Page 65 of The Alien in the Archive

She nods, keeping her eyes on me.

And she doesn’t let me down. She comes again…again,again. She doesn’t stop until she starts to grow tired, and then the picture of her room fades…and we go into a full dream, with all the strange physics and timing and plots of that twilight realm.

And then I’m sleeping as well.

Better than I’ve slept in years.

But not as well as if she was by my side.

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Ican’t believe I actually convinced him to come…but he’s here.

Thorne is here, with me, in the Turitella.

He dragged his feet quite a bit—which was, frankly, expected—but I told him that we weren’t going to hang out tonight unless he agreed to come with me. So, after a couple hours talking…and maybeoccasionallykissing, in his hideout, we left the Obscuary and took the lift upward.

Out of the darkness.

Into the starlight.

The tower feels like a dream in the stillness of the night; a few researchers here and there, but no one who will notice Thorne, who I’ve lent one of Riley’s hoodies. The corridors are almost silent, save for the faint hum of holograms on the walls and the soft scratch of pen on paper, pages being flipped. I glance over at Thorne, his pale features illuminated every so often by the shifting light of the holographic ocean.

He’s silent—brooding as usual—but his posture is more relaxed than normal. Maybe he doesn’t regret coming along after all.

…or maybe our psychic fuckfest left him satiated too.

Either way, I smile and nudge him lightly with my elbow. “So…what do you think? More impressive than the Obscuary?”

He scoffs. “It’s…excessive.” A slight smirk tugs at his lips. “Holographic seas? Gold and marble? And the column of water…what exactly is the point?”

I laugh. “The Merati don’t really do functional. Everything’s a statement. This wing of the library is supposed to be a tribute to their oceans, their history.”

His gaze lingers on a projection of a coral reef, alien fish darting in and out of their own natural palace. “They’ve always been a bit uppity.”

I snort, shaking my head. “Come on,” I say. “There’s something I want to show you.”

He follows me, his steps echoing against the marble floors. As we turn a corner, the hallway opens up into the atrium, the ceiling casting ripple-like light across the floor. Thalara told me that the spiral staircase to the bell tower would be tucked away behind the help desk—open to the public, but reserved for those who knew where to look.

“This way,” I say.

Thorne takes my hand as I lead him through a gilded door, where a spiral mother-of-pearl staircase climbs up, up, up. We take it slowly, narrow windows giving us the occasional peek out at the sea or the sprawling library.

“This doesn’t feel like an easy spot to escape from, unless you’re planning on flying us both out,” Thorne mutters.

I roll my eyes. “We’re not going to have to escape, Thorne.”

“Spoken like a non-fugitive.”

“Calm down,” I press. “And…sure, if we need to escape, I’ll fly us both down. I’m sure that wouldn’t get us both killed.”

He doesn’t respond.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, I think, only to realize he heard it anyway.

He just glances at me from the corner of his eye, smirking.

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