“Do you really think this is okay?”
Shias sighed at Ben’s question. “How many times are you going to ask?”
“I’m just saying,” Ben said, kneeling down to look at the bottom of the shelf. The boys were in their favorite video game store, Grand Gaming Garage. Despite the name, it wasn’t located in a garage, or even looked like a garage. It was a family-owned shop, and when the owner’s son took over, he’d once explained the name to Shias and Ben with a sigh and a “My dad’s a weirdo.” And yet, he never even talked about changing the name.
“Shana relies on you,” Ben continued. “At a time like this, do you really think you should be leaving her alone?”
“She needs Kathryn and Rae more than anyone,” Shias said. “Sometimes… girls know what girls need better than anyone else. I can’t do everything.”
“But you wish you could,” Ben said, smiling slyly up at Shias.
Shias pursed his lips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re always trying to carry everyone’s burdens.” Ben plucked the case for DayBreak Galaxy off the bottom of the shelf and stood, reading the back. “Especially Shana’s. And you guys are twins. There’s, like, a super-special link between you guys.”
“Doesn’t mean I can do everything,” Shias said, idly scanning the next shelf over. He suppressed a sigh, then started towards the counter. “You buying that one?”
“You’re not getting anything?” Ben asked, carrying his chosen game with him as he followed. Shias shook his head, and Ben shrugged, bought his game, and headed out with Shias. “Heading back?”
“We’ve been out since early this morning,” Shias said.
“And we did spend all day out yesterday; you didn’t get back until after the girls were asleep,” Ben said. “And then you insisted on leaving this morning before they woke up. Because that makes sense.” He hopped up to slap a swinging sign that marked Café Grand Crème, then turned, eyeing the cinnamon rolls on display in the window.
“Just giving her enough time,” Shias said, pausing and staring up at the sky.
Ben looked up with him. “It’s midday. Not like you can tell these days.”
The sky was grey and dark, and the sun hung ashen and pale, shedding little light through the gloom. It was only four in the afternoon, but it was as dark as late in the night.
“The Endless Night really is coming,” Shias said softly, almost under his breath.
“And we’re just kicking it here in Grimoire,” Ben said.
“We’re waiting,” Shias said. “Patiently. Because…”
Ben nodded, starting on ahead. “Shana’s the Dreamer. We might be able to fight the darkness without her, but we’re better off waiting for her. And plus, we’re the Dawn Riders. Can’t exactly go breaking up the team, can we?”
Shias nodded, following along. They walked southeast, crossing the main street on the way to Greyson Manor.
Kathryn, Rae…
Please…
You’re the only ones who can break through to Shana. I’ve tried. And I’ve…
I’ve never seen her like this before. Nearly a week, and she won’t say a word to me.
It’s up to the girls, now.
“Hey,” Ben said, punching Shias lightly in the shoulder. “Once Shana comes around, you’ll have plenty you can do. You’re her Guardian, right?”
Shias smiled at that. “Yeah.”
When they got back to Greyson Manor, Shias was surprised to see Shana, Kathryn, and Rae heading out the front door. And when Shana saw him, she froze, with a look that Shias didn’t recognize at first, because he hadn’t seen it on Shana’s face in so very long.
It was an expression of guilt.
“You guys going somewhere?” Ben asked.
Shana winced slightly. Kathryn sighed, looking away. Rae clasped her hands in front of her and stared at the ground.
“Shana, what’s going on?” Shias asked.
“I, ah…” Shana started, but just trailed off meekly.
Kathryn muttered something under her breath, nudging Shana forward. Shana looked back at her, but Kathryn stared back at her firmly. Shana sighed, then started forward.
“Let’s talk,” she said, not looking at Shias.
“Ben, you’re staying with us,” Kathryn said. Ben still looked totally confused, but he headed over to Kathryn while Shana and Shias walked away from Greyson Manor together.
Both were silent as they walked, for a good ten minutes before stopping in a small park. Shana sat on a bench first, and Shias sat next to her.
“You were leaving,” Shias said. “And not just to go out and then come back, right?”
“We were gonna come back!” Shana said defensively, then sighed. “Just, like… after a long time.”
“What’s going on?” Shias asked.
“Kathryn and Rae helped a lot. And I figured out what to do next, so… the three of us were going to leave. And… just the three of us.”
Shias struggled for words. He was upset, but he didn’t want to show it, because that would just make Shana upset.
More than anything, he wanted to know…
“Why?”
Shana still hadn’t looked at him, and she didn’t start now. “You’re always protecting all of us,” she said. “Especially me. You carry me, all the time, in so many ways. And I love you for it. But… I’m sick of you burdening yourself for me. I need to get stronger, I need to accomplish something myself. I need to know that… I’m something without you.”
“You braved all the horrors of the Library of Solitude without me or any of the team,” Shias said. “You conquered the Dream Forge without me. You defeated the Radiant King without me. I don’t understand where you’re coming from.”
“None of that is good enough!” Shana said, hands clenched into fists, her expression scrunched up in frustration. “I failed so much on the way to victory. I failed Maribelle, Isabelle, and Annabelle in the Dream Forge, and it shouldn’t have been that way. I barely won, and I know I’m still so weak. I don’t… I don’t want to be a burden to you.”
“You’re not a burden!” Shias said, taking Shana’s hands in his. “Please, look at me.” Hesitantly, Shana looked up, and Shias met her eyes with a serious, intent gaze. “You’ve never been a burden to me. It’s my privilege to protect and support you. Please, tell me your plan. Help me understand, and if I need to stay out of the way more than not, I will. But we should all stick together. Ben was just saying that we’re a team and we shouldn’t split up, and I agree. All five of us should stick together going forward. Things are getting worse than ever now, and the Endless Night is approaching. We’re the Dawn Riders, right? This is our fight, for all of us.”
Shana ducked her head and then leaned forward, pressing her face against Shias’ shoulder. “I want to go to the Library of Solitude,” she said. “I want to see Annabelle, and… for my plan… the Library’s safe. It’s hard to really trust Grimoire right now, with how dark it always is.”
“Okay,” Shias said, hugging his sister tight. “So what’s the plan?”
Shana told him, and Shias listened closely, thought about it carefully, and then responded with some ideas and suggestions of his own.
“That’ll still work for your own goals,” Shias said. “And it’ll keep the team together.”
Shana let out a long sigh, and the tension went out of her. “Thank you,” she said softly. “And… I’m sorry for pushing you away.”
“You don’t have to apologize. I understand. But I’m glad we found a better way.”
Shana nodded. “Yeah.” She hopped to her feet, gazing off into the distance. “We need to go see Lock.”
Together they rejoined the rest of the team, and the five of them headed out.
Their next journey could finally begin.
——
Shana stepped through the door into the Library of Solitude.
She’d been here since it was restored, of course, more than once. But even so…
Somehow it felt new to her. Like her haze after the final battle at the Radiant Palace had left her memories clouded, unable to properly reflect the truth of her past.
It’s night out, but it’s so bright and clear in here. So beautiful, so…
Peaceful.
And even though there are lots of people here now — even more than last time! — it still feels like it lives up to its name. There’s still a sense of solitude to the place.
She smiled.
It’s perfect.
“Where do we even start?” Kathryn asked. “Annabelle could be anywhere, right?”
“We ask someone who would know,” Shana said, striding confidently over to the entrance hall’s reception desk. She felt a bit of a spring in her step. Not so much because she was fully optimistic and hopeful again, but more because…
She knew she would be. And she was in a much, much better head-space than twenty-four hours ago. And talking with Shias — having him come with her, when not long ago she’d been resolved to leave him behind — helped her that much more.
Healing takes time. I know that.
But that doesn’t mean I’m going to waste it.
“Excuse me, do you know where Annabelle is?” Shana asked at the desk. “I’ve come to visit.”
The librarian pushed up his glasses, eyeing Shana and her group with puzzlement. “I’m sure you have,” he said. “Princess Annabelle gets many would-be visitors, after all.”
Oh, yeah. He probably took my casual address of her as disrespectful.
“Can you send her a message, at least?” Shana asked. “Tell her Shana’s come to see her.”
“Just a first name?” the librarian asked, arching an eyebrow.
“That’s all,” Shana said, smiling. “She’ll understand.”
The librarian hesitated, and for a moment Shana thought he might refuse her. But then he strode to a series of chalkboards against the back wall, and on the one beneath Annabelle’s name he wrote out the brief message. The letters gleamed silver when he finished, and then melted into the chalkboard, vanishing.
“Ooh, we should ask how that works,” Kathryn said. “It would be super fun back home.”
“I hope Annabelle comes quickly,” Rae said. “I can’t wait to see Dreamworld.”
Shana smiled, nodding emphatically.
I haven’t tried it before. And I haven’t been back since…
But it should work. It will work.
I’m not going to be at all happy if it doesn’t work. And I know you can hear me, Heart, even when I’m awake.
We’re going to make it work.
“Shana!” came the familiar cry, and Shana turned to see the little princess she’d met so long ago in the grove. Her heart soared, and she raced forward, kneeling down to hug Annabelle.
She’s the one who started everything for me. She’s the reason I first arrived in the Enchanted Dominion, the reason I was put at odds with the Radiant King, the reason I’ve struggled through so much.
And…
Saving her was my first victory.
“I missed you,” Shana said softly, relishing in Annabelle’s tiny embrace.
“And I you,” Annabelle said. She pulled away, staring intently into Shana’s eyes. “But what’s brought you here? Is there trouble?”
“I was wondering if you could help me, actually,” Shana said. “It’s not… trouble. Not yet. But it could turn into trouble.”
“You guys get started,” Shias said. “We’ll find a good place to train.”
Shana nodded, giving Shias a grateful smile.
That was the plan. Shias and Ben would be here, training in the Library, until Shana’s task in Dreamworld was complete.
The Dawn Riders weren’t splitting up. They just had different tasks for a little while. But they could accomplish those in the same place.
Annabelle led Shana, Kathryn, and Rae over to a space where they could talk, seated around a small circular table. And there, Shana told her the plan she’d come up with, the plan she’d gone over with Kathryn and Rae before they left Grimoire.
Annabelle nodded thoughtfully. “That should work,” she said. “Heart does have a special connection to the Library of Solitude, though I don’t fully understand it. But now’s the best chance to find out.” She smiled at Shana. “You have to promise me one thing, though.”
“What’s that?” Shana asked, while thinking to herself how steadying Annabelle’s presence was. The princess looked for all the world like a little girl, maybe six years old at most, but she had a maturity that grounded and reassured Shana.
“You have to take me with you,” Annabelle said.
Shana blinked in surprise, but she didn’t hesitate with her answer. “Of course! If you’re willing and able, I wouldn’t possibly turn you away.”
Annabelle beamed brightly. But her gaze drifted past Shana, and her eyes suddenly went wide. Her mouth formed a small “o” of surprise, her expression also showing longing and love. “I…” she started softly, then shook her head, smiling. “They’re back.”
Shana, Kathryn, and Rae turned to look, and Shana’s heart soared. She stood up faster than she could think, knocking over her chair in the process, but she was already running. She was halfway to the small girl, too small for her age, with masses of wild blonde curls, before the girl noticed her and her big blue eyes went wide.
“Shana!” Delilah cried. Shana tried to call her little sister’s name as well, but the words just wouldn’t come. So she just ran, until she could hug Delilah and bury her face in those blonde curls.
“My sister,” she said softly, tears of joy spilling out.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Delilah said, gently stroking Shana’s back. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“I’m just so glad to see you,” Shana said, fighting against sobbing so she could properly speak. “I’m just so glad you’re safe and okay.”
The last time I saw her…
She was terrified on the Nightmare Road. And I lost her.
She finally managed to pull away, just enough so she could look her sister in the eyes. Delilah looked so healthy, and safe, and…
Look at her now. She looks so strong. Whatever she’s been through in Paladin training or whatever, it’s been so good to her.
“Do you… have time to talk?” Shana asked. With Delilah were Isabelle and Maribelle, Marcus and an older woman Shana didn’t recognize, and a strange girl who looked oddly familiar, with white eyes.
“I…” Delilah started, hesitating as she looked at the others in her group. The older woman was already striding ahead, so regal and refined, and yet with an air of superiority that made Shana uneasy.
“Go for it,” the white-eyed girl said, nudging Delilah playfully. Her eyes flickered to black, then back to white, startling Shana. The girl noticed though, and smirked, holding out her hand. “We haven’t met yet. I’m Alice.”
“Shana,” Shana said, shaking Alice’s hand.
So this is Addie’s sister…
“I’m her sister,” Alice said, nodding to Delilah.
Shana blinked twice, staring, lost for words. “Wait…” she said slowly, looking back and forth between Alice and Delilah. “But you’re… Addie’s…”
“Yeah, that too,” Alice said with a shrug. She nudged Delilah again. “Go on, then. You’ll explain, right?”
“Yeah,” Delilah said, laughing. “Thanks.”
“I’ll fill you in on any important mumbo-jumbo the others discuss,” Alice said, waving goodbye as she followed the rest of the group.
Delilah came with Shana to join Annabelle, Kathryn, and Rae at their table, and the girls traded stories. Shana struggled to tell hers, but after hearing more and more of Delilah’s, somehow her own story became easier to tell.
She’s been through so much. She’s fought battles I couldn’t dream of.
But look at her. My baby sister, so brave and confident after all the terrors she’s faced.
“I really want to visit Revue Palace now,” Shana said, smiling. “That sounds like such a wonderful place.”
“It is,” Delilah said. “But it isn’t ready. There’s still so much work to do. But… yeah. Someday soon, I’ll take you to visit. You should see it at its best.”
Shana also got some laughter — and a bit more confusion — out of the story behind Alice and Delilah being “sisters.” But the more she thought about it, the more it warmed her heart.
I don’t know enough about Alice or even Addie. But I know they don’t really have any family left except each other.
But now Alice has Delilah. And me by extension, I guess! Her family just got so much bigger.
“And, uh…” Delilah started, looking a bit embarrassed. “So… now Alice and I are going to become Paladins.”
“Paladins?” Annabelle asked, surprise evident in voice and expression. “Not Sub-Paladins?”
“We made a promise to Revue,” Delilah said. “Apparently the best way we can fulfill that — well, probably the only way — is by being the Paladins of Revue Palace. Marcus and your sisters vouched for us.”
“I bet they did, after all you’ve done,” Annabelle said, staring at Delilah with admiration. “Well, we shouldn’t keep you any longer, then. You have so much to discuss with everyone else!”
“Don’t you want to say hello to your mother?” Delilah asked.
Annabelle paused for a moment, then looked away, a shadow crossing her face. “I will when the time is right,” she said softly. “For now, I have to help Shana.”
“You can go to her if —” Shana started, but something in Annabelle’s eyes made her pause.
So…
Her family’s a bit more complicated than I’m used to. Better to stay out of things I don’t know anything about.
“Well,” Delilah said, looking back to Shana, “if you need any help at all, I’ll be back and forth between the Library and Revue Palace for a while. Just come find me.”
“I will,” Shana said, her heart soaring.
Delilah went off to rejoin her group, after a very long second hug from Shana.
Once Delilah was gone, Shana felt a bit homesick. But more than anything, she felt hopeful. More hopeful than she’d been in a long time.
Thank you, Delilah.
“Is it time yet?” Kathryn asked.
“Be patient,” Rae chided gently.
“I’m ready,” Shana said with a smile.
And so Annabelle led the way to a familiar place: her bedroom. All of the Princess’ bedrooms were located in a wide hub of an intersection between several hallways, and this had been the place where Shana, Delilah, and all the others in their group had rested after so many battles against Shadow-Hollows on the way to restoring the Library. Shana had last slept here in darkness and shadow, but now she got to see Annabelle’s bedroom as it should be, glistening with silver light, filled with bookshelves stacked with books, with a bed in the very center absolutely covered in pillows.
“This is perfect!” Kathryn said, leaping onto Annabelle’s bed and bouncing as she came to a rest, grinning as she stretched out amongst the pillows. “Gotta have a comfy spot to go to Dreamworld, right?”
“Oh, it’s wonderful,” Rae said, timidly perching on the edge of the bed. She bounced lightly, smiling. “It’s so comf—whoa!” She shouted out in surprise as Kathryn gleefully grabbed her around the waist and tugged her into the pillow pile, and both girls were momentarily buried by pillows before breaking through and coming up for air, laughing.
“I just hope this works,” Shana said, hopping on the bed to join them, and Annabelle followed her. The bed was huge — wider by a large margin than even a king sized bed back home, so there was way more than enough room for the four girls. “I’ve never tried it before.”
“Confidence,” Kathryn said, poking Shana in the nose. “Like I keep telling you. It’s your power. It’ll work for you if you just trust it. That’s how the Dreamer stuff worked in other places, right?”
“Like the Nightmare Road,” Rae said, smiling as she lay sprawled out amongst the pillows. “When you flew, and carried all of us with you.”
Shana smiled at the memory, too, and properly laid down between Rae and Annabelle. She stared at the ceiling for a while, thinking on so much that had happened, so much she and the others had been through.
So much that her siblings had been through when she hadn’t been around to see it.
I can’t give up. I can’t ever give up again.
It’s been… so frightening. And so exhausting. And so hard.
And it still will be.
But…
She reached out so she could hold Rae and Annabelle’s hands. To the other side of Rae, Kathryn joined in, holding Rae’s hand.
There are good times mixed in with all of that. There always have been, haven’t there?
I can’t miss them. I can’t weigh them as so little in the grand scheme.
And if I keep going, maybe one day…
Maybe one day I’ll be as strong as Delilah. Maybe one day I’ll be as dependable as Shias. Maybe one day I’ll be as brave as Fae. Maybe one day I’ll be as optimistic as Caleb.
“Everyone ready?” Shana asked.
Words of agreement and bouncing nods went around.
“We’re going into Dreamworld,” Shana said. “Together. And there, we’ll talk to Heart, and… most likely… Nocta as well. Because I understand what the Nightmares are for now. They’re a trial, a test. And…”
She paused, but Annabelle gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
I let you down last time. I let Maribelle and Isabelle down, too.
“I have to face it,” Shana said. “That’s how I can properly awaken all of my Dreamer powers. But… I don’t want to do it alone.”
“And you don’t have to,” Kathryn said.
“You’ll never have to,” Rae said. “Never again.”
Shana took a deep breath, and then let it out in a sudden burst of laughter as Kathryn reached across Rae to poke her in the stomach.
“There we go!” Kathryn said, laughing. “Gotta start a test like this with some laughter.”
“It seems only proper,” Annabelle said, laughing softly.
Shana sighed, rolling her eyes. But she was smiling.
“Right,” she said, holding onto her friends tightly. “Here we go.”
She closed her eyes, and felt the presence of Heart within her. In moments, sleep was upon her, and she fell gently into Dreamworld, carrying her friends along with her.
——
Maxwell stared in awe at the grandiose mansion his study now opened out into. The golden light filtering through the high windows… something was familiar about it.
“Are we in Sunset Square?” he asked.
“Bingo,” Tock said. “But in a way… we’re not. This is a very special house, one that exists, in a way, apart from everywhere else in the entire universe.”
“Ah, this must be our first meeting, then,” came a young woman’s voice, clear and bright, musical in tone that sounded like she was on the verge of a song. Tock and Maxwell both turned to see a woman descending a wide stairway, flanked on either side by young women who looked nearly identical.
The pair dressed the same, in black dresses with gold trim and accents, uniforms Maxwell recognized as those belonging to the gilded handmaids of Starlight Cove, in the far northern reaches of the Final Frontier, beyond the Fractured Bridge that spanned the Melancholy Peninsula. Both had platinum-blonde hair and pale blue eyes, and both were the exact same height, had the same slim but fit figure, and wore the same flat, emotionless expression. They each even had an identical scar, pale and faded, on their right cheek.
Only one difference set them apart: the handmaid on the right wore silver-rimmed glasses.
The woman in the center, the one who had spoken, had long blonde hair done up in a braided bun that complemented her fair complexion. She dressed in a golden hoop dress that disguised her figure, but her bare arms suggested she was surprisingly fit.
Her eyes struck Maxwell immediately. They were almost completely white, save for a small black point in the center. Those black points seemed to grow larger the longer Maxwell stared, like endless voids threatening to swallow him whole. It took a considerable effort to look elsewhere. His eyes eventually settled on the woman’s smile, a much more reassuring sight than her void-like eyes.
“Hello,” the woman in the center said, her smile bright and inviting. “Welcome to my home. My name is Alexandra.”