World Weaver (The Devany Miller Series Book 4) (23 page)

She searched my face for a long moment. “I want to believe that’s true.”

“How can you not?”

“I’ve been fooled before by the trickeries of Skriven.”

“Mom, you raised me from the time I was born. You know me.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know you at all. Not now. I left you and look what’s become of you.”

“So I’m an Originator. I have power, Mom, power that has come in handy more times than I can count. I would have been long dead, maybe Liam and Bethy too, if I hadn’t had it.”

“Power corrupts, Devany.”

“I’m not corrupt!” I shrieked, then took a breath. “I’m not.” I toed the memories of Harrison’s torture and Marco’s death under my mental rug. They didn’t count; they were corrupt themselves.

“I’m so sorry. I wanted so much more for you.”

“Mom, I’m fine. Better than fine. I can kick ass and take names. So why don’t we work together to find the eye, all right?” I stood and held my hand out to her. That she didn’t take it right away was kind of insulting, but finally she put hers in mine and I pulled her to her feet. “Oh, and one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t hit me again,” I said. It came out more menacing than I’d intended and my heart hurt when she stepped back, wariness in her eyes. “Please.”

She nodded once, sharply, and my fantasy reunion with my mother ended on a sour note.

EIGHTEEN

We circled the city, we two, on the look out for Ravana and other complications. “Shouldn’t we wait until he attacks the Spider Queen? There’s no point getting inside Valley’s Head. We know what’s going to happen and we can’t stop it.”

“We can’t stop the Witch King, no, but we can stop that Originator from doing whatever evil she’s up to. We can do that much.” She stopped and stared at me, hands akimbo. “Why haven’t you changed yet?”

I threw my hands up in the air. “I don’t know how!”

She snorted and walked on, her stride eating up the ground. I glared. Why had I wanted to see her again? Oh yeah, because she hadn’t been this prickly, testy woman when I was a kid. She’d been patient and kind.

“Listen, there was this accident, okay? A witch ball exploded and both a witch and a Chythraul got trapped inside me. Arsinua was a soul, but Neutria was … I’m still not sure what she was. Anyway,” I said, brushing it away as she stopped, staring. “Neutria and I could swap places. I could change into her, or rather, she could come forward into her own body. I still don’t know how it happened, but when I came here, the Spider Queen stripped her from me.”

“What happened to the witch?” Mom asked, caught up in my story despite herself.

“I pushed her soul into a Formless One so she could live again.”

She wanted to ask what a Formless One was, but didn’t. Instead she said, “Then you have the basic concept of the change. You need to find your animal and coax it forward.” Under her breath, she muttered, “A Chythraul!”

Find my animal. It sounded very New Agey. I said, “Okay. Lemme go look.” I sank down into my control room, keeping the idea of finding my animal in the forefront of my mind. Sure enough, I spied a hallway I’d never seen before. It was situated right beside my cockpit, but I hadn’t seen it until now. Had Neutria’s presence been blocking it all this time?

I squeezed down the dark path, brushing against walls made of moist flesh. On the other side was a small room with a cage. Inside fluttered a raven. I reached forward to open the door when I was jarred back into consciousness.

“Too late. She’s here. Come, we must hide.” My mother and I hid, working together to weave a protective net over us—no bubble, Ravana would have sensed it. Instead, the net acted like camouflage to mute my power and that of my mom’s.

The tricksy Originator walked toward the city’s wards, a dress of blue skies framing her legs. She touched the dome with a negligent hand and the barrier wavered long enough to let her inside. “How can we change anything? This is the past.”

“She’s not in the past or the future. She’s a Skriven and they exist outside of time.” She took my hand and together we ran to the magical fence. She reached up and touched the same spot Ravana had but nothing happened.

“Let me.” I pulled power from the Source and directed it into my fingers. When I touched it, the barrier wavered and we hurried through, my mom’s expression displeased. “What?” I asked, trying to keep the exasperation from the word.

“You are a Skriven, like it or not.”

“I’m a hybrid,” I said, enjoying the beauty of the city spread out before me. Okay, it was too small to really be a city. The soaring buildings built by magic made the illusion of bustling metropolis more compelling. “Anyway, it worked, so stop bitching.”

Her startled look made me laugh.

Since the roads all spiraled inward toward the center of the city, we picked one and followed it, hiding in the crowds whenever possible. I caught a glimpse of Ravana, but it wasn’t necessary to keep her in our sights. I could feel her. “Can she feel me?”

“It’s possible, though I’m not sure she is expecting you to follow her here.”

“Why wouldn’t she? This is probably all part of an elaborate trap.”

Mom smiled. “When did you get so pessimistic?”

“When I woke up to a demon dragging me by the ankle out of fire, and a spider and witch in my head.” I regretted saying it when her smile faded. “It’s okay, Mom. Really.”

“It’ll never be okay, Devany. I thought I’d protected you and still that bitch tainted you. Maybe we can stop it from happening again.”

“No, we can’t. She’s dead. This is a rerun.”

My mother’s lips thinned. “I’ve been watching them reenact their downfalls for years. Not once did the Originator speak out of turn. Until now.”

My mouth was dry. “No.”

“Yes. And if she can speak out of turn, that means your presence here changed something. And if it did, that means that we can change other things. We can stop her meddling here and now, and maybe that will change what happened to you.”

What happened to me? I’d gone back in time once before and tried to change things for the better. It hadn’t worked out so well. I’d caused all the same accidents, they only fell in different ways. “It’s not a good idea.” And it was ridiculous. This was death, this was a memory. Those things couldn’t be changed despite one crazy ass Originator who refused to play by the rules. Maybe we could stop Ravana, could keep her from tampering with Ty, then what? Would I even meet him? Of course I wouldn’t. And if he wasn’t around to pull me from the fire, would I be dead? But wait, he was the one who had protected me from Ravana in the first place, kept me from her clutches. If he was gone … “No. It’s not a good idea.”

“We have to keep her from doing her dirty work, if we can.”

“No. Damn it, stop and listen to me.” She did, bristling with anger. Yeah, well I wasn’t too happy either. “She’s here to tamper with another kid. A kid who grows up to protect me. You understand? I would be royally screwed if he hadn’t risked his sanity to save me.”

“Perhaps if we stop her from hurting him, it will keep her from hurting you.”

“No.” I didn’t know if changing anything here
could
change the present, but I couldn’t risk it. If we stopped Ravana from grabbing Tytan, there was no telling what repercussions there would be. “What if we make things worse?”

Her nostrils flared and I expected her to storm off without me. She didn’t though, giving me a nod. “And what if we stop her from destroying his life and ours?” At my strangled protest, she said, “I’ll have your promise, Devany. Help me kill her.”

“Mom.” I didn’t like making promises I didn’t know I could keep. And anyway, did I really want to lose my power? I would, if we stopped Ravana here. What if another Big Bad came my way and I no longer had access to the Source? How would I protect my kids then?

I would have Bethany back, though, if things went right. A big if. I would also have Tom back.

No Krosh, though. No Mina. No Ty.

Did I even want that?

“Promise me.”

I heaved a sigh. “If there’s a way.” I would just have to hope that there wasn’t a way.

***

Since I’d talked my mother out of stalking Ravana—for now—we only had to wait for events to unfold and for time to jump again. When I told her this, she said, “Oh, we don’t have to wait for that.” With a flick of her hand the scene before me changed.

“Wait,” I said, my disorientation making me dizzy. “You’re the one who’s been manipulating the time?”

Mom nodded. “When you came through the white door, I knew I needed to show this to you.”

“So you know where the eyeball is?”

She shook her head. “I never watched that far. I cannot. Whatever lies beyond the moment Sephony escapes and the magic breaks the Witch King, I haven’t paid witness to. It’s disturbing enough, watching this, but I can’t look away. Do you understand?”

I nodded. “I think so.” I didn’t want to see what happened either. “Can we skip to the part when the Witch King hides the eye?”

My mom took a breath. “You need to see what happens. It’s important if you’re going to understand why he steals from the Spider Queen. I think you have to see it,” she added, her brow furrowed. “I don’t think you will be able to get the eye without seeing it.”

“Part of the magic of the place, huh?”

“Yes.”

We were walking through an ancient forest, one so old the trees scraped the sky and caught sunlight in their branches. Shadows danced on the forest floor amongst red and gold mushrooms, the earth beneath our feet spongy with centuries of decay. The give to it reminded me of the Slip and I almost shared that with Mom, but her face was drawn and angry, so I kept it to myself.

In the distance, I heard horses and the baying of dogs, but we didn’t see a single soul for hours, not until even the shadows disappeared into the gloom of the coming sunset. We came to a clearing where witches and Wydlings alike had made camp. Sephony was flush with the hunt, roses in her cheeks. One of her companions was glowering at the Witch King, but Sephony paid her no mind. She only had eyes for Sorgen and he welcomed the attention.

One by one their companions fell asleep where they sat, their eyes drifting closed, leaving Sephony and Sorgen alone. The air tingled with magic. “He spelled them,” I said.

Mom nodded but didn’t speak. The king was stretched out on his side, his torso propped up by an elbow. His eyes gleamed in the firelight, warm and inviting. Sephony, her hair freed from her braid, was a wild beauty next to Sorgen. She matched him well.

He wanted her and when he thought the time right, he leaned in and kissed her.

Her body stilled. “Why did you do that?”

“I wanted to see if you tasted of wild honey and Water Blossoms.” His smile reminded me of Ty’s, all promises and lust. “You do.”

“I can’t.” She rolled to her feet, her body trembling. She paced away from him, her gaze moving from one sleeping form to another, a frown forming on her brow. “I made a vow to my people. I will not break it.”

“What kind of vow could keep you from enjoying the pleasures of a kiss?”

She turned back to him, her hands at her sides, though she dearly looked like she wished to wrap her arms around her middle. “I made a promise to protect First Clan with my life. I vowed to take no mate and to have no children.”

His eyes shut for a moment, pain in the lines of his face. “You came here to join with us in stopping the Riders, but you hold yourself back from me?”

“My body is not part of the bargain,” she said, a bit of fire in her voice.

‘You go girl,’ I thought.

“I am not asking for a throwaway night of pleasure, Sephony.” His voice had roughened, with emotion or lust, I didn’t know. “I find I cannot stop thinking of you. I need you more than words can express. Need you to be by my side, to rule with me.”

She shook her head. “No.”

But he didn’t let her continue. “Do you remember what you told me the first day you saw Valley’s Head?”

She stayed silent, every part of her pleading with him to stop.

He stood slowly and then walked to her step by deliberate step. “‘There are some Dreams that will come true whether we believe in them or not. Perhaps yours is such a one.’”

“Not this. I did not make my promise lightly and I will not break it,” she repeated. Her breath caught in her throat at his nearness. His almost, but not quite, touch.

“Even if I tell you that you’ve captured my heart as firmly as a hunter nets his prey? Even if I tell you that I will have no other but you?”

Was this the moment that she gave in to him? The moment she forgot who she was in the face of what she might be, of the future he was promising her?

She stepped back from him, stepped away, one foot behind the other until she was outside the circle of light cast by the fire. “Even then,” she said, sounding as if her heart were breaking.

“Sephony.”