World Weaver (The Devany Miller Series Book 4) (38 page)

Feedback blasted through the speakers and I pressed my imaginary hands against my imaginary ears. The sound drilled into me like nails on a chalkboard. Faintly, almost too soft to hear, I heard, ‘
Devany?’

‘Mal? Is that you?’

There was a long silence; so long, I wasn’t sure he’d answer me. Finally, I heard him say,
‘The bridges are down.’

Uh, okay. ‘What bridges?’ A blat of sound made me wince, then everything fell silent. ‘Mal?’

Nothing. Damn it. I turned on my healing machine, and fed energy into him, hoping that whatever he needed to do would be helped by the extra power. Despite the magic, he didn’t answer me again. I blinked my eyes open and saw that Petra and Zeph both were staring at me. Petra was standing a few feet from the bed, her hands held protectively over her heart.

Mal was glowing. Was that a good sign?

“You have a lot of power,” Zeph said. “What are you doing to him?”

“Trying to help him heal himself. He said the bridges were down.” I weighed his words in my mind. “Maybe he means the connections from one part of his brain to the other have been severed. They need to be rebuilt and I’m not sure how long that will take.” Zeph closed her eyes. I wanted to comfort her, give her good news, but I had nothing. “Only thing I can think of is to take him to the Slip. He’s at least part Skriven. Magic there works easier, faster.”

Zeph nodded. “Whatever it takes. Petra? Tell Gage he’s in charge until I return.”

“You want to go to the Slip?” I asked. She didn’t know what it was like. Sure, I could take her to Ty’s manse, but still.

“If he goes, I go.”

“And me,” Petra said, still rooted to the spot despite Zeph’s orders. “I’ll not accept a no.”

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I didn’t. “Fine. I’ll take you to a safe place. My friend Nex will help however he can. And if—when—Mal gets better, tell him and he will call me.”

“Good. I’ll go let the Quartermaster know and then we can be on our way.” Petra bustled out of the room and it wasn’t but a minute or two later that she returned. She scooped up her bag. “Let’s go.”

I hooked all three to Ty’s manse, settling the comatose man in a bed two rooms down from Ty’s. There was music coming from down the hall and I wondered if Ty’s mother was gone.

Petra was pressed tight against the wall, her eyes shut as she adjusted to the Slip. Zeph looked like she was holding back the vomit through sheer force of will.

Mal, on the other hand, had better color already. Excellent.

Nex floated in soon after, making high points of color stand out on Petra’s cheeks. He bared his teeth as I made introductions, and though I’d expected her to shriek or scream, she pushed off the wall and straightened her spine. “What are you?”

“Devany’s Archaeon Tezyrio.”

She stared at him, then nodded once. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too.” Nex turned to me. “Tytan has returned. He has expressed much sadness at the passing of his mother. I am not good at providing comfort. I can, however, be of assistance to Petra and her captain.” He turned back to them. “And the broken soul on the bed.”

A sound from Zeph. A bit back cry?

I crossed to her and hugged her. “He’ll be okay,” I whispered.

“I hope so,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Nex will see that you have what you need. Right Nex?”

He inclined his head.

I left them to their work and went down the hall to Ty’s room, knocking on his door rather than barging in like he always did to me. When he didn’t answer, I tried the handle and the door swung open on its own. Ty stood on the other side, shirtless, as usual, his eyes bloodshot. “I knew it couldn’t be the bloodless football rattling my knob.” He stepped back to let me in and I slid past him, my eyes on the wall opposite the door, rather than his washboard abs.

His bed was a mess. The painting of Ravana was gone, replaced with one filled with blues and greens and greys. His mother smiled from the canvas, her eyes looking lit from within. “It’s beautiful.”

He grunted. The door shut. “What do you want?”

“To check on you. See how you are.”

I turned to find him close. He studied me. “You got your daughter back.”

My smile came unbidden. “Yes.”

“Good. Your fear was making you boring.”

I snorted. “Wasn’t there a time when you enjoyed it?”

“Sure,” he said, his finger almost, but not quite, touching my collarbone. “When you feared me, that was a little sexy. Now that you aren’t afraid of me at all …” His voice had dropped to a sensual purr. “It’s even better.”

I could have slapped his hand away, or fired off a retort, but it hit me like a ton of bricks that this was an act, a cover. Why hadn’t I seen it before? Instead of responding to his words, I said instead, “I’m sorry about your mom. I’m sure it hurts to lose her so soon after finding her.”

The heavy-lidded predator gaze faltered and then fell away. “Too soon.”

I hugged him, wrapping both arms tight around him and squeezing. After a moment’s hesitation, he returned the gesture. It wasn’t sexual in any way, just a hug between friends. Friends. Yeah.

“Thank you,” he whispered against my hair.

I didn’t answer, just gave him time to grieve. After my mom died, I’d cherished the quiet hugs, the ones that offered support and love, but nothing more. They’d helped more than the empty platitudes or offers of prayer or reassurances that I would get over it.

When he stepped back, he gave me a smile free from innuendo. “Thank you,” he said again.

“Of course. That’s what friends are for.”

His lips tipped up on one corner. “Friends?” He paused long enough for me to know what was coming. “With benefits?”

“In your dreams.”

“Always.”

I ignored that. “I brought our half-brother, or whatever you want to call him, here. He had a Rider in his head and when I killed Ravana’s soul, it popped.”

His eyebrows rose. “What?”

I filled him in, annoyed at his disbelief. “It was too her.”

“The Originators don’t have souls.”

“You and I do.” That silenced him. “Anyway, he’s not waking up. He said something about the bridges being destroyed. There was a lot of noise in his head, broken noise. He’s going to need time and care.” I thought about warning Ty away from Zeph, but figured the captain could take care of herself.

“I’ll look in on him. And your pet scientist might be able to help.”

“Vasili? Yeah, if he doesn’t get ideas.” I put my hand on his arm. “Will you be okay?”

We shared a look, a moment of deep understanding. Then Ty pulled away and the moment passed. “Aren’t I always?”

***

I hooked back to the
Lady Free
to collect Krosh and Bethany and then to the Dream Caves to introduce Bethy to Lizzie and give her the shortened version of what had happened on Ketwer Island. “The only thing I don’t understand is how Sephony rode from Valley’s Head to Tempest Peaks.”

“The sea wasn’t there then. Only after Valley’s Head was destroyed and the Witch King rode north with the Omphalos did the sea rush in to destroy all in its path. Some say it was drawn in by the power of the Omphalos and, if so, it’s another bit of infamy to place on Sorgen’s shoulders.” She smiled down at my daughter. “She has your eyes.”

I hugged Bethy close.

We left Lizzie and made our way down to Odd Silver, hunting for Liam. He was playing soccer with his friends, but when he saw his sister, he hurtled toward her. I’d never seen them greet each other like that before; they cried and hugged each other. If Bethy’s kidnapping had done one thing, it was to remind them both that they loved each other. Intellectually, they did. Emotionally, they did. But it wasn’t until Arsinua had separated them and they’d found each other again that they understood the love between them.

Would it keep them from fighting? Heck no. I’d guess they’d be sniping at each other by sundown. But I figured they would cherish each other more from now on. That made me happy. There had to be good things to come of the nightmare, right?

“Are we really going to stay here?” Bethy asked.

“It’s something we have to talk about,” I said. “Maybe.”

“And Liam has a clone? Why don’t I have a clone?”

I refused to answer another thing until we bathed, ate, and put on clean clothes. Bethy and I hit the women’s bathhouse, and she chattered non-stop as we washed our hair and dressed in the clothes someone—probably Mina—had laid out for us. Bethany’s were a soft blue with ravens embroidered along the hem of the shirt and pants. Mine were blue, too, but with spiders. I felt another twinge of loss, missing Neutria for some godforsaken reason.

We ate in Krosh’s home, sitting knee to knee in the small section cordoned off as the living area. He said something about needing to build a bigger house and I blushed. Hoping my kids wouldn’t see it, I stared at my plate until the heat in my cheeks cooled.

“What about our house on Earth?” Bethany asked. “And Grandpa and Grandma?”

“I know. We have a lot of planning and thinking to do,” I said. “Plus there’s school and your friends.”

“I can’t go back,” Liam said around a mouthful of meat. “I am not going to risk getting feathers in Science class. Mr. Epperson would probably strap me to a table and cut me open.”

“Feathers?”

Liam nodded. “Yeah. I can turn into a bird.”

“You cannot. He cannot, can he Mom?”

“He can. I saw him do it.”

She made a face. “That’s not fair. Can I turn into a bird too?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“Trust me,” Liam added, “you don’t want to. I mean, it’s fun, but the feathers are itchy. And it’s a lot of work, learning how to do it right.”

She harrumphed and poked a tiny bit of her food into her mouth.

Ah, kids. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much and I wouldn’t have it any other way. “You know, we’re going to have to talk to the police when we take you back to Earth.”

Bethany made a face. “Do we have to? Can’t we let Arsinua go? I mean, she said sorry and I know she was just trying to help.”

“No. She has to face the consequences of her actions. What she did was wrong and sorry doesn’t make up for the danger she put you in.”

My daughter sighed. “What am I going to tell them? That she took me to another world?”

I’d wondered that too. Ten-year-olds, as a rule, didn’t lie well. Not about stuff like this. Who ate the last cookie, who left the dirty dish on the floor in front of the couch, those things both she and Liam were adept at fibbing over. This? Probably not. “We’ll figure out something, but we have to do it. It’s important.”

Bethany nodded, acquiescing without a fuss. Weird.

We finished our food and then left the hut to walk around the village, Liam introducing both Bethany and I to what seemed like every person in the village. We ended up back at the longhouse where the kids going through transition stayed. “You want to sleep here?” Liam asked his sister, though I could see that he really didn’t want her there.

“No,” she said. “I’ll stay with Mom.”

We went back to Krosh’s home, but he didn’t stay. “I’ll sleep with the men tonight so you have time with her,” he said, kissing me lightly on the mouth.

“Thank you.”

He smiled at me and told my daughter good night.

Bethany and I snuggled close in the furs, her head on my chest. “Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you going to marry him?”

Did she hear my heart pounding at the question? “I think I’d like to.”

“Oh.” Her voice was small. “What about Dad?”

“He’ll never stop being important, baby. Not to me and not to you or Liam.” I stroked her hair, so thankful she was here with me now. It had been so long since I’d held her. “Oh! I have something for you. Just a second.” I crawled out of bed and dug through my pack, pulling Boopie from the bottom where I’d squished the bear. “Here.”

“Boopie!” She hugged him tight to her, then hugged me. “Thanks, Mom. I had a hard time sleeping without him.”

“I slept with him while you were gone.”

She buried her nose in the bear’s fur. “I can smell you on him.” She smiled and settled her head on my arm. “I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart. I love you too.”

THIRTY

We spent a few days enjoying each other, letting the fear and stress from the past few weeks spool away in the protection and warmth of Odd Sliver. Lizzie and Bethany hit it off and more often than not, if I wanted to find my girl, she was sitting next to Lizzie, listening intently to every word the woman said.

I hated the thought of taking Bethy to Earth to be grilled by the police. I didn’t want her to have to go through that and wondered if Tytan could get another Formless One to create a clone of Bethy. It wouldn’t be a perfect solution, but close to it. Maybe there was a way to alter the memories that were given to the clone, create a false memory of being kidnapped that didn’t involve magic or other worlds.