WeavingDestinyebook (12 page)

"And what if I can't do those things?"

"You are the third Healer born and called. The first two failed the test."

"What happened to the other two?"

"One is dead. The other is in an insane asylum in Israel. Would you like to see?" She leaned in, spreading the lids of her right eye with her fingers.

"Um…no thanks. I think I get it."

"Oh, I'm not sure you do or possibly could. But then, that is the way it always is at the start. Do you choose to try, Malini, or would you prefer to return to your life as you once were?"

Malini thought about the question. While it was true she often wished her life would be normal again, she knew if she returned it wouldn't change the truth, only her ability to do anything about it. Whether becoming a Healer would be a blessing or a curse, she wasn't sure, but it was better than wondering what could have been, what she might have meant to the world if she would have succeeded. "I'll do it. I want to try, Fatima."

"Very well. To begin, you walk out through the veranda and take the path into the forest."

"Alone? You said you would give me guidance."

"You are wearing it."

Malini looked down at herself and realized her clothing had been transformed into a green sari, made of the same strange material as Fatima wore. It shimmered, lit from within like Fatima's eyes. The red stone was around her neck rather than dangling from her hand as it had been. It glowed like a Christmas bulb.

"I give you this as a gift, so that you remember you must go back to move forward."

Malini waited for Fatima to explain.

"I'm afraid I must get back to my weaving and it is time for you to move along. You have three days. The stone around your neck holds your life force. It will gradually lose its glow as you proceed."

Malini waited patiently for more information. When none came she spread her hands in disbelief. "That's it? That's all the help you are going to give me?"

"That, and a warning."

"Yes?" Malini stared expectantly at Fatima.

"What you are about to experience is both truth and illusion, the in-between world and the magic of the stone. Make no mistake. If you die on this journey, you die in real life and nothing can bring you back. Follow the path. Face the three challenges and return here before the stone turns black. Or don't, in which case I will say my goodbyes now. Goodbye, Malini."

And then her attention turned to her loom. Malini stood in stunned silence until it was clear that she was wasting precious time. The swooshing sound of the shuttle flying between the strands ushered Malini out onto the veranda and into her future.

Chapter 17

Down Under

Jacob sat up on the side of the bed and gulped down another glass of water. Then he started working at the tape around his IV.

"You can't do that," the nurse said, pressing his shoulders toward the mattress. "The doctor says you need to stay under observation until tomorrow."

"I'm fine. Listen, I'm feeling much better. I need to go."

The nurse shook her head and blocked him with her body.

Mara placed her hand on the nurse's shoulder. "Listen Nurse Ratched, isn't there some kind of form he can sign about leaving against medical advice or something."

"My name is Judy, thank you very much. If Jacob was an adult, yes, but as a minor he can't leave without the consent of his guardian."

"Then you better skedaddle and call his guardian. I think that would be a better plan than physically assaulting him in his bed."

"What?"

"That's what I saw. You were pushing him down against his will. Isn't that against the rules, Judy?"

Judy's face turned red and a scowl twisted her mouth. "I'll call your uncle," she said flatly and walked out of the room with more than a little stomp to her step.

"How did you know to say that?" Jacob asked.

"I'm a nursing aide, remember? The first thing they teach you is you can't touch anyone without their consent or the consent of the person responsible for them. She shouldn't have been shoving you like that and she knows it. She wouldn't have tried that with an adult."

Jacob's fingers worked faster against the tape. "Let's get out of here before she comes back."

"Here. Let me." In one motion, she ripped the tape out with the IV attached.

"Crap, Mara that hurt!"

"Sorry, here." She pressed a square of gauze the nurse had left on the windowsill onto the spot of blood that bubbled up and taped it into place.

"Better?"

"Yeah. Hand me my clothes."

Mara tossed him the bag that was hooked behind the door and politely excused herself into the tiny attached bathroom. Jacob pulled his clothes out of the bag and was pleasantly surprised they weren't covered in blood. Someone had replaced the ones he wore yesterday with a new set. When he was dressed, he knocked on the bathroom door and Mara came out.

"Thanks for the clothes. It would have been hard walking around town covered in dried blood."

"Don't thank me. Your Uncle John brought them after Dr. Silva suggested it."

"She can be very persuasive," he said, cracking a smile.

"I've noticed. Let's get out of here." She peeked out the door into the hall. "We've got an audience. We're going to have to do this the old reliable way."

"How's that?"

She held up her bell and reached for his hand.

To Jacob, one of the interesting things about Mara stopping time was the sound of the bell ringing. If he was holding her hand, he heard the tinkling chime, an innocent, soft sound that seemed utterly unimpressive. But the times when she had used her gift and he wasn't touching her, he didn't hear it at all. It made him wonder whether the bell stopped time or if the magic was in her intention to ring it. He thought about asking her if she knew how it worked but there was so much about his own powers that he didn't understand. He didn't want to put her on the spot.

They wove past patients and visitors frozen in various states of movement and then Mara led him into the parking lot.

"My truck!" Jacob said.

"Another thing to thank Dr. Silva for," Mara said.

They climbed into the cab and Mara rang the bell again. Time continued on. Ten minutes later they were parked and walking up the sidewalk to the Laudner's flower shop. A hand written sign on the door said,
Closed, Due to Family Emergency
.

"It's locked," Mara said. "Your Aunt and Uncle are at the hospital with Katrina."

"My turn to use old reliable," Jacob said. Unfortunately, his water flask hadn't been in the bag with his clothes. He jogged to the truck and pulled out the water bottle he always kept in his cup holder. Using his hand, he channeled the water into the keyhole, freezing it as it went and triggering the mechanism. With a turn of the ice key, the door opened. He and Mara slipped inside and Jacob locked the door behind them.

The corners of Mara's mouth pulled down as they entered. She reached into her jacket and thrust an orange flavored sucker that she found there into her cheek. "I can still feel it in here. Can you?"

Jacob
could
feel it. He couldn't smell it like Malini, but the air seemed thicker and all of the tiny hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stood on end. It was the kind of thing he might not have noticed before he was a Soulkeeper. "Yeah. I can tell."

"The door is in the work room. Come on."

"Wait. Can I ask you something?"

Mara nodded.

"What's with the suckers?"

"They help me focus and they're better than cigarettes."

Jacob couldn't argue with her logic. He followed her into the backroom but there was nothing to see. The room was as tidy as he'd ever seen it. Even more so, the usual dust that accumulated behind the row of plants on the counter had been cleaned up. He looked down at the carved emblem of a man riding a horse with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. The grooves and surrounding floor shined with the effort of a recent scrubbing.

"There's nothing here," Jacob said.

"It's an illusion. Here, Dr. Silva gave me this. Rub it on your eyes." Mara pulled a small pot, the size of a lip balm from her pocket. She gouged out a portion and rubbed it on her eyes. He took it from her and rubbed some on his own.

At first everything seemed blurry, like he was looking through wax, but slowly the room came into focus, a very different room than he'd been in a moment ago. It looked like a scene out of a horror movie. There was blood everywhere. Most of it was dry but in some places it was so thick that it still had a wet gleam to it. There were scuff marks on the table where the straps had bound his mother, and tell-tale scratches where the metal buckles had scraped the stainless steel as she struggled. The dust was back behind the row of plants.

But, he also saw what they were there for. The emblem, grooves filled with his blood, was slightly sunken. Hinges were visible on one side, as was a half-inch gap on the other.

"Dr. Silva didn't go down there?"

"We didn't have time. The police were on their way."

"You have all the time in the world. You own time. Why didn't you go down?"

"I offered. I wanted to, but Dr. Silva said no.
Your blood, your door
, remember? She was afraid that if anyone besides you went down there, it might be a trap. Especially for her. Who knows what your great-great grandfather had in store for a Watcher who spilled your blood."

Jacob shook his head. "How would my grandfather even know what a Watcher was?"

Mara's brow furrowed and she lowered her chin incredulously. "Jacob your great-great-grandfather was a Soulkeeper."

"No, I get it from my mother's side."

"Do you even go to science class? It's a recessive gene. A chromosome from your mother and a chromosome from your father must combine to create a Soulkeeper. Your mother is a Soulkeeper, so that meant you would receive at least one Soulkeeper gene from her but the second one had to come from your father and he inherited it from his father who inherited it from his father who had it because your great-great-grandfather was a Soulkeeper."

"Okay, I'm buying the genetics part but how do you know it was my great-great-grandfather? It could've been anyone in my father's family tree."

"I don't. But Dr. Silva does. She says she knew him when he was alive. It's how she knew you'd be coming someday. He left this for you Jacob."

He was about to argue when he remembered the conversation he'd had last year with Katrina. Their great-great-grandfather's last will and testament required the shop be left to a male Laudner heir. If he understood correctly, the man had gone to great lengths to ensure the Laudners couldn't deny the provision. The legal arrangements were airtight. It never made sense to Jacob why a man would do such a thing. But if his great-great-grandfather had somehow known that Jacob would come and that he would be a Soulkeeper, then it all made sense. If this was left for him, it was something important.

"I'm going in," Jacob said, moving toward the sunken spot on the floor. He pushed on the emblem and the marble panel swung inward, revealing a three-foot drop and a winding staircase.

"I'm coming with you," Mara said, stepping in close to his side.

"It's too dangerous. We have no idea what's down there."

"Better that I go first then. I don't have anyone waiting for me at home."

Jacob stopped, hit by the blatant honesty and sadness in her words. That was the thing about Mara, she had this hard sarcastic exterior like she could rip his head off both literally and figuratively. Then she would blast him with a piece of personal history that made him feel so sorry for her he'd do almost anything to make her feel better. "We go together," he said firmly. He reached up and took her hand, helping her drop into the passageway.

"We need a flashlight," Mara said. "No, wait, there's a lamp on the wall. We just need to light it."

"John keeps a lighter for the votive arrangements. Hold the door. I'll get it."

Jacob ran to the front of the store and grabbed the lighter from behind the cash register. He dropped into the hole after her, flicking the switch and lowering it to the dusty wick of the oil lamp. First one lamp came to life, then a line of them one after another. The lamp oil drew the flame down the passageway, igniting lamp after lamp until the flame turned the corner beyond what they could see. Jacob took a few steps downward and allowed the door to close above him.

He swallowed. "Only one way to find out what's down there."

"After you," Mara said.

They descended the spiral staircase, Jacob's hand running along the cold, stone wall. When they could see the landing at the bottom, a breeze blew up, causing the flames to flicker.

"This must lead outside. I was wondering why it wasn't stuffy in here after being closed up for so long."

They reached the landing and emerged in a vast cavern filled with the most beautiful white sand. About thirty feet away, hitched to a stalagmite, was an old fashioned wooden sailboat, the sail stowed away.

"Do you think there used to be water here?" Jacob asked.

"Seems like it. I doubt that sailboat was always wedged in the sand like that. Maybe in 1850, the water table was higher."    Mara squatted down and ran her fingers through the sand. "Wow. It's soft. I've never seen sand like this."

"There's nothing else here. Do you want to check out the sailboat? Maybe there's something inside?"

"Sure."

Climbing over the side of the boat, they soon discovered there wasn't much to see. Two wooden benches stretched across the hull on either side of the boom and behind the mast. There was no rudder and only one sail. Jacob tugged on the outhaul. The canvass sail rose slightly. A warm breeze blew through the cavern, stirring up the sand and tousling Jacob's hair.

"What are you doing?" Mara shifted uncomfortably on the wooden bench.

"I'm going to raise the sail," Jacob said. He yanked the outhaul more purposefully. Halfway up, the breeze in the cavern had grown to a solid wind worthy of a thunderstorm.