Midnight Law

by Geanna Culbertson

  “Thanks, Elkie,” Jason said. “We’ll head back with you now. We’re going to start doing some research.”

  Elkie nodded. Jason’s compact buzzed.

  “Hey, Chance,” he answered when he flipped it open.

  “I’ll be on campus in ten. Meet in the library?”

  “Yeah, restricted section.”

  Oh good. Prince Charming is near.

  It was half past nine and Lord Channing’s library chandeliers glowed warmly in contrast to the cold darkness outside the windows. My friends and Chance were gathered around a circular wooden table in the restricted section. Joplin lay curled up in his basket, watching us.

  SJ had just finished telling us about introducing new Mauvrey to Lady Agnue. They needed the headmistress’s approval to bring her back to school so we could continue to keep an eye on her. Her family still didn’t know she was alive, or about her sleeping curse, or Tara. She’d insisted on keeping it that way.

  I didn’t know if it was the healthiest thing for the recovery of her confidence, and I thought it was a bit cowardly for her to let her parents go on believing she was a murderous traitor on the lam instead of facing them. But it wasn’t my place to tell her what to do. Maybe not all princesses were as gutsy and strong as the ones I’d come to know.

  Either way, we were all Mauvrey had for the time being, so it was sad she still seemed hesitant about getting too close to us. Even now she sat off in the corner searching through a purple text, apart from everyone else. I could empathize with that to a degree though, and I didn’t hold it against her. I often felt the need to create distance, even with people who’d proven they were trustworthy.

  “There are several tracking potions I found in the different texts of our library,” SJ was saying now, flipping through the book in front of her and stopping on a page. “This one is the fastest to brew. If I get started in the morning, it may only take me two days, but I will work on brewing several other potions simultaneously.” “Two days is a long time,” Chance said. “Can’t you do it any faster than that?”

  “Not if we want it done properly,” SJ replied. “Perhaps some of you could search through the potions texts at Lord Channing’s and see if you find any better recipes while I begin my brewing. I am open to other ideas as well, as I do not know if a tracking potion will even work.”

  “I have one,” Marie said. “When I arrived at Lady Agnue’s this evening, I searched through the Woodland Creatures section of our library and found an older Singing with Nature textbook full of animal communication sheet music. I found a song that could be helpful.”

  “Really, Marie?” Gordon said. “A song? This isn’t a musical.”

  Marie pointedly turned away from her brother. “The pitches and chords looked terribly tricky, but if performed correctly by a princess, this song can compel an army of creatures to form a search party.”

  “But they’d have to travel to other worlds,” Javier said. “We know Crisa isn’t in Book.”

  “We have Hole Trackers. I could go to every world out there if need be and form an animal search party,” Marie said. Then she deflated a little. “It is an option anyway.”

  “It’s a good backup, Marie,” Divya said. “But one flock of animals to search a world is not great odds. I want to suggest a different approach. Instead of focusing on ways of tracking Crisa with the idea that she could be anywhere, what if we logically narrowed down our options of where she could be?”

  “How do you mean?” Kai asked.

  “The antagonists would have to exit during a full moon from whatever realm they entered from. We know that wasn’t Book. I suggest we try learning the patterns of the full moons in other worlds to see what our enemies’ options were.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Jason said enthusiastically. “In that case we should talk to Harry.”

  “The White Rabbit with the vest?” Kai asked.

  He nodded. “White Rabbits keep a general black hole alert list. Maybe he can look back in the logs and tell us all the dates of black holes in the last month.”

  “But black holes can connect to any alternate dimension,” Javier said. “Not just Dreamland.”

  “Yes, but full moons are the only time black holes to Dreamland open.” Jason was on a roll. “If we cross-reference black hole information with data about moon cycles in other worlds, we may actually narrow our search parameters. Then maybe sending out search parties to investigate further could become a viable option.”

  “Let’s talk to Sandman too,” I chimed in. “He knows Dreamland inside and out and was our main source of info before going there, maybe he can help us again.”

  “I tried calling him already, Daniel,” SJ said. “I do not believe the man has a Mark Two. He never answered.”

  “How can he not have a Mark Two?” Gordon said.

  Girtha snorted. “I am sure plenty of people don’t. The devices only came out in the spring, and that was in Book. Maybe magic tech doesn’t spread as fast in other realms.”

  “Focus, guys,” Javier said, snapping his fingers.

  Thank you, Javier.

  “We go in person then,” I declared. “Some of us stay here and research full moons and potions, others go on a quest to find Sandman.” I activated the holographic map on my Hole Tracker and scrolled through the time settings. “Look. A wormhole connecting to the Portalscape is opening at eight tomorrow morning two kingdoms over. We take that, then go to Wonderland and find Sandman.”

  The doors to the restricted section creaked open. I turned off my Hole Tracker as Pietro walked in, looking stern as ever. He’d just come from Midveil where he’d had to lie to his parents again about why Knight wasn’t home. He’d told them it was another mission where Mark Twos wouldn’t work, but that had also been the excuse when she didn’t come home during the last full moon. They had to be getting suspicious. Sooner or later Pietro would have to tell them what happened to their daughter. I guess he was afraid to. I didn’t blame him.

  “Well?” Pietro said. Disappointment and resentment radiated from him. Since last night he’d barely spoken to those of us who’d been with Knight in Dreamland. He notably blamed her present situation on us leaving her. I didn’t appreciate the hostility, but I understood that also. Feeling angry was a lot easier than feeling sad. Plus . . . I blamed us too.

  “We have some ideas on what to research, and some of us are going to catch a Portlascape Portal tomorrow to find Sandman and get more information,” I replied carefully.

  He glared at me. “I don’t think so. Based on the outcome of your most recent otherworld quest, you all should stay here. I’ll go talk to this Sandman guy.”

  I frowned. “You haven’t met Sandman. And you don’t have the experience traveling to other realms that we do.”

  “And yet that didn’t help you last time, did it?”

  My fists clenched. Jason cut in. “Pietro, you and I can go see Sandman. A two-man quest moves fast. You can take the lead, but I’ve been to Sandman’s house and it’s always wiser to go on a mission with someone who’s walked that path before.”

  After a moment, Pietro nodded. “Fine.”

  “Fine,” Jason said. “We leave at four in the morning.”

  “Can I make a suggestion?” Javier said abruptly. “I know we came to a decision about Crisa’s dream journal weeks ago, but I think we should amend that. There’s a chance it could have information that will help us find her.”

  We all exchanged a look. He wasn’t wrong.

  “But what of her privacy?” Marie asked.

  “What if only one person reads it,” Jason said. He pivoted toward Pietro. “Her brother. You guys are family. You read it. If there’s information we can work with, great. If not, don’t share anything you read with us and I’ll go back to holding onto it until she returns.”

  A moment passed before we all more or less gave our approval for the idea.

  “So then,” SJ declared, “Jason, you fetch Crisa’s journal for Piet
ro, I will go try to call Harry, and as for everyone else—”

  “Either they’re doing full moon research or potions research for you, SJ,” I interrupted. “We can work out shifts for continuing Mauvrey’s music lessons and her fight training intermixed with that.” I shot a thumb at the princess, who looked up from her text.

  “Blue, what time tomorrow do you—” I couldn’t find her in the faces before me. “Where’s Blue?”

  “About twenty minutes ago she was heading toward the Damsels section of your library,” Girtha replied. “She wanted to research cross-dimensional accounts of heroes rescuing princesses.”

  There were so many of us here I hadn’t even noticed.

  “That section is big. If she hasn’t come back for a while, she may be lost.” I turned to Jason. “You want to go find her?”

  “No, she doesn’t like it when people check up on her, least of all me. You should go.”

  “Fine. Be back in a few.” I left the restricted section and made my way through the darkened stacks of the main library. A few ghosts floated near the ceiling, reading quietly. They glowed a spectral periwinkle color. The lights deeper in the stacks were dimmed, creating long shadows that cast across the floor like monsters.

  I came around a corner to find Blue asleep in a giant beanbag chair. She looked peaceful, and I thought about leaving her alone until she suddenly bolted upright, gasping for breath and clutching her chest.

  “Hey, you okay?” I hurried over to her. Sweat beaded her forehead, and her eyes were wide and panicked.

  “I . . .” Blue shook her head. She took a deep breath. “Nothing. It’s just a bad dream. I’m . . .” She sighed. “I’m really worried about her, you know?”

  “I do,” I said.

  I really do.

  “Harry finally got back to me,” Chance reported, striding through the doors of the restricted section as he pocketed his Mark Two.

  It was dusk on our second night and several of us were gathered in Lord Channing’s library. Javier and Mauvrey had gone to our school’s music room in the basement to work on recovering Paige’s memories. Per our headmaster’s instructions, all our female guests were supposed to stay in the library, but what our headmaster didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

  SJ had spent all of her Sunday at Lady Agnue’s working in the potions lab on her tracking brews with Marie serving as her assistant. Jason and Pietro were on their Sandman quest. Time zone differences and portal appearances made the exact “when” of their return uncertain, but Jason had called me after lunch and said they were on their final approach to Sandman’s home. Hopefully we’d hear from them soon. Hopefully their quest would yield some good news. Pietro hadn’t found anything useful in Knight’s dream journal and we were in need of a solid lead.

  Kai, seated beside me, looked up from a potions book we’d been scanning together. Gordon and Divya came out of the stacks, responding to Chance’s voice. The latter of the two had several books in her arm.

  “What’s that?” Divya asked.

  Chance stood in the open doorway and held up a list. “Harry gave me the information on the times, dates, and locations of all the black holes that’ve appeared in the Wonderlands since we came out of ours last month.”

  “I have progress too.” Girtha lifted a piece of notebook paper above the towers of books stacked around her. “Our schools may want to instill the idea that the universe revolves around us, but I have unearthed the names of at least five other dimensions, not including Dreamland. It took all night, but if you read enough legends and lore, you can put stuff together.”

  Blue scoffed without looking up from the large green book she had in hand. “So you read a bunch of fairytales, came across some names of places you didn’t recognize, and wrote them down? Real impressive work, Girtha.” Blue casually added a sticky note to the page she was reading. “Knowing the names of other dimensions doesn’t help us if we don’t have any information about what they’re like. We can’t exactly search a whole world blindly for Crisa.”

  “We’ll start researching right now,” Chance said, giving Girtha a sympathetic look. “If Girtha was able to find references to these other dimensions, I’m sure we can find more information on them once we dig a little deeper. We can combine that with your info, Blue. You did an awesome job today putting together a calendar of moon cycles in all Wonderland realms . . .” He looked to her, but Blue just leaned back in her chair basically ignoring him. It wasn’t helpful to the situation, but I found it hilarious. I enjoyed seeing Chance uncomfortable.

  When I first got to Lord Channing’s I had a pretty low opinion of what an entitled prince who attended a fancy boarding school would be like. Chance had exceeded those expectations, and not in a good way. I recalled perfectly how much of a dillhead he’d been in general, and to me specifically—the common who showed up out of nowhere and didn’t deserve to be here. Maybe I didn’t, but I sure as heck didn’t have to take that condemnation from him and his golden bloodline.

  A lot of guys at school had forgiven Chance’s previous character since he’d adopted a new one last semester. I wasn’t so easily sold. And I wasn’t going to be convinced simply because his parents had been kind enough to let us stay with them.

  Respect had to be earned. Friendship was too precious a commodity to be handed out like a ration to a beggar. I knew—both because I’d gone so long without friends, and because being orphaned as a kid meant I’d had some early experience begging for food before I learned to take care of myself.

  Chance tried to mask how Blue’s comment deflated him and addressed the others. “So . . . yeah. Once we know the moon calendars of other dimensions too, we can cross-reference with Harry’s list and we’ll know all the antagonists’ options for when and where they could’ve exited Dreamland.”

  Divya set her books down and drifted over to Girtha. “What’s the first dimension on your list, Girtha?”

  “Pandemonium.”

  Kai perked up. “I noticed a book about three stacks back in the demon section that actually had the word Pandemonium on the spine. I didn’t realize it was another dimension. I will go investigate that.”

  “I’ll check out that section with you,” Divya said.

  “The Ghost Dimension doesn’t have full moons,” Gordon said, leaning over to scan Girtha’s list. “I talked with Mark about that dimension earlier. He also said living beings can’t be there for more than a couple of days at a time. We can cross it off the list.” He scanned Girtha’s work. “I’ll research . . . Ickblat Five instead. Chance?”

  The prince strode over to Girtha. “I’ll do the Jurassics. Daniel, why don’t you—”

  “Don’t give me orders,” I said bluntly. A tense moment passed then suddenly the heavy main library doors creaked open. Pietro’s booming voice floated back to us immediately after.

  “Mr. Brody?”

  “Prince Knight. It has been a while. You’ve aged.”

  “You too.”

  They’re back.

  Blue and I got up simultaneously. We all exited the restricted section to intersect with Jason and Pietro sooner. Eventually we ran into them.

  “How’d it go?” I asked earnestly. “What’d Sandman say?”

  “The trip was a total waste of time.” Pietro shook his head. “Sandman doesn’t have a way of tracking the black holes in Dreamland, and he couldn’t offer any other helpful advice either.”

  My stomach sank, but I ignored the feeling for now. “We still have some leads from our research,” I gestured for them to follow. “Come on. We’ll show you.”

  We arrived back in the restricted section just as the trapdoor opened. The hatch was pushed upward and SJ’s smiling face poked out. “Hello, all.” Her eyes went from Jason and Pietro to the rest of our sullen expressions and she frowned as she climbed out, followed by Marie, who shut the hatch behind her.

  “No luck with Sandman, I take it?” SJ said, coming over to Pietro.

  “No. I don’t know w
hat I’m going to tell my parents.” Pietro sighed miserably. “I was trying to put off the truth to protect them. They already lost Alex. Finding out Crisa is missing will break their hearts. But it looks like I am going to have to take the plunge and tell them.”

  “When you spoke to them yesterday you said Crisa would be back in a few days from other realm business, right?” Divya said. Pietro nodded.

  “Okay, stick with that,” Divya urged. “Give us that time to figure this out, and figure out where she is.”

  “You really think a few days is going to make a difference?” Pietro asked. He rubbed a hand over his face. “I know you guys are young, and therefore maybe not as cynical, but Crisa has been gone a while. I love her and want her back as much as anyone, if not more than anyone. But a lot of . . . bad things could’ve happened to her since Dreamland.”

  “No, she is fine,” I broke in, my fists clenching up. “She will be fine, anyway, and she’ll be back soon. I’m sure of it.”

  “Oh, you’re sure of it. That makes me feel so much better,” Pietro said condescendingly.

  Kai put her hand on my arm, but I would not be calmed. “You don’t know what we’ve been through together, Pietro. I’ve done way more than you to make sure she stays alive.”

  “And yet here we are with absolutely no—”

  “No fighting,” SJ ordered, eyes blazing.

  We paused in surprise. SJ hardly ever snapped at people; she was grace and goodwill personified. She released an annoyed breath and then leveled her tone. “We have enough conflict in our lives already, would you not agree? Pietro, I know you are worried about your sister. Daniel, I know she is your best friend. She is mine too. We are all stressed—goodness knows I have not gotten a good night of sleep in weeks. But if we want to get her back, we all need to focus, do our jobs, and rein in unhelpful emotional spurts. Understood?”

  We nodded, though anger still felt hot in my gut.

  “Good,” she said. “Now then, if we are through with needless bickering, I have some news. My original plans went up in smoke today. We cannot use a tracking potion to find Crisa. Not the ones I was testing in the lab, nor any others we may find in additional texts.”