Long Night Moon (The Bradbury Institute Book 2) Read Free Page A

membership
decimated by the Inquisition or Nazis I guess you get really freaking careful.”
He finished the last of his coffee, setting the cup on the table. “But we’re
not here to talk about the Board.”
    Eve folder her arms across her
chest. “Which means I’m not allowed to know anything about them?”
    “It’s not that. Those details
aren’t really important to your work here, not right now. Judith is the one who
has to deal with them,” he said, speaking of Bradbury’s director. “Aren’t you
going to ask about Sideways?” A hint of a smile tugged at his mouth.
    Above and Below had been pretty
self-explanatory but she had no idea what Sideways could mean. “Okay, tell me
about Sideways.”
    Chet stood and strode to one of the
shelves. He searched the books, fingers running over the spines. “It’s known by
a few different names. Tir Na Nog. Faery. Never-Never. It’s the closest of the
Otherworlds, the one most likely to bleed into our reality. Sometimes it can
seem like the two fold into each other. I think that’s why someone decided to
call it Sideways.” He found the book he was looking for and returned to the
table. “This will tell you about it. It doesn’t strictly follow the mythology
we’re used to.”
    The cover read Crossing the
Bridge Between This World and the Otherworld by Captain George Francis
Irvine . The name tripped Eve’s memory. “GFI? That’s the initials on the
broken compass I worked with when I first got here. Did it belong to him?”
    Chet grinned. “The compass isn’t
broken, just altered. Magically, of course. It points to Sideways. Captain
Irvine left it here years ago.”
    Eve flipped through the book. “He
was an explorer?”
    “He wound up in Sideways by
accident. Sometimes people fall in by accident, down the rabbit hole, you know.
But he took to it. He’s very much like those great old explorers from history.
If he hadn’t fallen into Sideways his name would probably be in the history
books alongside theirs. But he’d also be dead, so there is that.”
    The book was dated in the eighteen
hundreds. “ He’s still alive ?”
    “Time doesn’t work the same way in
Sideways as it does here. He’s aged but nothing like he would have if he only
stayed on this side. Every now and then he visits and that’s one reason why I
had to tell you about the gates.”
    She waited for him to elaborate.
    “Pete mentioned Midwinter to you?”
She nodded. Chet said, “Captain Irvine will be coming for a visit during the
holiday. Which means the Sideways gate will be opening. That’s always, uh,
tricky.”
    “Is it dangerous?”
    Chet tapped the book. “Read this
and decide for yourself. The Sidhe are mercurial. Their moods are like shifting
sand. One moment you’re safe with them, the next you’ll be counting yourself
lucky if you get away with all your body parts intact. Not that we’re expecting
any of them to cross over with Irvine but it’s best to be prepared.”
    He picked up his empty cup and
stood. “Start with that book. If you want to know more you’re welcome to read
anything down here. Just don’t take anything outside the grounds and try to be
careful, none of this stuff has been digitized yet.”
    Eve followed him back up the
stairs. “Pete doesn’t want me to stay. Does he think it’s dangerous or is he
just afraid I’ll do something stupid?”
    Chet stopped, blowing out a
frustrated breath. “Pete doesn’t like Sideways, I don’t know why. He’s not big
on sharing details. Sanngrid’s not a fan either.” Judith’s assistant, who was
more like a bodyguard than a secretary, was the person at Bradbury closest to
Pete other than Chet. Eve wasn’t surprised to hear they shared the same
attitude about something like this. Chet said, “I don’t want you to assume the
worst about the Sidhe. They’re different, very much so. You have to take them
as they are. It’s always wise to be cautious but the same could be said for
dealing with