Elves Invasion

15

“I know. I don’t know how to stop him from here—but I know.” Mia breathed a bitter laugh. “I dragged you all across the country because I had some crazy idea that the solution to the Woven was out west, like west was some miraculous place. I thought I’d find a way for people and Woven to live together so the Outlanders wouldn’t be trapped and there wouldn’t have to be a war.” Mia wanted to kick herself. “Well, people and Woven can live together. This wasn’t what I had in mind, though.”

“It’s not really living together. It’s more like living under,” Juliet said, shuddering. “And I don’t care if they’re listening.”

Mia shrugged. “We’re already their prisoners.” For now, she added in mindspeak. Mia almost didn’t ask it, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Nothing in Erye’s memories about me?”

“He did it to save you,” Juliet said.

“Juliet,” Mia said disbelievingly. “He took my willstones and put me in a cage.”

“Alaric believed you had sided with Lillian. He was going to slit your throat where you stood. Erye did the only thing he could do to keep you alive without having to s*******r his sachem and his whole tribe to protect you from them.”

Mia looked away. She thought of Erye’s expression when he’d taken her willstones. There was no anger. No resentment. He didn’t take her willstones because he was bitter or hateful. It was a calculated action performed without passion, like he was making a choice that had more to do with other people than with himself. If there was any feeling in him that she could detect, it was regret. What he’d done, he’d done for her, and even then he knew that the cost of saving her life would be her love.

Was she that unforgiving?

“I didn’t really cry that much after it happened. I was too confused to cry because I knew Erye would never betray me. Despite what it looked like, I knew there had to be more to it,” Mia admitted.

“I can replay his memory for you. He showed us. Do you want to see it?” Juliet asked.

Mia shook her head. “Don’t need to. Don’t want to.” She knew Juliet was telling the truth and that Erye had probably saved hundreds of lives, including hers, but she still felt the grating edge of resentment inside her. Resentment and something else full of yearning that she couldn’t quite place yet. “The cage isn’t the problem between us anymore.”

“What is?” Juliet prodded gently.

“What’s your father like? The James of this world,” Mia asked in response. “What is he like?”

Juliet smirked. “I barely know him. He wasn’t really interested in us as children, and then Lillian sent him away when he became too interested in what she was doing as an adult. You know, once she was the Salem Witch.”

“My father was never there,” Mia whispered. Her whole chest felt sore. Juliet waited for Mia to continue, but Mia stayed silent.

“Are you ever going to forgive Erye?” Juliet asked.

“I’m not good at forgiveness.” Mia thought about how she’d refused to forgive Scot. She never really got around to forgiving her father for abandoning her or Joel for cheating on her, either. And now they were all dead. “I never give anyone a break,” she whispered, repeating Zuro’s words.

“Is that the person you want to be?” Juliet asked gently.

“No. But I haven’t figured out how to be anyone else yet.” Mia shook herself. “Enough of this. Are you up? Like up up?” she asked. Juliet nodded. I feel like snooping around, Mia said, switching back to mindspeak. Want to come?

Juliet grinned. Mia took that as a yes, and the sisters slid out of the room, quiet as moonlight.

They followed their path from earlier in the evening and found their way back to one of the places Mia had noticed earlier. Mia and Juliet didn’t dare allow their magelight to get too bright as they ascended a flight of dark steps.

Juliet asked in mindspeak—Did you hear it, too?

Footsteps above? Yes. From the veranda it doesn’t look like there’s another floor above us, but there must be, right?

I thought the same thing, Juliet replied. Go this way, she said when they reached the top of the stairs. Our rooms will be below.

They went down a long, narrow corridor with no windows. It was stuffy and baked dry from the daytime heat. The walls seemed to stare at them. The corridor ended at a door with a conventional lock.

There was no ward set to the door—just a simple lock. Mia shrugged at Juliet and easily knocked the tumblers into place with a nudge from one of her willstones. The door clicked open, and Mia peeked her head inside. She let her magelight glow a touch brighter and saw hulking shapes throughout the room. As her eyes adjusted, she could discern dusty crates and furniture covered with sheets.

Dead end, Mia said in mindspeak.

Not necessarily, Juliet replied. Let’s go to the back. I think I can see another door.

They wended their way through the attic, passing crates, coatracks, broken armoires, shoe racks, a telescope, and even an old globe. Mia stopped at the globe and moved the sheet covering it. She noticed that there was no Canada or Mexico—just one big continent with the Thirteen Cities on one side and Bower City on the other. She had no idea how old the globe was, or how long Bower City had existed, but the globe looked like an antique—a hundred years or more.

They reached the door at the back of the attic and tested it. It was unlocked. Mia pushed the door open and found a room with nothing in it but a stairway set in the middle that led into the ceiling, and another door on the opposite side of the room.

This room isn’t dusty, Mia noticed.

It gets used, Juliet replied. She started heading straight to the stairway.

Wait, Juliet. I want to check the other door first. Mia could feel the pull of magic around it, and as she got closer she realized that it was set with a powerful ward. She stopped, not daring to go any closer to it.