Death Weavers (11 page)

“You know, I come from a noble house,” Stafford said. “We're not as ancient or renowned as some, but we have a saying used to reward good service. Tell any member of my household, ‘A radiant deed shines forever,' and see what they do for you.”

“What if I tell you?” Cole asked.

“All the better,” Stafford said. “You'll get a reward that would astound any errand boy. And be assured, it would impress more than errand boys.”

“Thanks,” Cole said.

“No. Thank
you
. Take good care of my daughter.”

“I'll do my best,” Cole said.
To protect her from you,
he added silently as he turned and walked away.

8

B
y some Miracle, I was sent to look for my Destiny!” Cole called again. His voice was getting hoarse. He had used that same shout hundreds, maybe thousands of times over the past hours.

Since he had started yelling, he saw fewer imprints. Undoubtedly, many were avoiding him. He sometimes glimpsed figures fleeing down distant tunnels.

Cole continued to test the imprints that came close enough, to be sure they weren't actual people. But he spoke to few, and kept the interactions short, in an attempt to cover as much ground as possible.

As he trudged deeper into the cave, he increasingly encountered dead ends. Each gave him a sense of hope—at least the subterranean labyrinth didn't go on forever.

To spare his voice, Cole began calling less loudly. His cry remained the same. “By some Miracle, I was sent to look for my Destiny.” Depending on his position in the cave, the last word would sometimes echo impressively. Cole figured the phrase was a little cryptic if a stranger overheard him, but it should be clear enough to make Tessa curious.

When a young voice finally responded, Cole was in a narrow passage with a dead end in sight. He always walked close enough to the dead end to make sure an unseen corridor didn't branch out. White deposits on one wall bristled with glittering crystals.

“You're not giving up,” said a young girl behind him.

Jumping and whirling, Cole found Tessa standing there, looking much as she had when Trillian the torivor sent Cole to a simulation of her castle during the trial to rescue Honor. Tessa looked a couple of years younger than Cole, with straight brown hair and dark, soulful eyes.

“Tessa?” Cole asked. “Destiny?”

“Tessa,” she said. “I've been following you.” Her expression was serious, her voice grave.

“For how long?”

The young girl shrugged. “Did Miracle really send you?”

“Yes,” Cole said. “I even have proof. The first is a code phrase. The haystacks have fallen down.”

“Honor knows you,” Tessa said. “She thinks I can trust you.”

“Honor is here?”

“Her imprint,” Tessa said. “She's making sure nobody bothers us.”

“Wait,” Cole said. “You would have come here before Honor. How can you remember her?”

Tessa glanced over her shoulder. “I can still see her against the wall down there.”

“Where?”

“On the left.”

“Oh. Yeah, I kind of see her.”

“If she passes out of my notice, I forget she's here,” Tessa said. “Or so she tells me.” Tessa held out a hand. “Don't you want to test me?”

Cole passed his hand through hers. “My job would be a lot easier if this was really you.”

“Sorry. We're only imprints. Is Mira okay?”

“She's on the run but doing all right.”

“What does she want?”

“We're looking for you and Honor. We're trying to help. Your mom put stars in the sky. You're in big trouble.”

“I'm not surprised,” Tessa said, shuffling her feet, eyes downcast. “Somebody is after me. Maybe he finally caught me.”

“Who is after you?”

“A powerful echo. I don't know his name.”

“Nazeem,” Cole said.

“Maybe.”

“Probably. He's after me and Mira too.”

Honor gazed at him. “You don't work for my father?”

“No,” Cole assured her.

“Or anyone who wishes me harm?”

“No.”

“You're with Mira and you're trying to help me?”

“Yes.”

Tessa gave a small smile. “I can tell when people are lying. You're not. At least I don't think so. Can I trust myself as an imprint? I feel normal, but I can't feel my power anymore. Not at all.”

“I'm here to help,” Cole said, and he meant it more than ever. Tessa was only two years his junior, but her small build, big eyes, and pretty face made her seem even younger. Anyone would want to protect her!

“Father is looking for me too,” Tessa said. “I have to be careful what I share. Even when people mean well, they could accidentally give away clues.” Tessa looked young, but like Mira, she hadn't aged for more than sixty years. Though still a kid, she had a lot of experience living on the run.

“The real you is already in trouble,” Cole said. “You've probably been caught. We're not just trying to find you—we're trying to rescue you.”

“Mother sent a young boy to rescue me?” Tessa asked.

“We have an adult with us,” Cole explained, trying not to feel inadequate.

“Does that mean there are other kids?” Tessa wondered.

“Well, yeah, three others,” Cole said. “Four if you count Mira.”

“Who sends kids against soldiers and evil weavers?”

“We're what Mira has,” Cole said for want of a better reason. “We rescued Honor and got her power back. Constance too.”

“You found Costa?” Surprised joy lit up her expression.

“And restored her power,” Cole said. Tessa's excitement at the news helped him feel less defensive.

“All right, I'll talk to you,” Tessa said. “Where do I begin? Tell Mira I've been all right. She always worries. After father took my weaving power, I didn't feel like myself for years. I went around in a daze. You know the feeling when you forget something important you want to say? You just had it in mind, but then you can't remember? I felt like that all the time. Something was missing.”

“That sounds terrible,” Cole said.

“Not too bad,” Tessa said. “I just felt . . . off. More annoying than terrible. Anyhow, a few years ago, I started feeling more like myself again. I began to get impulses about where to go and what to do. I started saying things that disturbed people.”

“Disturbed people?”

“I used to do it all the time,” Tessa said. “I didn't stop to think about what the words meant. They just showed up. That stopped after father took my power.”

“Then your power started coming back,” Cole said. “It happened to your sisters too.”

Tessa puckered her lips off to one side. “I don't feel it now. My power, I mean. Being an imprint. But it was coming back. And people were after us.”

“Us?”

“Me and Leo,” she said. “My bodyguard. He didn't come in here with me. I hope he's all right.”

“Why'd you come here?” Cole asked.

Tessa shrugged. “On a hunch. My hunches saved us a couple of times, so Leo was starting to trust them.”

“Where were you heading next?”

“That's the big question,” Tessa said. “If you know where I went, you'll run off to save me.”

“Is that so bad?”

“Not bad. I want to be saved. I just wish I could feel what would be best for you. And for Mira. And for me, too. The feelings were coming back to me. As an imprint, I don't have the gift at all.”

“We'll be careful,” Cole said.

“You'll try,” Tessa said. “Honor tried too. She had some soldiers with her. If you're here, Honor failed. If Honor couldn't do it, what are Mira and some kids going to do?”

Cole remembered Desmond and Oster, knights from Blackmont Castle who had joined Honor in her quest to find Destiny. “We have to try,” Cole said. “We can get more help if we need it. Mira will never give up on you.”

“I know,” Tessa said. “But maybe she should.”

“Not going to happen,” Cole said. “We'll just end up looking for you with less information. It'll take longer. Mira will be in more danger.”

“I guess,” Tessa said reluctantly. “When I first arrived to this cave, I didn't know what I was looking for. That's how it always used to work. I said what I felt, did what I felt, and interesting things would follow. Back home at the castle, I was never in danger, but people around me always told me how what I said or did changed their lives. Sometimes it was good. Saved their marriage. Helped their business. Cured their cat.”

“You cured cats?” Cole asked.

“I shared some recipes,” Tessa said. “Just don't ask me to remember them. The words spilled out. I didn't know how people would take them.”

“Your mom has a gift like that,” Cole said. “Knowing things.”

“We had some things in common,” Tessa said. “But hers was different from mine. Nobody was like me. My gift is . . . weird. Poor Mother.”

“Why?”

“I would always say the most dreadful things to her.”

“Like what?”

Tessa rolled her eyes and extended her arms like a sleepwalker, then spoke in haunted tones. “You will lose everything you love most. Enemies plot behind every door. Your joy will turn to ashes, your peace to turmoil, your dreams to ruins.” She lowered her arms, and her voice returned to normal. “I was fun at parties.”

“Those words just came?”

“I couldn't resist,” Tessa said. “Mother loved me, I think, but she didn't like speaking to me. She started avoiding me.”

“What you told her kind of came true,” Cole said.

“Doesn't make me fun to be around. Who wants bad news? Not many people liked speaking to me.”

“What about the people you helped?”

“I like to think about them. But my messages didn't always help. What if some girl started telling secrets from your past that could destroy your career? I got people arrested. I ended friendships. I could be scary. What if I explained how your cousin felt when he drowned, though you didn't know what I meant at the time and it didn't happen until the next day?”

“Freaky,” Cole said.

Tessa brightened. “Mira liked me, though. I never knew things about her. Words didn't come when we were alone.”

“Never?”

“Not once.”

“Did you ever try?”

Tessa's face grew serious. “I never tried. With anyone. I couldn't stop the feelings or cause them.”

“Did you miss your feelings when they were gone?” Cole asked, wondering if it might have been a relief.

“I did,” Tessa said. “More than I would have guessed. I didn't know how much my power guided me until it was gone. When my abilities started to come back, my life was more dangerous than before. The feelings have helped me.”

“What did you learn here?” Cole asked.

Tessa frowned. “Are you sure I should tell you? Mira is with you. My power doesn't work as an imprint. I have no feel for whether telling you will be good or not. It could be so dangerous.”

“I told you: we're not going to stop looking for you,” Cole said. “You might as well help us.”

Tessa covered her eyes with both hands, as if trying to hide. “Have you heard of Gamat Rue?”

“No.”

“The old prison? Abandoned centuries ago?”

“I'm new to Necronum.”

Slightly lowering one hand, Tessa peeked at Cole. “Once, Gamat Rue held the worst criminals in Necronum. But people haven't used it for hundreds of years. An imprint here told me about an echo imprisoned there.”

“It's a prison for echoes?”

“Not at first. But an evil echomancer took it over. The echolands side has lots of prisoners now. That's why it was abandoned.”

“What's an echomancer?”

Tessa dropped both hands and stared. “For somebody who wants to save me, you sure don't know very much.”