Page 38 of Monsters of Midnight

We made our way back to the café, but it was as if more of Undirheim had become open to me. I didn’t know if it was because I had seen Ryder or if it was because of the waxing moon, but the café was suddenly larger with rows of books on shelves rising up into the sky.

“Did that just happen?” I asked.

Oren shook her head. “Everything is as it is. Your ability to see it expands and retracts, depending upon your own perspective.”

“Well, I suppose my perspective has just been expanded,” I murmured.

“Allow me to help expand is a little bit more,” Oren said. “All the books you see, those are true stories.”

“Really?” I asked, trying to recognize some of the titles on the sides of the books, but they were just empty spines.

“How do you know what story you’re grabbing?” I asked.

“You don’t,” Oren said. “Now that you can see the book, you might be able to read one of them.”

“Have you ever read one of them?” I asked.

“I’ve read a lot of them,” Oren said with a smile. “Valkyries live a long time. I’ve had a fair bit of time to spend in here.”

“Who is that?” I pointed at a middle-aged woman passing by.

“I don’t know,” Oren said.

“I liked her hair,” I said, noting her curly hair. “There was something about her that felt so familiar.”

“They’re probably just memories,” Oren said. “The thing is you won’t be able to remember clearly. From what I understand, you get a sense of déjà vu.”

“My best friend,” I murmured. “Laney.” Her name on my ears suddenly made her feel so concrete. As if I had seen her here, but when I looked again, the woman who had been passing by was gone.

I whirled on Oren. “Is Laney dead?”

Oren frowned. “It’s not like I have a Rolodex of all the dead people in my mind. I’d have to look into it for you, but it’s not typical two friends die like that. Typically, deaths in a small friend group happen years apart. Except for very unusual cases. It’s a huge shock for a small friend group to take. So, I can’t imagine Laney’s gone now.

“Oren, you make it sound like these things are preordained,” I frowned.

Oren shrugged. “I don’t make the rules.”

“You just follow them,” I grumbled, secretly wondering if I was making my own choices or just following the rules.

“I do know if you were getting images of Laney, then she’s thinking of you,” Oren said.

“Well, I should hope she’s thinking of me. I just died.” I retorted.

“No, I didn’t mean that simply,” Oren said. “When somebody dies there’s a typical vibration of more people thinking about that person but when it goes on, it’s more like there’s a reason you came up in their mind or a different reason, not just grief.”

“Is there any way to find out why she’s thinking about me?” I queried.

“Not if you want to stay out of trouble,” Oren took a sip of her drink.

I shook my head. “Well, if Thrain the demon lord is here, I definitely want to stay out of trouble. Being in trouble in his eyes is not something I would look forward to.”

“Then you might as well just forget anything happened on Earth,” Oren advised.

I stared down at my drink, taking a small sip of it and staring up at her. “What if I can’t? What if I have too much trouble forgetting my past?”

“Those are the guys who haunt the dreams of the living,” Oren said. “It means you will go onto the life of the fae, but in your dreams, you will travel to Earth and they will be haunted by you.”

“Haunted like in a bad way?” I asked her.

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