Page 46 of Office of the Lost

“You were always drawn to that Door, even before you could speak.I think the Chaos was calling to you.It’s why I sent you away to the Office.”She swirled the liquid around in the glass.

“Yousent me?”That’s not at all how he remembered it.He had departed after a horrible argument with his mother over the way Aspin treated him.His mother had wanted him to follow in Aspin’s hunting-booted footsteps, but Crispin had refused, had opted for a more orderly career.“I left?—”

“I pulled a few strings for them to take you.”She poured the final ingredient from its decanter into the potion, a deep blue liquid capped in white foam that reminded him of the sea.The mixture bubbled and foamed.

It was a blow to his ego.“You… made them take me?”It had been his proudest moment, his act of rebellion, walking away from his family and all their power, finally earning something on his own merits.

“Holy shit.I’m so sorry, Crispy.”Leo’s eyes conveyed comfort.

This strange human, this bit of Chaos embodied in a clumsy man from a sleepy Earth city, somehow understood him better than his own mother.

“You’re a horrible woman, Ms.Cladin,” Leo concluded.

“That’s Cerillia Ailedrin Moss’caladin.Seriously, Crispin, why do you allow it—himto address me that way?”Her arched eyebrow was sharp enough to cut cloth.

Crispin fought to restrain his runaway emotions.So what if her influence had helped him win the job of his dreams?She’d had nothing to do with his once-pristine perfecality score.She hadn’t gotten Leo halfway across the connected worlds safely.She had never even had to leave her protected little Estate.

His mother lifted the potion to look at the now-white mixture inside.She nodded, satisfied, and leaned in to blow on its surface.“Earth, fire, water, and air.”

The glass flashed with an intense silver-blue light, like lightning, and the liquid turned black as the darkest night.

“Here.Drink this, and all your troubles will be gone.”She handed it to Leo, who, mesmerized, put it to his lips.

Earth, fire, water, and air….“No!”Crispin leapt forward with an athletic prowess that would have done Aspin proud and knocked the glass out of Leo’s hand.It shattered against the wall, the dark liquid immediately eating a hole through the phony trees and exposing the stone behind them.The gap in his mother’s manufactured reality grew rapidly larger, as if consumed by a hungry beast.

“Elly, what have you done?”Aspin was frozen no more and stood staring at the transformation of the queen’s bower.

Crispin ignored him.What would that potion have done to Leo?“Do you trust me?”

Leo’s mouth hung open.“What in tarnation was that?”

Crispin had no idea where Tar Nation was, but that didn’t matter at the moment.“Nightsmaiden.It would have undone you, permanently.”

“Holy guns and roses.”

Crispin risked a glance over his shoulder.His mother was glowing with a golden light, her eyes closed, as she fought the spell her own actions had unleashed.He hoped she would get it under control—he really did—but she was dead to him now.

He took Leo by the shoulders and shook him.“Do.You.Trust.Me?”They had one place left to go, somewhere Cerillia Ailedrin Moss’caladin couldn’t—or wouldn’t—follow.And if he was right, they might find the answers they sought.

“Of course I trust you, you pointy-eared idiot.”Leo looked as though he wanted to say more, but there was no time.

“Then come on.”Crispin took Leo’s hand and dragged him toward the wall.

“Elly, don’t!You’ll kill us all, you stupid little goblin-get!”Aspin started toward him, but he was too late.

Crispin grabbed hold of the doorknob and flung open The Door to reveal a sea of writhing nothing.Caught up in the moment, he kissed Leo hard, eliciting a surprised yelp that Crispin hoped sounded at least a little pleased.“Come on, then!”

He dragged his human charge through the opening and into, at this point, a technicolor soup.The Door slammed shut behind them.

18

Leopold

Did all fae taste like honey and strawberries when they kissed you, or was that just a Crispy thing?Leopold hadn’t really noticed the flavor after the first kiss, but there had been Mothra pheromones involved at the time, so that probably interfered.This time, however, there had been no moths, and Crispin had tasted like the world’s most delicious dessert, and?—

“You saved me!”Leopold suddenly exclaimed, grabbing Crispin’s shoulders.“Oh my God, your mother was going tokillme and your brother is a colossal douchebag but you stopped them and yousavedme and your lips have the most amazing flavor!”

Crispin stared at him, eyes wide.“Leopold,” he whispered.

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