Page 155 of The Spider Queen

If this was my new normal, then insanity would surely find me. Just like Thane.

I worried about him. Had he slept at all?

Shoving thoughts of him aside, I peered through the skylight. White puffy clouds sailed lazily through the robin egg blue sky. I’d gone to bed with galaxies and stars.

“Is that real?” I wondered aloud. “Or a magical illusion?”

“No illusion.”

I yelped, startled by the sound of her voice. Cass sat on the end of the bed, holding a cup of coffee. Or what smelled like coffee.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to watch people sleep?” I demanded.

“You weren’t asleep, and I only just got here.” She cocked her head to the side, and I was instantly blasted with awareness that Cass wasn’t at all she appeared to be. Like her actions didn’t quite mesh with her human body.

“Apology?” She offered me the cup of coffee. I sat up and pressed my back against the pillows and gladly accepted her offering. I inhaled the pleasant aroma and looked into the swirling dark depths.

“Is this coffee?” I asked.

“Sure.” She smiled.

“Thane’s version of coffee?”

“You’ve seen the movieContactwith Jodie Foster, right?”

I blinked. “I have.”

She nodded. “You know how the aliens come to her in a form she recognizes to make it easier for her?”

“Hmmm. Yeah.”

“That’s kind of what’s happening here. You’re about to see a lot of things your brain will have a hard time processing.”

“What kind of things?” I demanded.

“Magical things. Things that defy the laws of physics and science. Things that defy all the logic you learned in the world you grew up in.” She pointed to the mug. “It will taste like coffee, exactly how you take it. But it won’t have the same effect on you as coffee.”

“Because it’s not coffee,” I said.

“Right. But also because you’re not reallyyou. You’ve been changed. So drink your not-coffee and don’t think too much about it.”

I sighed. “This would’ve been so much easier if I’d just been nuts.”

Chapter 8

After I sucked down the not-coffee and had a quick breakfast, which appeared on a tray without me having to summon it. I took a quick bath and then headed back into the bedroom. Cass was still there, perched on the bed, acting as though we were two girlfriends about to have a major gossip session.

“What is this,” I asked as I picked up the netting that stretched across the black coverlet.

“Clothes.”

I held a corner of it up to my face and peered through it to look at her. “I can see you. Which means you’ll be able to see my—”

She chuckled. “Put the net over your head. Trust me.”

Shrugging, I did as she said, too curious to say no. As soon as I put the net to my head, it swept down my body and morphed into a clinging, full-body suit in jet black. The towel had dropped down around me to pool at my feet.

“Oh wow,” I said, sliding a hand down my thigh. “That was pretty fucking cool. What is this?”