Weavers (The Frost Chronicles) (5 page)

“Lia Weaver,” I said grudgingly.

“Lia. I am impressed—not only by your determination to defend yourself using that shovel, but by the fact that you’ve taken on your parents’ responsibilities here.”

“I—”

“I am sorry to be abrupt, but if your parents are gone, then there is another person here who I must see,” he interrupted. “It is very urgent. I believe he goes by the name Brewer now...”

“Adam,” I said.
Of course
.

Atticus paused. “You know him? Can you contact him for me?”

I was already racing ahead in my thoughts. How much should I say, how much should I conceal? Could I trust this man?

“Yes,” I answered. “But it’s complicated.”

“Complicated?” Atticus’s tone sharpened. “How so, girl?”

“The Farthers—your Aeralian soldiers, I mean—guard the village day and night. They’ve erected caged walkways to keep out the Frost monsters, and they carry guns. It is difficult to contact anyone without arousing suspicions...and I have no reason to go back to the village today. It will be dark soon...”

I could always put out the lantern to signal him, but I wanted to test this man first, discover the extent of his resolve.

“And your ‘Watchers’ come out at night, yes?”

“You’ve heard of them?”

He laughed, and the mirthless sound wheezed from his throat like a cough. “My dear, I am a Thorns operative. I know things. Besides, who hasn’t heard of the mysterious creatures that roam your forests? In Aeralis, they tell whispered tales of the beasts with the glowing red eyes and the long, sharp claws. Little children safe in their Aeralian beds have nightmares about your Watchers.”

Gabe never told me this. No wonder the Farther soldiers had put up the Cages around the paths. But I didn’t have time to ponder this glimpse into the Farther mindset, not now. I crossed my arms across my chest and looked Atticus in the eye. “Then you know how dangerous the Frost can be. And yet you are here.”

He tapped the ashes of his pipe against the flagstones. “My business is my own.” He lifted his head and looked past me at the slivers of light coming through the cracks around the barn door. His eyes, I noticed, were deep silver. They were odd-colored eyes for a Farther. “It grows late,” he said, impatient now. “How far to Adam Brewer’s house?”

I tugged open the barn door. The wind blasted against my cheeks, and I winced. Already the sun had begun to slip toward the horizon. The fading sunlight seeped across the snow like melted butter, turning everything golden and strange. I tasted the wind and smelled the sharp scent of pine, the ever-present reminder of the forest that surrounded us. “Miles,” I said.

“Do you know the way?”

I stepped back, facing him again. He seemed determined to see Adam, determined enough to brave the dangers. I would put out the lantern, then—

Footsteps crunched in the snow outside. Atticus flattened himself against the wall, his silver eyes darting to mine. I saw the question in them—was it soldiers? I shook my head in an indication that he should stay silent.

A voice rang out. “Lia?”

Ivy
.

Taking a deep breath, I relaxed my eyebrows and mouth into a blank expression and stepped outside. I pulled the door shut behind me and leaned against it. Splinters dug into my back. My fingers tingled with sparks of nervous fear. “Ivy,” I said.

She held a bucket of scraps in both arms, slop for the chickens. Her gaze shot to my face, and her expression turned suspicious.

“Lia, where have you been?” Despite her defiance, fear simmered beneath the edge of her tone.

“Just finishing up the chores,” I said, my words crisp, precise. “I’ll feed the chickens, too. Is the table set for dinner?”

“No,” she said. “I was helping Jonn put away his papers. He needed to lie down. He was getting the tremors.”

My heart squeezed with worry. Jonn’s seizures were violent and unpredictable. They came and went without warning, and often they were preceded by drowsiness. I wanted to run straight in to check on him, but there was a Farther in my barn, and I had to take care of that first.

“Go back to the house. Tell…tell
her
to put out the plates and the food.” I didn’t want to speak Everiss’s name in front of this man, in case he was some sort of spy. The impulse was silly, though, because he already knew who and what I was. If he worked for Korr, then I was already as good as dead.

I reached out and tugged the bucket from her hands. She let go of it, and the rim bumped against my shin through the fabric of my skirt as the bucket swung between us. She turned around, and I held in a sigh as I watched her head back to the house.

As soon as my sister disappeared through the door, I turned around and returned to the barn. Atticus was waiting, one shoulder pressed against the wall. He’d put away his pipe, and he faced me with his hands in his pockets. “Little sister?”

“Never mind her,” I said firmly. “I want to keep my family out of this.”

He lifted an eyebrow at my tone, but didn’t comment further.

I set down the bucket and brushed the hair from my eyes. “You can stay here in the barn tonight. I’ll put out a signal—if we’re lucky, he’ll see it and stop. If not...I’ll figure something out.”

“And the monsters?”

I pulled off the snow blossoms that hung from my neck and tossed them at his feet. “Keep quiet and wear these. You’ll be fine. There are horse blankets in the back, and you can bed down in the hay. I’ll bring you something to eat later.”

“Thank you.”

A wry smile twisted my lips, followed by a surge of pain. This all felt so familiar, and yet so different. Another day, another Farther in my barn.

Atticus observed my sudden sadness, and I could tell he was making mental note of it. His scrutiny reminded me of Adam, and it was unnerving. Turning my head to hide my expression, I retrieved the bucket of scraps and carried it to the chicken pen.

“I’ll be back later,” I said. “Stay quiet. If anyone comes, hide.”

My gaze strayed to the false door in the floor, then snapped away before he saw me looking. I wasn’t ready to trust this man with my parents’ secrets. Not yet.

~

I hung out the lantern just as night began to fall, and the flickering light from the candle spilled bits of shivery gold across the snow. I stared a moment at the wall of gathering black that was the Frost as I thought about the stranger in our barn, with his cool smile and watchful eyes.

After a moment, I turned back for the house.

The evening progressed quietly. Everiss and Ivy worked on quota by the fire. I took stock of the grain and other foodstuffs we had left for the week. Jonn poured over our da’s journals. He scrubbed both hands through his hair and sighed in quiet frustration as he worked. Everiss kept stealing glances at him, but she didn’t speak.

I paced to the windows to gaze at the lantern glowing in the dark. Every time I checked it, my heart skipped a beat as I thought of the beasts that prowled the night. But no Watchers stirred in the darkness. The hours ticked by, and finally sleep tugged too hard at my eyelids to be ignored, so I tumbled into bed and fell into a fitful sleep. Ivy’s soft snoring punctuated the silence along with the moaning of the wind, and I tossed and turned as I drifted in and out of dreams of Thorns symbols, brooches, and glowing Watcher eyes. Finally, when dawn began to stain the edges of the window curtains, I rose and put on my dress. I couldn’t sleep any longer. I needed to check on the fugitive, ask him more questions. I didn’t know why Adam hadn’t come, but I’d have to handle this alone for now. I pulled on my cloak and stepped outside. The lantern had burned out.

I promptly ran into Adam.

“You came,” I breathed. “Did you see the lantern? I waited almost all night.”

“I was on a mission,” he said. “I didn’t see it—I was just checking in on you. What do you need?”

He studied me with his dark eyes, waiting for me to explain. I took a deep breath. “There’s a man,” I said. “In the barn.”

“Another fugitive?” He looked across the yard. The wind stirred the ends of his hair and made them dance. His brow furrowed.

“Not exactly. He had a brooch. He said...he said he was a Thorns operative.”

Adam swung around to regard me with surprise. “Did he give a name?”

“Atticus.”

Adam blinked. The planes of his face hardened. “Stay here,” he ordered, and then he turned and strode for the barn without another word.

“Adam!”

He didn’t turn to acknowledge me, so I ran after him. The yard was white and white and white, and then grayness enveloped me, and I was passing through the yawning black of the barn’s open door and into the soft quiet of the barn. I heard Atticus stirring in the hay.

Adam put out a hand, stopping me.

“Lia...?” Atticus called quietly.

“No. Me.” Adam stepped forward.

Silence filled the room. I caught my breath. The shadows didn’t move. Behind us, the early morning light shone through the crack in the door, painting a streak of blue-white light across the floor.

“What are you doing, Atticus?” Adam spoke softly, angrily.

A match flared to life, and Atticus’s face was framed in flickering gold. Shadows carved a scowl on his mouth. “Adam. It’s about time you showed up.”

“What game are you playing?”

The match went out, plunging us into darkness again. I tugged open the door, but Adam’s hand stopped me. He didn’t want our voices to carry. Nodding, I fumbled for a lantern.

“Game?” Atticus laughed, low and disbelieving.

I found the lantern and lit it with a match from my pocket. Light filled the room. Atticus had risen to his feet, and he and Adam were facing each other. Adam stood taller, his shoulders taut and his head thrown back as he faced the other man. Atticus’s gaze cut to me and slid away.

Adam crossed his arms over his chest and tipped his head to the side. His voice dropped to a growl. “What are you doing here, Atticus?”

“Things are bad in Astralux. I had to get out before I was captured. Rumors are floating around...rumors of a leak among the operatives. The Aeralian dictator is getting desperate. He’s tightened security, increased the raids. The Trio—”

The Trio
?

Adam held up a hand to interrupt him. “Lia,” he said without turning to look at me. “You should get back to the house.”

“I think she should stay,” Atticus said.

I paused, one hand on the bar. My heart beat fast.

“And I think she should go,” Adam responded. “And I’m the leader here.”

I turned back to them. They faced each other, tension written into every line of their bodies. There was more at stake here than the surface issue of me, I could sense it.

“Ah,” Atticus said. He lifted a finger. “That’s where you are wrong.”

Adam stopped. He raised both eyebrows in annoyance. “Oh?”

“The Trio has appointed me in charge of the Frost operation.”

“What?”

“I’m relieving you of your position.” Atticus spoke the words with the delicate air of a man placing a knife against another man’s throat.

Adam stilled. He blinked twice, the only thing that betrayed his utter shock. His expression stayed smooth as he repeated, “You’re relieving me of my position.”

“Yes. I was given the orders yesterday. You’re not in charge here anymore.” Atticus reached into his pocket and produced the pipe. Unscrewing the handle with deft movements of his fingers, he pulled it apart and produced a rolled up slip of paper from a hollow space in the handle.

Adam snatched the paper from his hand and unfurled it. His forehead furrowed as he read the missive. He didn’t speak. He glanced at me, but less because he wanted my reaction and more because I was just a place to put his gaze, I think. He looked at the floor.

“We can talk about all this later,” Atticus said. “Right now I need to get to a more secure location. Adam?”

“Sir,” Adam said. His tone was clipped, respectful, frosty.

Atticus turned to me. “You will receive more orders soon. Until then, you’re doing good work here, Lia Weaver.”

“Thank you,” I said.

As I watched, they both exited the barn and vanished into the forest.

I FOUND ADAM’S note pinned to the barn door as I was heading inside to feed the cows.

Meet me at the Brewer farm this afternoon for training
.

The paper shivered in the wind like a tiny white bird. I crushed the note between my fingers and stared at the woods, thoughtful.

After I’d finished tending the animals, I pulled my hood up over my hair and went back to the house for my snow blossoms.

“I’m going out for a bit,” I told Jonn.

Everiss looked up from the yarn in her lap, but she didn’t speak.

“Where’s Ivy?” I asked.

“She’s in the forest,” Jonn said. “Looking for winterberries.”

I paused and looked pointedly at Everiss. “She’s been in the forest a lot lately, hasn’t she?”

Her cheeks flushed. “I haven’t the faintest idea where your sister is, Lia Weaver. Don’t act as though I do.”

“You knew where she was a few weeks ago when she was running around with the Blackcoats.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re forgetting that I’m no longer a Blackcoat.”

“And my sister? Is she still sneaking around like you taught her to do?”

“I don’t know anything about your sister, Lia.”

“I wish I could believe you—”

“Lia!” Jonn snapped. “Leave it alone.”

He’d pushed himself halfway up, one arm braced on the table and one arm gripping the back of his chair. His face had turned red with the effort, and his eyes blazed.

I went out, slamming the door behind me. The wind fanned my face and cooled my cheeks, and I exhaled shakily. My brother was on her side now instead of mine, despite the fact that she was toying with his emotions, despite the fact that we couldn’t trust her, despite the fact that we’d been best friends since birth. He’d chosen her over me against all reason and sense, and it rankled me deeply.

I headed into the forest and straight for the Brewers’ farm.