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

real world; it keeps me grounded. Still; don't you go thinking that what you and I have done is in
any way normal or ordinary. Usually the worlds are strictly separate, and people are discouraged
from travelling back and forth. Science and magic are never supposed to meet, or interact.' She
frowned, choosing her words carefully. 'Magic isn't illusion. Mysterie is the reality beyond the
reality you know, the world from which your world unfolds. Veritie, the real world, is the subtler
of the two realms.'
'So which came first?' said Toby. 'Veritie or Mysterie?'
'Which came first, you or your shadow?' said Gayle. 'They're just two aspects of the same thing.
Look, you're getting the Easy Readers version here. You're not ready to go wading too deep into
philosophical waters. People have been deliberating the nature of these and other realms for
countless centuries. There is no rule book, no instruction manual. We live in our own worlds, and
we learn by doing. I'm just trying to explain enough to keep you out of trouble. Mysterie is a
much more dangerous world than Veritie.'
She stopped, and looked at him silently with her dark, all-seeing eyes. Toby never once considered
looking away. Gayle sighed again.
'Toby, I couldn't help but notice the way you've been looking at me, and I have to tell you, it's
not going to happen. You mustn't fall in love with me. Trust me on this. There are reasons why
not. Good reasons.'
Toby just grinned. 'Too late: I'm yours. I fell in love with you the first time I saw you, and
that was months ago. You might as well ask a salmon not to swim upstream, or a butterfly to change
back into a caterpillar. It's a done thing.'
'I'm just trying to prevent you from getting hurt. You don't know what you're getting into.'
'I know all about being hurt,' said Toby. 'I've been hurt by experts, and I'm still here. Sorry;
that sounded self-pitying, and I do try not to be. What I meant was, I'm not afraid of wading into
deep, dark emotional waters.'
'You don't understand, Toby.' Gayle steepled her fingers under her chin, and looked at him almost
sadly. 'Do you remember all those old folk tales and songs, about mortal men falling for magical
women and coming to sad, horrible ends? Those songs were written about women like me as a warning,
to save men from themselves. I'm much older than I look, Toby, and there is more to me than you
could ever hope to understand. Mortal must not love immortal.'
'And vice versa?'
'You're determined not to listen, aren't you? Let me say this as plainly as I can, Toby Dexter.
You seem a nice enough sort, but I don't love you, I don't fancy you and I never will. We can't
even have enough in common to be friends. You should never have followed me through that door. But
now you're here, let's talk about why the Waking Beauty saw fit to send you to me. I take that
very seriously. Focal points can be dangerous to all concerned, if they're not properly directed.
In fact, that's the only reason I haven't kicked you out already. You and your damned roses and
your sweet, helpless smile. I have been here before, and it's never ended well. Will you please
stop smiling at me! I don't need a big clumsy puppy dog getting under my feet and cluttering up my
life!'
'So you're not going to throw me out?' said Toby, blithely ignoring everything he didn't want to
hear.
Gayle had to smile. 'You're a trier, aren't you? Forget that, and concentrate on what matters. The
Waking Beauty did say you were a focal point? You couldn't have been mistaken?'
'No. It's one of the few things I am sure about.'
'Damn. Focal points mean change. Often involving violent upheavals in the way the worlds run.
Whatever happens, you're not going to be popular, Toby.'
'Well, who decided I was going to be a focal point?' demanded Toby, just a little plaintively. 'No
one asked me. I didn't get to vote on it. Isn't there anywhere we can go to ask for a recount, or
something?'