She felt like she was being watched.
Like, really,seriouslywatched.
As if countless eyes were watching from the shadows of its fragmented architecture.
Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. “Do you feel that?” she asked as they crossed what appeared to be half of a Victorian-era iron bridge, its other end disappearing into thin air.
“Feel what?” Bitty landed beside her, wings folding against her back.
“Like we’re not alone.”
The little fae nodded, her expression grim. “The Forgotten watch everything. Best not to look back at them.”
“The Forgotten?” Oh, forfuck’s sake.“You mean there are things in this city?” She glared down at the little fae. “Things you may have neglected to tell me about?”
“Well—um—it—didn’t seem worth scaring you, since—since there’s nothing we could have done about it, and well?—”
“Bitty.” Ava wanted to scream. “What are the Forgotten?”
“Well…um…some things here could choose to remember what they once were.” Bitty’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Those are the dangerous ones. They don’twantto remember again. They don’t want to—to be taken back. To leave the Web. They’re the—the only ones whocan,but they choose to stay.”
A chill ran down Ava’s spine. She thought of Serrik’s parting words.Not all forgotten things wish to be remembered.
What was more dangerous than something that wanted to leave a torture-prison?
Probably something that desperately wanted to make sure it never, ever did.
They continued through an archway formed entirely of leather-bound volumes, their titles worn away by time. Beyond it lay what might have once been a garden, though now the plants were things Ava couldn’t identify—strange crystalline structures that looked like flowers but chimed softly when the wind touched them, trees with pages instead of leaves that rustled with whispered words.
“This place isnuts,” Ava murmured, ducking as a book flew overhead—not thrown, but flying under its own power, its cover flapping like wings. Acid trip. The place was definitely a complete acid trip.
“That’s one of them—the Forgotten. And that book isn’t from your world, it came here like that. We get things from all the worlds touched by the fae.”
Ava paused at that. “Do you know how many there are?”
Bitty’s metallic hair caught the strange light as she shook her head. “More than any fae has ever counted. The fae—the ones with magic—move between them, taking what pleases them, leaving what doesn’t.”
Another tick in thekill them allcolumn.
They came to a building that resembled a medieval monastery, though its cloister surrounded not a garden but a pool of what looked like liquid silver. Books floated on the surface, their pages somehow remaining dry.
They continued on, passing through landscapes that grew increasingly bizarre. A street where all the buildings were constructed entirely of clocks, their hands moving at different speeds, some backward. A plaza where floating shelves held thousands of identical books. A garden of statues that seemed to change position when Ava blinked.
Nope. She’d seen that episode. She wantednothing to do with that.
“Ever seenThe Yellow Submarine,Bitty?” Ava chuckled. “I mean, you obviously haven’t. You probably haven’t seen a movie. But. Someday. Somehow. We’re going to watchThe Yellow Submarine.And all this shit is going to make sense.” But now she had the song stuck in her head.
“I look forward to it.” Bitty seemed to mean that, even though she clearly had no idea what any of that meant.
Throughout their exploration, the feeling of being watched intensified. More than once, Ava turned quickly, certain she’d catch something following them—but there was never anything there. Just more books, more fragments of forgotten architecture, more shadows that seemed deeper than they should be.
“How big is this place?” She probably should have asked thatbeforethey started walking for what felt like hours.
Bitty, who had been hovering near a particularly tall stack of ancient-looking scrolls, shrugged. “No one knows. Maybe infinite.”
“Awesome. Great. Perfect.”
“I’m sorry.” The tiny fae sounded genuinely apologetic. “I don’t think anyone’s ever mapped it successfully. It changes too much.”
