Sleepless: Chapter Twenty-Two

The Me-Shaped Thing [In the Glass]

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Margo awoke back in the room in the Citadel she’d only last night been told she could leave her things. It still had that strange air to it — lived in, but not for a very long time.

It was uncharacteristically dark, though that didn’t last.

Only half a minute after Margo had jolted up in the golden silk sheets, the door to her room flung open and light suddenly shone down from her skylight.

The Sunwalker burst in with the kind of urgency reserved for pushing people out of the way of cars and catching people before they fall off cliffs. All of Margo’s muscles tensed, ready for the Danger in any of its forms, but what Sunwalker said instead was, “You’re LATE.”

“…late?”

It was only now that she realized what the Sunwalker was wearing. It was a gown, like the dress she’d been given by Loddie before but bigger, and glittering gold. A pair of white gloves were being deathgripped in one hand, the other immediately beginning to swirl a spell. Her wings, massive and regal, had been draped with gold filigree and jewels that didn’t look incredibly functional but were quite pretty. Her circlet crowned her head, keeping up the glamour as it was intended to.

“Late— I’m late!!” Margo scrambled out of the bed, tangling her legs in the fabric and having to extricate herself from them. “I thought you said the ball was on the weekend!?”

Sunwalker helped her out of the blankets. She was still wearing the dress Loddie had given her from last time, which still smelled a bit like ice cream but didn’t seem to be sticky or stained. “It is the weekend.” She paused, quickly waving her hands. “It— time works differently out there versus in here. You’ve been out a few days and you are SO lucky I was able to cover for you, by the way.” She immediately began pushing Margo out of her room and down the hall, into the central chamber of the Citadel.