World Weaver (The Devany Miller Series Book 4) (3 page)

I smoothed on some skin cream, patting it on my chin and neck, too. I made it downstairs and had food heating on the stove when Liam walked in the door. He asked the same question every day and every day I had to let him down.

“Did you find her?”

I shook my head.

Some days he railed. Some days he went right up to his room. Some days he cried. Today he picked up our kitten weaving around his ankles and sat at the kitchen counter. “I got a problem.”

His tone was so despairing, I hurt for him. “What’s wrong?”

He yanked up the sleeve on the shirt he’d insisted on wearing this morning despite the projected high of eighty degrees. Delicately drawn black feathers decorated the underside of his arm. I leaned in, studying them. “Did you do these? They’re really good.”

“They’re really real.” He ran his finger over his skin, ruffling feathers in its wake. Cheeseweed batted at them with a small paw.

I stared, uncomprehending, as his skin shivered and the feathers shifted to lay flat against his skin once more. “When did this happen?”

“A few days ago. I dreamed I was flying. It was better than a lot of my flying dreams. I had control. I glided and swooped, and I never felt like I would fall. And then I woke up and my arm itched like hell. Heck.” He licked his lips, his fingers curling in on his palm as if his arm itched now. “What’s wrong with me?”

I shut my eyes. “Nothing.” He was changing. Like Krosh’s people. Like Krosh. “Do you want to take a trip to Midia?”

“Really? Do I get out of school?”

How would I explain the disappearance of another of my children? I’d reported Bethy missing to the police, even though they wouldn’t be able to find her since she wasn’t on Earth to find. They had to be wondering what kind of dark cloud was following me around, anyway. Tom’s death. The murder of my friend’s ex-husband. And of course, the abuser Tytan killed at my request, the one who died in a jail cell with my name on his lips. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure they excuse people when they break out in feathers.” I attempted a grin. “We can tell them you have chicken pox.”

Liam rolled his eyes and for a moment, things were almost normal.

Then I hooked us to the Dreaming Caves and the last of normal fell away in shattered pieces to the ground.

***

The Caves were quiet. Liam’s hand tightened around mine for a brief second and then he let go, unwilling, I supposed, to be an almost-teenager holding his mother’s hand. “Come on, we’ll find Kroshtuka. He’ll know how to help you.”

“What’s wrong with me? I mean, what’s happening?”

I had no idea how to explain it so I took the chicken’s way out. “I’ll let him talk with you about it. He’s a smart guy.” I paused. “Do you feel funny?”

“Mom. I’m growing feathers.”

“I mean besides that. Lightheaded? Full?” I didn’t know if he would be affected by the hook sickness like he had when the Theleoni kidnapped him and his sister. Then, they’d almost died. I didn’t want it to happen again.

“You mean like last time? No, I don’t think so.” He rubbed his arms in remembered pain.

“Well, the second you feel weird. Weirder. Tell me.”

He nodded.

The stairs leading down from the Dream Caves were hewn from the rock in some places and supplemented with wooden steps in others. The first time I’d ascended them with Kroshtuka, his male insistence I would end up in bed with him had spurred my competitive nature. That he’d been right still kind of annoyed me. I mean, I was glad he was right, but some stubborn part of me wished I’d proven him wrong.

He is good mate. No weakness to take him as yours.

‘Oh, now you have something to say,’ I thought at her. Neutria had been strangely silent in the hunt for my daughter. I didn’t know if she sensed my agitation and didn’t want to get in my way or if she didn’t give a shit. She’d been different since our encounter with the rainbow-colored spiders from the Basin. She’d stepped up, then, and took over my body without my permission. It had been freaking scary, and I hadn’t liked it one bit.

She was sitting in the back of my mind, waiting. For what, I didn’t know, and that made me nervous.

Odd Silver was bustling, and I waved at people I recognized. Liam moved closer and closer at the stares he received. None of them had met my kids. Hell, most of them didn’t even realize I had kids. “They throw the best parties,” I told Liam as I used my magic to see where Kroshtuka was. His orange thread of energy led us to the men’s bathhouse. “We’ll wait for him here.”

Liam peeked in the door and said, “It looks so primitive.”

In Odd Silver, they made their homes of wood and grasses, all circular in shape, with thatched roofs. The bathhouses looked similar to the pictures of Iroquois longhouses I’d seen in my high school textbooks. The pathways were packed dirt, lined with rocks and the whole place butted up against the tall ridge that ran along the southern edge of the town. There were stairways and doors cut into the rock though I’d never been inside any except for the door leading to the Dream Caves. What else did the ridge hold? I made a mental note to ask Kroshtuka later. “On the surface, I suppose it does. But don’t forget, their whole planet runs on magic. They could live in a tent and have more amenities than we do in our house. Cold food storage. Heat. Security. Light. It all comes from the magic of the place. No electrical bills. No heating bills.”

“No TV.”

“They have TV. In the witch homes, they do. I’m guessing you’ll find a lot of fun things here that don’t revolve around canned laughter and bad puns.” I reached out to give him a noogie, but he dodged my attempt and stood back, looking smug.

Kroshtuka finally came out after a few more minutes of waiting, hair wet, eyes smiling when he saw me. “Have you found her?”

I shook my head.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t heard any news either, except that the witches are rebuilding barrier poles and lighting them up.” He pulled me in for a hug, pausing when I put a hand on his chest to forestall any kisses.

“I brought Liam,” I said. “I don’t think he has hook sickness, but can we get him some domar berries just in case?” Had Bethany gotten hook sick? Would Arsinua give her the berries or would she let her suffer? Surely not. Arsinua hated the Theleoni and they’d been the ones to let humans sicken and die from the transition between Earth and Midia. Did that mean she was living in a permanent hook or near one to keep Bethy from dying?

‘Damn you, Arsinua,’ I snarled in my head.

Krosh kissed me on the forehead to catch my attention. “I wondered when you would come.”

“Well, he showed me … wait a minute. What do you mean?”

He held out his hand to Liam and my son hesitated before pulling his sleeve up to expose the feathers. “It’s my job to know when our children are heading for the change. I sensed it in him when we met, but there were many other things going on.” He studied Liam’s arm for a long moment. “He’s close to Becoming.”

“Which means what?” I didn’t ask him why he hadn’t told me. I was kind of glad, to be honest. That on top of all the shit that went down might have broken me.

“Which means we need to take him to sweat and introduce him to our people.”

Thoughts played out over Liam’s face. I asked, “So he’ll do that and then what?” Other Wydlings went months without speaking, their every waking moment revolving around their transition.

“Then I can teach him who he is and how to control his power.”

“Does that mean no more school?” Liam asked, not quite grinning, but close. “I mean, if Bethy is learning magic and not having to go to school, I should get to learn magic and skip school too.”

“We have school here. It will probably be a much different experience for you,” Krosh continued when Liam’s face fell, “but I think you will enjoy it.”

“He can’t stay. He has to finish school on Earth. There’s no way the police will leave me alone if both my kids go missing.”

Krosh took my hand. “You need to stay, too. Anchoring always works best when family is involved.”

“I can’t stay. I need to find my daughter.”

“Mom. Wouldn’t it be easier to look for her from Midia? I mean, you won’t need to go back and forth. Stay here, check in on me. Help me, I don’t know, become a bird or whatever.” He stopped. “I won’t stay a bird forever, will I? Oh! Will I get wings? Will I get to fly?” He flapped his arms, grinning like a crazy person.

“My job. The house. Your grandparents.” I was sputtering out words by this point. He was right. It would be easier to find Bethy from Odd Silver. But. “Travis,” I added, distracted by Liam’s squawking. “Dude, seriously.” He paused, mid-flap, looking sheepish and I felt terrible for stomping on his fun. His sister’s disappearance had been hard on him, too. I had to remember that. “Sorry, kid. I was getting the Mom-crazies.”

Krosh held out his hand to me. “Come. I’ll take you to the women’s bathhouse. You can get cleaned up, relax, and then I’ll take Liam to meet some of the others who are Becoming.”

I didn’t want to let Liam out of my sight. I didn’t want to relax. It felt like a betrayal of Bethany, not searching for her every minute. “Don’t fly without me, okay?” I said to Liam. “I get to watch your first flight.” I held out my fist and he bumped in and we both said, “Baddle laddle laddle la,” after a line in one of our favorite movies.

“No flying without you,” he promised.

THREE

I sank into the water with a sigh, the warmth, the heat of the bathhouse relaxing me despite my guilt. The smell of sage and pine wafted over me, encouraging me to drift away in my head. I dropped into my imaginary control room I’d created to better manage my magic.

The melted, black damage of my misuse of magic was gone. The Rider’s taint was gone, too. Metal gleamed, not sterile or cold, but living. Breathing. The control room ran on my imagination, on answering my needs. I pictured Bethy in my head, pictured finding her despite the blocks Arsinua had put up. I let my eyes wander over the buttons and dials, levers and push/pulls, waiting for something to light up or start wiggling.

Nothing.

I sighed, plopping into a chair that belonged in a jet fighter. “Bethy,” I said out loud. “I need to find my daughter.” A screen in front of me flickered and then lit up. I sat forward, breath arrested. “Bethy?”

‘Mom?’

I gripped the screen with both hands. “Honey. Sweetheart. I’m here. Where are you?”

The picture banked wildly and then the sleeping form of Arsinua swam into view. What the hell?

‘I’m not sure where I am.’

The screen blinked. What? No, it wasn’t the screen at all, but Bethy’s eyelids. I was in my daughter’s head. “Describe the house to me. What the room looks like. How you got there.”

The view canted and swooped as Bethy walked to the window. Outside there was green grass, fencing, and the shimmer of a protection bubble in the distance. Midia. Bethy said,
‘I don’t remember how we got here. Arsinua said we had to leave, that it was dangerous. I went with her because Liam was acting really funny and oh god, Mom, I hurt Grandpa.’

I felt her pain; it shimmered through my body like trembling leaves. “It’s okay. He’s okay. Bethany, Liam is okay too.” Fear made me curl toward the screen. “Is Arsinua being nice to you?”

‘Of course she is,’
she said in the tone of voice that hinted I was dumb.

“Have you been feeling sick? Like the time you were kidnapped?”

‘
No. I’m fine. Seriously, Mom. I’m not sick. I swear.’

Relief flooded me like a drug. She was okay. “I’ve been trying to find you. Arsinua didn’t have permission to take you anywhere.”

Bethy turned her head. Arsinua slept in a chair by the door.
‘She said you would hurt me if we stayed. That you wouldn’t mean to, like I didn’t mean to hurt Grandpa, but you would.
’

Count to ten, Devany, I told myself. I didn’t want to yell—it wasn’t Bethy’s fault Arsinua was an ass. “I love you. I would never hurt you.”

A small voice.
‘I know.’

I wanted so badly to hug her. Instead, I debated what I should tell her. “Bethany, listen. Tell Arsinua that the Anforsa is looking for her. That she wants to find you to get to me. Tell her the Anforsa has hooked herself up to the Omphalos and has gone crazy. Can you remember all that?”

The room bobbed as she nodded. ‘
Yeah. I think so. We’re hiding from that lady too, I think.’

“Bethany? Who are you talking to?”

Bethy looked over at Arsinua. I wanted to punch the backstabbing, two-faced witch in her sanctimonious gob.

My daughter rolled her eyes. ‘
I was talking to Mom.
’

“Don’t forget to tell her, Bethy. Please.”

Fear bloomed on Arsinua’s face and then the screen went dark.

I punched the control panel and cursed when it hurt. “Bethy!” No answer. Arsinua had cut me off, damn her. At least Bethany was okay. She was okay.