"Simon R. Green - Nightside 1 - Drinking Midnight Wine" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Simon R)

were so dark and huge you felt you could fall into them and drown for ever. Her long bony hands,
the fingers heavily knuckled, were weighed down with rings of gold and silver set with unfamiliar
gems. She had an unconventionally pretty face, that of a woman who could have been anything from
her twenties to her forties. She always wore traditional Romany clothes, gypsy chic, complete with
necklaces and bangles. Quite a romantic figure, usually.
But today she looked... harsher. Brighter. More intense. Almost overpoweringly there, as though
she was the only thing, the only person that mattered in the whole place.
Toby tried to say something, but his mouth was suddenly dry. Up close, Carys actually looked
forbidding; like one of the Fates, the Norns of Scandinavian lore, the wise women who measure out
the threads of our lives and cut them off when they reach their end. But as Toby settled himself
opposite her, he realised suddenly that the restlessness, the pressure, the need that had driven
him from his bed and from his house, was gone. Finally he felt that he was where he was supposed
to be. Toby put his pint glass down on the table top with unnecessary force and looked hard at
Carys Galloway.
Even though he was quaking inside, because some part of him didn't want to hear what he knew she
was going to tell him.
'All right, Carys; what's gone on? Why is everything in the town so... different? The whole place
is like Bradford-on-Crack. And why is everybody looking at me? Am I paranoid, or did the whole
damned world change overnight while I was asleep?'
'No,' said Carys, her voice only a little amused. 'You aren't being paranoid.'
'Oh, shit,' said Toby, slumping in his seat. 'I could have coped with being paranoid. OK; hit me
with it, whatever it is.'
'You have become part of the magical world,' said Carys, her dark eyes holding his. 'You have left
Veritie and now you are in Mysterie, a place of marvels and wonders, banes and malignancies. You
are living in a much larger world now, Toby Dexter, by your own choice, and you must widen your
mind to accept it.'
'Is everyone here magical?' said Toby. 'Are you?'
'I'm more than magical. I'm older than the town. They call me the Waking Beauty, because I never
sleep. Ever.'


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'Ah. So... am I magical now?'
Carys looked at him hard. 'No.'
Toby nodded glumly. 'I thought not.'
'But you're not entirely real any more, either.' Carys frowned. 'You have a foot in both worlds.
You could stay human, by returning to Veritie, or you could stay here and become magical. You must
make your own choice. But beware; whatever choice you eventually make will have consequences: for
you, for everyone. For all the worlds that be. You have become important, you poor bastard! You
met someone yesterday, someone of great significance. Because of her, you are now aware of the
magical world, and it is becoming aware of you.'
'It was her,' said Toby. 'Gayle. I should never have followed her through that door.'
'But you did, and that changed everything. You must pursue Gayle, for your destiny and hers are
now irrevocably linked. She won't like that any more than you, but destiny's often funny that way.
Gayle lives close by. I will give you directions. What happens next is up to you.'
'I don't believe in destiny,' Toby said flatly.
'Tough. It believes in you.'
'OK,' said Toby. 'I'll go and talk to her. What's her other name?'