Page 27

Chapter 26

THERE’S MORE TO THIS THAN MEETS THE EYE

T he room I found myself in was cluttered with stuff—vials, bottles, bowls of dried flowers, beads, gems, bunches of herbs hanging from the rafters, and shelves of books in all shapes and colors, and sitting in the middle of it all were three women of different ages.

A young woman with a rosebud mouth and long dark hair sat at an old-fashioned spinning wheel, foot pumping the pedal to spin the wheel; another slightly older woman with gray at her temples and laugh lines bracketing her mouth monitored the spindle where the thread gathered in a spool. She adjusted the thread and spool every so often so that it ran toward a much older woman, hunched over a pair of knitting needles, weathered face scrunched up in concentration as she knitted…what was she knitting? The space between the needles was empty, the thread vanishing as if by magic.

Magic…

The whirr and click of the machine and clack, clack of the needles made a strange methodical symphony. A memory teased my mind.

I’d seen this scene somewhere before. Where, though? Dammit, why couldn’t I remember?

“Fret not, child.” Three voices spoke in unison. “You see us in the only way that your mind can comprehend.”

What did that mean?

“Come closer. Touch the spindle.”

Wait a second, this part I did remember. “I’ve heard this story.”

Gentle laughter was superimposed by a cackle. “Humor is a powerful tool, but it can also be a shield. Touch the spindle, child, so we may see you.”

This wasn’t creepy at all. I mean, their mouths didn’t move with their speech, and they hadn’t looked up once, continuing with their task as if I wasn’t in the room. Well, I was here, and if they needed me to prick myself, then so be it.

I stepped forward and reached for the spindle. “I swear, if this puts me to sleep for a hundred years, I will not be pleased.”

Another echoing chuckle.

I pressed my finger to the spindle, wincing as it pierced my skin .

The wheel spun faster, and the thread on the spool turned red. “Leela. Leela. Leela, of ancient blood born, from ancient blood spawned. Leela, Leela, the turn of the tide, the shift in the wind, the anchor of death.” The wheel spun faster, the red thread turning gold.

Clack, clack, clack .

“The wielder. You are the wielder. It won’t cut. It will only fray. Time. You need time. Push, pull, tug, and snap. Push, pull, tug, and snap.” The old woman’s needles moved so fast they were a blur. “A broken heart will heal a fractured soul, and darkness will fall. It will fall.”

Something gleamed on the young woman’s wrist, a gold band, but when I blinked, it vanished.

“It should not be done, but we cannot undo it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will, child. You must.”

The wheel hummed, and my head felt light and floaty. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the needles, from the soft blue glow that was forming in the old woman’s lap. Black beady eyes. Twitchy whiskers and a long pink tail.

The wheel slowed, the needles clacked less frequently, and a blue rat stared up at me curiously.

Shit…was that my anchor? “Hello?”

It leapt off the old woman’s lap, pushed up onto its hind legs, and put its hands on its hips. “Blue at ya service.”

“It is done,” the trio said .

Bright light ate my vision.

I wasn’t sure how I got out of the room, but one minute I was staring at a talking rat, and the next I was standing in the corridor with everyone staring at me. No, not at me. At my shoulder, where Blue balanced like an acrobat.

“A rat?” Eve snorted. “You got a rat?”

Her ferret hissed and bared its teeth at Blue.

Blue leapt onto the ground, coming up to stand on his hind legs, hands on hips. “Oi! Put ya teeth back in ya gob before I twat you one.”

A collective gasp filled the corridor as the ferret leaped at Blue.

My heart shot into my throat. “No!”

But in the next moment, the ferret was flying back because Blue had made good on his threat and punched it in the face.

“Drake!” Eve rushed to gather him up, and Blue cocked his arms in a body builder pose.

“Anyone else wanna go?” he asked.

“He speaks…” Umbra said. “Out loud.” She looked up at me in surprise.

“I guess he does.” I held my hand out on instinct, and Blue leapt on, scampering up my arm and onto my shoulder .

“This is the first anchor that speaks out loud,” Umbra said.

“It’s fucking brilliant, that’s what it is,” Remi said.

“Lola wants you to teach her how to do that,” Joe said. His cat purred in agreement.

“Sure thing,” Blue said. “I got skills.”

“You’re a rat!” Eve said. “A dirty, filthy rat.”

“And you’re a slightly overweight mortal with more whiskers on her chin than me,” Blue snapped back. “We all have our crosses to bear.”

“Oh my god,” Dharma said. “I think I love you, Blue.”

Blue sniffed. “Course you do. I’m awesome.”

“This is you?” Priti said with a smile. “This is a part of you.”

I looked across at Blue, into his black beady eyes filled with confidence, and smiled. “Yeah…yeah, I guess it is.”

Umbra gathered our anchors to take them to the nest, an area in the west wing of the complex which would be their home. They would be permitted to be with us at all other times except at night, and as it was late, we wouldn’t see them till the morning.

The rest of us made our way back to barracks.

“Do you feel like you lost a bit of your soul?” Remi asked me.

“I’m not sure what I feel, but…I don’t like that Blue can’t be with me, and I only just met him so…that’s something. ”

Priti walked ahead of us on the trail with Dharma.

“I wonder why some of us didn’t get an anchor,” Remi asked.

I’d been wondering the same, in between trying to remember what had happened in the room with the Shakti and marveling at how cute Blue was. “I don’t know. It’s weird. We all have souls, so it should work for us all.”

It was something to add to my list to ask Bhoomika when I next saw her, which reminded me, I should probably read the books she’d given me.

Tomorrow. After training.

The gauntlet was less than two weeks away, and I was going to ensure I passed it with flying colors, with or without Araz’s help.