we might be able to save the rest of the Library. And with it…” She looked up, eyes wide. “We have to find the Librarian! Lacie must have done something awful to him!”
“Oh, I wouldn’t call it awful,” Lacie said, still not appearing bodily. “I merely extracted his best self. He’s doing just fine, now.”
“I very much doubt that,” Alice said, glaring. She turned to Flynn. “Well? Where shall we go next?”
Flynn gave a happy little wag, and started off towards the stairs, leading down from the plateau. Tobias retrieved his coat and sword, and one by one, they all followed Flynn, Alice and Tobias in the lead, Elliot with Hector and Ninian behind them. But Guinevere hesitated, and Sheena waited with her.
“Is something the matter?” Sheena asked.
“I…” Guinevere started, then shook her head. There was so much the matter. But that wasn’t what Sheena was asking. And Guinevere couldn’t bring herself to voice the complicated thoughts arising within her. “Sorry, no. We should try to escape as fast as possible, shouldn’t we?” Sheena nodded, and Guinevere started off, Ava padding along beside her. Sheena followed, with Akko on her shoulder.
“Could you… could you have swam like that?” Guinevere asked after a bit, glancing back at Sheena. She’d shown equal physical prowess to Tobias in so many other ways, after all.
“I don’t know,” Sheena said. “But I doubt it. I have no experience swimming in tempestuous seas. All of my time spent in the water has been in the calm tides of Haruo.”
“I see,” Guinevere said.
Yes, of course. What wild creature would even attempt swimming in such raging rapids, let alone do it often enough to be experienced within such chaos?
She knew, of course. There was one person, a boy she’d known, who’d never feared any part of nature. Who had always gone without fear — even with cheer — into the most dangerous of situations.
“He’s spent much of his life in Wonderia,” Sheena said, shaking Guinevere out of her thoughts. “As a Knight Jouerve, I’m sure he has extensive experience with the wilderness. He’s faced things few others would ever encounter.”
“Ah,” Guinevere said absently. “Yes, of course. That makes sense.”
It did. And yet…
“Come on, slowpokes!” Alice said from far ahead. She pointed meaningfully at Flynn, who had already reached the bottom of the stairs, and was looking anxiously back at everyone else, ready to move on.
“Yes, yes, we’re coming,” Guinevere said, quickening her pace. Back on the ground level, Flynn led them along water-slicked paths, winding between high, jagged walls and towering stalagmites, across soaked books and scattered, tattered pages. If Lacie loved reading so much, why had she willingly ruined so much literature?
They turned a new corner and stopped short, faced by a forest of machinery — gargantuan tubes, pipes, and wires sprouted out of the ground, snaking upwards to link into outlets, gigantic computers, and mechanical hubs embedded in the black rock.
“What has she done?” Alice asked, gaping at the machinery in horror. “How could she gain such control over a Fracture?”
“There’s something on the other side,” Tobias said. “Through here.” He followed Flynn through a gap in the thick piping, and the others followed. The mechanical forest closed in around them, and Guinevere shuddered as the pipes and tubes pulsed and shifted, as if they were alive, occasionally spitting little puffs of steam out of tiny vents in their joints. This was a grand, complex operation — and apparently one of Lacie’s making. But to what end?
They emerged on the other side of the mechanical jungle to find a wide, circular space with tiered steps leading up to a stage upon which a spherical console hovered, connected to hundreds of wires that snaked up from the stage’s floor. Lights glittered atop the sphere, and music — haunting, ethereal tones — emanated from it. The group walked up to investigate.
The console was about two feet in diameter, and hovered low enough that only Alice was unable to see the top, where a digital display was showing numerous technical readouts, a whole jumble of text and numbers that Guinevere couldn’t hope to parse.
“Let me see,” Alice said, and Tobias tried to tilt the spherical console. It was easily movable, and he tilted it until the display faced Alice. Her eyes narrowed at what she saw. “This is just the start. If she’s able to keep this up… but how was she able to start all of this in the first place?” She shook her head. “We have to hurry and find the Librarian, and then a way out of here.”
“Hope springs eternal,” said Lacie, and Alice gasped as her sister appeared right in front of her, so close their noses were almost touching. Alice took several frantic steps back. Lacie didn’t pursue, just smiling at her. “Ah, but this is my favorite place! Well, one of them. It’s not the only siren processor I have, after all. Quantity beats quality. Or is it the other way around?” She shrugged. “It all depends on the situation, doesn’t it?”
“Siren processor?” Tobias asked. Ninian sang a sharp warning, and Tobias’ brow furrowed. “What are you trying to uncover?”
“The secrets of reality,” Lacie said. “Or whatever my lovely sirens uncover. I’m really not too picky. A girl has to indulge her curiosity, don’t you think? Especially when she’s stuck down here all alone.”
“Where’s the Librarian?” Alice asked.
“Farther in,” Lacie said, nodding to the left, farther on past the stage. “Or is it further? Perhaps a bit of both, hmm?” She giggled, and then vanished.
“Let’s hurry,” Alice said, starting off in the direction Lacie had indicated. Tobias and Flynn moved to lead from the front, while the others followed.
“What did Ninian say?” Guinevere asked.
“She’s not exactly sure what the siren processor is doing,” Elliot said. “But it’s using a twisted reversal of true Elysian to do it. Song, but in the most discordant form possible. What she thinks she’ll learn with such music is beyond me. But it can’t be good.”
“There he is!” Alice cried. They all raced forward, emerging through another thicket of tubes, pipes, and wires into a new stage area, this one bearing a cylindrical pod, its front face glass, revealing the azure form of the Librarian, eyes closed in slumber.
“We have to set him free!” Alice said, feeling around the pod for some kind of lever or switch to open it.
“Here,” Tobias said, pulling a lever on the left side. With a hiss and a burst of steam, the pod opened, its glass door flipping upward.
But when the steam faded, the Librarian was nowhere to be seen. Instead, inside was a mirrored surface, reflecting the group’s bewildered expressions back at them.
“Where did he…?” Guinevere started, staring.
“He’s been split,” Alice said, crestfallen. “We need to find his reflection.”
“Pardon?” Guinevere asked.
“He’s a being of light,” Alice said. “Lacie’s used this mirror pod to contain his essence. If we can find his reflection, we’ll be able to set him free.”
“Part of him,” said Lacie in a sing-song voice. “The other part belongs to me. Good luck with changing that.”
“Why would you do this?” Alice cried. “He’s never done anything to hurt you!”
“What would that have to do with anything?” Lacie asked. “I’m not out for vengeance — I wouldn’t even know who to take vengeance upon. Or for what, for that matter. Who wants to waste their time with revenge? It’s such a boring motivation. I’m just having fun, sister. You should try it sometime.”
“Akko’s found something,” Sheena said. The little blue fox-eared squirrel leapt off her shoulder and scampered across the floor, disappearing into a tangle of pipes and tubes.
“Let’s go,” Guinevere said, holding out her hand to Alice. Alice stared at it, and then up at Guinevere, and all the painful tension in her face and body, the distress and frustration, nearly broke Guinevere’s heart. When Alice took her hand, Guinevere gave it a little squeeze, and led her after Sheena and Akko.
Through the mass of pipes, they stopped halfway, crowded in by machinery, as Akko clambered up a tall, serpentine stretch of silver piping, his little claws seemingly able to latch onto any surface, no matter how smooth. High, high up, Guinevere saw what Akko had noticed and was pursuing: a glitter of azure light, shaped like the spectacles the Librarian wore when he was looking up information.
“His reflection!” Alice said. “If Akko can follow that to a new piece, we can find the Librarian!”
Akko reached the glasses and sniffed them, then looked about, bushy tail alert, wide eyes scanning the thicket of machinery. A moment later, he glanced at Sheena, one of his ears did a little circular flick, and he dove down, leaping from one pipe to another, making excellent time back down to the ground, and then scampering on ahead.
“Has he found it already?” Alice asked.
“It appears so,” Sheena said, leading on. They emerged from this tangle of pipes onto the base of a spiral stair cut into the rock of the Fracture, and climbed up as fast as they could, following Akko to the top. It wasn’t a plateau like before that awaited them, but a whole complex second level of the Fracture, with walkways branching out here and there, and high walls obscuring the true path forward. Akko led them straight ahead, to a circular area where a second glass-covered pod stood, once again showing the Librarian within.
“Come on, let this be it!” Alice said, racing to the pod and pulling a lever. The cover opened with a hiss and a cloud of steam, and when the steam cleared…
The Librarian was there, inside, blinking tiredly at them. “What has happened?” he asked, his face and voice shifting as he did, never settling on one specific persona. Guinevere had found that trait of his unsettling before, and despite knowing they needed to rescue him and feeling for his plight, she still didn’t particularly enjoy interacting with the Librarian.
“Lacie,” Alice said. “She’s split you in twain. Can you find your other half?”
The Librarian took a long moment to think this over, blinking away exhaustion, pushing himself out of the pod to take several unsteady steps. Slowly, he looked around the Fracture, the catastrophic fusing of wicked crevasse with the foundations of his Library.
“I was Fractured,” he said slowly, his voice and face suddenly very, very old, his posture for a moment stooped with aged weariness. “We must reach the centrifuge.” He stood up tall, youthfulness returning to his face and voice. “The crystal core is still active. I can activate the sealing protocol from there.”
“Sealing protocol?” Guinevere asked.
“The Vault is lost,” the Librarian said. “But the upper levels have yet to be touched. If we act quickly, we can seal off the rest of the Library and prevent it from being overtaken. We can lock out the Fracture — and Lacie.”
“Which way?” Tobias asked.
The Librarian didn’t hesitate. He pointed down the left path. “It isn’t far. Follow the claxon bells.”
Guinevere listened, but she didn’t hear the sound of any bells or alarms. Tobias, though, looked to Flynn, whose ears perked up for just a moment before he hurried on ahead, eagerly following what apparently only he could hear.
“We could use your help,” the Librarian said, turning to Ninian as they followed Flynn. Ninian nodded, singing a soft assent.
Through masses of dense machinery they went, often emerging into more open spaces with processors, technical hubs, and wild arrays of machinery that Guinevere couldn’t wrap her head around. She wasn’t technologically proficient, but even she could tell that what Lacie had down here was far beyond even the most advanced computers and machines in Ars Moran, one of the world’s greatest hubs for technological advancement and innovation.
What Guinevere noticed most was that the scenery was undergoing a more subtle change. The machinery around here was more grey or even sometimes white in contrast to the black rock of the Fracture, but now there were occasional lights and flickers of color here and there, always green. It was a strange green, an unnatural green, and as it grew more widespread, it began to paint everything in its unnatural tint.
Then they emerged from the forest of machinery onto a wide balcony that seemed like it came right out of the Library, with wooden floors and an elegantly carved railing. Out over the edge was a wide, cylindrical chasm, at the base of which floated a great orb of crystal, its green light creating the glow that bathed the whole space.
“The Vault’s crystal core,” Tobias said, gazing in awe. “It’s… exposed?”
“Lacie broke through the centrifuge’s seven doors,” the Librarian said, “though she has yet to take further action. She does not seem to be in any hurry to complete her goals, whatever they may be. But if she is able to bypass the encryptions that protect the knowledge within the crystal core, she will gain full, unfettered access to all of the Library’s knowledge, as well as greater powers that are meant to be kept under strict control and secrecy.”
“But if we seal the Vault from the upper levels, that still leaves her with access to the core,” Sheena said.
“Yes,” the Librarian said. “But it, too, will be cut off from the greater Library. She will only have access to the Vault itself, and be unable to influence the rest of the Library. The Vault has the most important knowledge, but I have a plan to restrict her access to the most sensitive of documents, as well.”
“Can the Library function without access to its core, though?” Elliot asked. “It powers the entire phenomenon that is the Library, doesn’t it?”
“The Library will be lessened,” the Librarian said, “but there are secondary crystal generators that can maintain its existence in the event of a crisis such as this.”
“A place so important must have a variety of redundancies,” Alice said. “Just in case.” She said these things absently, though, gazing out across the chasm, as if her thoughts were elsewhere.
“How do we get down to the core?” Guinevere asked.
“There should be some stairs…” the Librarian started, looking around. Flynn barked from off to their right, wagging his tail.
“Flynn’s found them,” Tobias said, smiling. He started on ahead, but when Alice didn’t immediately follow, he turned back to her. “Alice?”
“Hmm?” Alice asked. Slowly, she turned to look at him. Seeing everyone watching her, she blinked twice, then shook her head. “Sorry, I rather zoned out there, didn’t I? There’s just been… an awful lot to think about. Anyway, we’re heading down to the core, aren’t we? Let’s go!”
Down they went, descending a long, wrought-iron spiral staircase. Flynn trotted down the steps with joyful ease, but Ava and especially Hector, being significantly larger than Flynn, took the stairs with more caution, sticking close to their humans. Guinevere smiled down at Ava, softly encouraging her on the long, winding descent.
They finally arrived at the bottom, emerging onto a crystalline floor that clinked like glass with their footsteps. Now Guinevere could truly appreciate the gravity of the crystal core — it was absolutely massive, as big as a mansion, floating nearly ten feet off the floor under its own power, shimmering with light and beauty. Directly beneath the center of the crystal core was a pedestal, no doubt some sort of console to interface with the core. And at it stood…
The Librarian.
Guinevere did a double-take. Because the Librarian was with them, right behind Tobias, Flynn, and Alice. But at the crystal core’s console, a good fifty yards away from them… there also stood the Librarian.
“He is her plan,” the Librarian — the one with them — said. “My Fractured other half. We must stop him.”
“How?” Guinevere asked.
“He is a being of light,” their Librarian said. “Only light will disrupt his form, and give me a chance to access the console. From there, we will need a songbird’s help in harmonizing with the crystal core. It is in distress.”
Songbird. The word made Guinevere shiver, thinking of what Lacie had said to her, of what the nightmare-struggle had been about. She still had so many questions, questions that would have to wait until later.
But there was something else she could do in this very moment. “Light,” she said. She strode forward, past Tobias to the front of the group, and kept going towards the Librarian’s Fractured half, raising her left hand, pressing her middle finger against her thumb. “Yes,” she said with a smile. “I think I can manage that.”
With a thought, she formed a violet glyph over her fingers. Back in Saoirse’s palace, she had stolen the Mirror’s light, ending its horrific power. It was light of startling magnitude and brilliance, and unleashing it all with abandon would surely blind them all.
But Guinevere couldn’t only create wide-area flares like she’d done against the Knave of Hearts and his troops when they’d ambushed them. She adjusted the glyph above her fingers — a few minute lines, a few tiny symbols, shifting and restructuring, such delicate, complex work that she had drilled for years and years, until she could perform it like this, with quick thinking, with full confidence.
“Hello, false Librarian,” Guinevere said, now just a few paces away from the Fractured Librarian. “What are you up to?”
“What my Lady commands of me,” the other Librarian said, and Guinevere immediately noticed the difference between him and the other half. He spoke mechanically, devoid of emotion, and didn’t even look at her. His visual form was fixed, rather than ever-shifting like the other half, fixed in the form Guinevere had last seen him in before the Fracture — a middle-aged man with hints of a beard, a somewhat hunched posture, and keen, thoughtful eyes.
“Well, I’m afraid that all has to end,” Guinevere said. She held her fingers forward, the glyph above them glowing brighter in anticipation. “Farewell.”
The Fractured half looked at her, and opened his mouth to say something — but Guinevere snapped her fingers.
Light exploded into the world.
But this was a focused shot, a sunburst from a precision cannon, aimed directly at the Librarian’s Fractured half. Light so intense it could have caused permanent blindness in anyone who gazed on it for more than a handful of seconds blazed forth, and the world shifted around it in response to Guinevere’s magical manipulations. What she and the others behind her saw in the light was like the world beneath a solar eclipse, the unsettling sensation of light that should be far brighter than it is, of daylight dimmed by an obstruction, of a great shadow cast by something that could nearly block out the sun itself.
What the Fractured Librarian saw, well — Guinevere could only imagine.
But she knew that he didn’t see it for very long.
The light ended almost as suddenly as it had come. And in its wake, there was no more false Librarian.
Silence filled the space for long, hushed seconds.
“That was incredible!” Alice cried, racing up to Guinevere. “Magnificent! And performing such a feat with such swagger — well, that was rather queenly, wasn’t it?” She beamed up at Guinevere, and Guinevere felt a rush of pride, pride that flushed her cheeks. She didn’t try to stop it, and smiled right back at Alice.
“Thank you very much,” the Librarian said, approaching the console with Ninian. “Now it is our turn.” He placed his hands on the console, and it lit up with numerous azure symbols at his touch. Beside him, Ninian stood, and at his cue, she began to sing.
Guinevere was awestruck at the song’s beauty, at a song that, though she did not understand the words, made perfect sense to her. It was a song of understanding, of bridging divides, of forming connections between the known and the unknown. It was a song for the crystal, this great, immense entity completely alien to humanity, and a song for the meager people below it. A song to harmonize one with the other.
The Librarian pressed numerous symbols on the console, arranging a complex pattern that vanished, providing another set of symbols, which he likewise arranged, which then vanished and provided new symbols. Again and again he did this, as Ninian sang her beautiful song. And Guinevere stopped watching the Librarian’s work, but instead stood back, taking in this vast space, this great sphere above her, and the song filling the world around them, banishing all darkness, all fear, all questions.
After a time that Guinevere never could have measured, the song slowly faded, Ninian bringing it to a gentle, lovely end. “The work is finished,” the Librarian said. “The sealing is underway. Various documents have been purged from the records, preventing Lacie’s access to them — assuming she has not already read their contents.”
“Purged?” Alice asked, in a voice filled with grief as if a loved one had died. “You destroyed books? Knowledge that has been preserved here for millennia?”
“I could not allow her access to their contents,” the Librarian said. “And I could not transfer their contents to the upper levels. There has been too much tampering with the Vault already. Any transfer of information from here to the rest of the Library under my authority could unwittingly grant Lacie access to everything. I feel your sorrow, too. But this sacrifice needed to be made, to prevent a greater evil.”
“I… accept your decision,” Alice said, looking away. “Though I do not appreciate its necessity.”
“What of your other half?” Sheena asked.
“I had intended to purge him as well,” the Librarian said. “He was placed completely under Lacie’s control, and severing that link would be beyond our powers. But there was no need.” His appraising gaze fell on Guinevere. “You accomplished that yourself with your impressive feat. Thank you.”
“I…” Guinevere started, struggling to grasp the enormity of the moment. There was so much she didn’t know about the true nature of the Librarian, or the Library itself. But if she’d done something as amazing as he implied… “I’m glad I was able to help.”
“Now we have to get out of here,” Tobias said. “How long do we have?”
“Not long,” the Librarian said. “But…” and he paused for a moment, confused. “The main stair is open. Our way out is clear.”
“It wasn’t before?” Tobias asked.
“No,” the Librarian said. “And I did not open it with the console. It opened on its own.”
“Lacie?” Elliot asked.
“She wouldn’t just let us go,” Alice said. She looked around, wary. “And she’s been silent for far too long.”
“She’ll be planning something, no doubt,” Tobias said. “Stay on your guard. Where’s the main stair?”
“This way,” the Librarian said, and led them across the floor of the centrifuge, out from under the shadow of the crystal core — a metaphorical shadow, Guinevere realized with amazement as she walked. For the crystal core was like a dim, green sun, casting light from all its surfaces. It cast no shadow.
I don’t want to linger here. But there’s a beauty here, a wonder. I’ve never imagined anything like this. I don’t want to forget this — it may be the last time I ever see it.
Not for the first time on her journey, she was grateful she’d made her escape from her manor in Ars Moran. She was so much farther from Elysia than she wanted to be — though she realized she’d rather foolishly expected to reach Elysia quite quickly — and yet…
I’ve seen so many things I never could have back in my pretty little cage. Or even wandering the streets of Ars Moran. There’s been so much danger to go with it, so much pain, but…
All this wonder, all of these impossible experiences and discoveries, this whole adventure beyond anything I ever dreamed…
It’s been more than worth it. And it’s far from over.
At the far side of the centrifuge, they found a grand staircase carved into the stone of the Fracture, going up, up, up… a dizzying height upwards, all in a straight line, towards a door that they could barely see from this distance. A door that would get them out of the Fracture, back into the Library.
Away from Lacie.
“This is too easy,” Alice said as they started up the stairs.
“Let’s not stop now,” Tobias said. “Every step that gets us closer to escape is worth taking.”
Alice nodded. “Right.” They started up the long stairs, and Guinevere felt the same as Alice. Something wasn’t right, here. The stairs were a straight shot, all the way up to the top of the Vault. As if the Fracture had actually connected with things properly, had chosen not to destroy but to integrate. Maybe it had. This would be an easy avenue for Lacie to reach the Library, too, after all.
But she wouldn’t let Alice and the rest of them go without a fight.
Guinevere stayed alert during the climb, as they passed from the glowing green of the Vault’s centrifuge back out to the foreboding black of the Fracture. The large Vault door, with a circular wheel in the center like that on bulkhead doors in recent ship designs, grew closer and closer. There was no sign of Lacie, nor any of her mechanical minions to bar their path.
Too easy.
They finally reached a wide stone landing, a small resting point before the last few stairs up to the door. It was empty, and they started forward, no one wanting to linger, but…
A great rumbling suddenly sounded. The floor shook, and Guinevere was thrown to her knees. She grasped for Ava, who kept her footing and helped Guinevere not fall completely. Struggling to find her balance, Guinevere managed to look up, and her heart sank like a stone.
The stairs to the door collapsed, shattering into a rain of shrapnel. And the door itself receded into the rock wall, black Fracture-stone closing up over it, burying it completely.
“Did you really think I’d just let you leave?” Lacie asked. The rumbling stopped, and there she was in the center of the landing, sitting at a small tea table. And lying on the table, accepting gentle tummy rubs from Lacie, was…
“Chesh?!?” Alice asked, gaping. The Cheshire Cat’s tail swished back and forth as Lacie petted him, and he lapped up milk from an upside-down saucer.
“I’m sorry I made things seem so easy,” Lacie said, giggling. “I was just having far too much fun here with my new best friend to bother with your efforts to escape. It was fun, though, wasn’t it? Believing you had a chance.”
“We’re not staying here with you!” Alice said.
Chesh stopped lapping at his upside-down milk, and the saucer disappeared. He rolled onto his side and grinned at Alice with a milk mustache. “Ah, Alice,” he said in his dreamy, lilting voice. “There you are.”
And then he hopped up and floated away from Lacie over to Alice, bobbing in the air right in front of her.
Lacie stared after him with her mouth wide open in shock. “I thought we were becoming best friends,” she said mournfully. “Was all that time spent petting you for nothing?”
“Not for nothing,” Chesh said blissfully, licking away his milk mustache. “You have very nice hands. But I can’t stick around with you. Your idea of freedom isn’t all that ‘free,’ if you know what I mean.”
“I really don’t,” Lacie said, pouting. “But you’re still not leaving. Haven’t I made it clear? I’m lonely! What better company can I have than my sister and her newest friends? Though… it’s odd, isn’t it?” She cocked her head to the side, eyeing the empty space beside Alice. “What are you doing, wandering around without Mister Carroll? Did you leave him all alone at home?”
“He’s happier there,” Alice said, glaring. “And what are you doing, wandering around without Mister Mallory? Or is he happier wherever your physical form is?”
Lacie stared at Alice, blinking twice in curious surprise. “Hmm?” she asked, and a moment later Alice gasped as Lacie vanished and reappeared just inches away from her sister, studying her closely with her big blue eyes.
“W-what?” Alice asked, taking a step back.
“Who are you?” Lacie asked.
Alice stared back at her. “What… I’m Alice!” she said. “What are you talking about?”
“Really… who are you?” Lacie asked.
“Stop it!” Alice cried. “I’m me, obviously!”
“Yes, you’re you,” Lacie said. “But Alice… hmm.”
“Lacie, stop it!” Alice cried, tears shining in her eyes. “What are you doing? I don’t understand you at all.”
“That’s rich, coming from you.” Lacie stepped back, tapping her chin with her finger, her curious gaze fixed on Alice. “Oh, the scream did a number on Alice, didn’t it? To think you’d be all that’s left.”
“What are you talking about?” Alice asked. For the first time Guinevere had seen her, she actually stepped towards Lacie, actually reached towards her sister.
“Ah, here we are,” Chesh said suddenly, hopping up into the air above them. “I’ve found the way out. No time to lose, friends. The seal is sealed, but a little sideways step will get everyone back to the Library.”
“You can’t just leave,” Lacie said with complete self-assurance. “I’ve trapped you here. There’s no escape.”
“Oh, didn’t you know?” Chesh asked, grinning. “A Cat always has a way out.”
“Chesh, wait!” Alice cried. “I’m not done here!”
“You’re welcome,” Chesh said.
Pop!
Guinevere gasped. It was just like when the Cheshire Cat had taken their party to the Library. But back then, they’d been warned to keep their eyes closed.
Guinevere hadn’t had a chance. Her eyes were wide open. And as soon as the pop! sounded, she was flung into a kaleidoscopic world of swirling color and shapes that stretched and warped in impossible ways. She was spinning, and flipping, and her stomach did loops inside her. It was like passing through a doorway between realms, only so much worse. Guinevere tried to shut her eyes, but they wouldn’t close, as if the lights and colors were hypnotizing her.
She shuddered as her feet struck solid ground. But then she was airborne again, flipping, and then… whumph! Her feet hit solid ground again, jarring her bones. But this wasn’t a landing either, as she was spinning through the air again, and then…
Pop!
Her feet struck a floor, the vision ended, and she collapsed in a heap on the floor of the Long Room. She groaned, her head spinning, her stomach twisting itself into knots. Her arms and legs felt like jelly, and she spent a long time just lying there, catching her breath, collecting herself after such disorientation. It took several tries to push herself up just to sit on the floor, but she managed it. She wouldn’t dare risk trying to stand up yet.
All around her, the others were in a similar state. Even Tobias and Sheena, she noticed, weren’t about to stand up just yet, each of them looking quite unsteady, holding onto their animal companions for comfort.
The only one standing was Alice. She stood just as she had when the Cat had popped! them out of the Fracture, one hand reaching out for Lacie — who was gone. Sealed below.
“What… did she mean?” Alice asked in a tiny voice. Slowly, she turned back to look at the others, tears shining in her eyes. “I’m Alice. I know I am. So why…?”