Some time after Fae and her group left, Caleb, Chelsea, and Addie sat to continue a conversation they’d been having since Caleb was turned back from exploring the underwater city.
Caleb leaned back, raking fingers through his hair. He let out a long sigh, then brought his attention back to Chelsea, who sat across from him, and Addie, who sat next to her.
“I’m kind of at a loss here,” Caleb said, chuckling. He pulled out the notebook Mister Midnight had given him, and flipped open to the page that bore the list of places that corresponded to his visions during the Time Trial. “Because I only sort of know how to reach any of these places, and none of them are anywhere near where you need to go.”
“Sorry,” Chelsea said, smiling a bit sheepishly. “My offer still stands, though.”
“Yeah…” Caleb sighed. “And we don’t want to split up. Not now.”
“There’s no way I want you running all over the Dominion alone,” Chelsea said with a smirk.
“Definitely not!” Addie said. “And since we do know how to get to Elemental Summit, it only makes sense that we all go there first, right?”
“But the clock’s ticking,” Caleb said. “Ten days until we reunite with Mister Midnight. And we’ve used up three of those. I really need to get some leads on these places.”
“We could go to Cartographer’s Waystation,” Chelsea said. “It’s easy to reach from here, and they’d be able to help you figure out how to get to all of those places.”
“But going to the Waystation would delay your own plans further,” Caleb said. “If we’re going to do everything…”
“I could postpone going to the Summit,” Chelsea said, but Caleb shook his head.
“With all that’s happened with you and Lorelei, it makes sense that you go there as soon as possible. It’s good for you, to finally understand your powers, and we’ll need everyone at their very best when it’s finally time to fight Sal and the Sons of Night.” Caleb stared at his list a moment longer, then shrugged, pocketing it. “We should get going, don’t you think?”
Chelsea started to say something, but Caleb missed it because Shana’s group was getting ready to leave, and he heard them talking about their destination. Two words stuck out to him: “Woven Nest.”
He jumped to his feet, checking his list. “Woven Nest!” he cried, brandishing the list. “Shana, Shias, hold on a sec!”
“What’s up?” Shana asked, looking up as Caleb joined her team’s preparation meeting in the sitting room.
“You guys are going to the Woven Nest?” Caleb asked. Altair lifted his head, tail slowly wagging at Caleb’s excited entrance.
“Yeah,” Shana said, raising an eyebrow. “We already talked about all of that yesterday.”
“Yeah, well, a lot of people were talking and a lot was happening,” Caleb said. “I didn’t catch everything. But do you know what it is?”
“No clue,” Shana said. “Heart showed Annabelle and me an image of it, but —”
“What did it look like?” Caleb hung on Shana’s next words, keeping the image he’d seen of the Nest in his mind.
“A snowy forest,” Shana said. “And the trees were blooming with —”
“Blue flowers,” Caleb said, in unison with Shana. A thrill of excitement ran through him. A lead, finally!
“You have to go there, too?” Shias asked.
“Yeah,” Caleb said, brandishing his list. “Got quite a few places I need to visit, actually, and no leads on any of them — until now.”
“Can I see the list?” Annabelle asked. Caleb handed it to her, and she looked it over for a moment. “This isn’t too difficult. I know all of these places, and can teleport you to any of them.”
“Seriously?” Caleb asked, dropping to a seat between Shias and Ben. “Geez, I should have just asked you in the first place.”
“You’ve been a bit scatter-brained lately,” Shana said with a laugh.
“So our problem’s solved, then,” Chelsea said. She and Addie had followed Caleb into the sitting room.
“Problem?” Caleb asked. But his eyes widened in understanding, and then he sighed. “Wait, this isn’t right. It’s still us splitting up.”
“But it’s not you going off on your own,” Chelsea said. “So I can trust the twins to look after you.”
“What am I, a child?” Caleb asked.
“We’re on it, captain!” Shana said, saluting at Chelsea, who laughed as she returned the salute. Shana grinned. “It’s obvious why you need to be taken care of. You’re the one who keeps disappearing on people.”
Caleb sat silent for a moment.
Oh.
Right.
I…
He sighed, slumping in his seat.
Hollow Island.
And then… all the way to the Edge of Time.
Always without warning, too.
“I’m not happy about splitting up, either,” Chelsea said, resting a hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “But I can rest easy if you’re with them.”
“Go Dawn Riders,” Kathryn said, grinning.
“And I know I can rest easy if you’re with Lorelei,” Caleb said, reluctantly. He smiled at Addie. “And you too, kiddo.”
“I’m going with you, though,” Addie said. Caleb and Chelsea both stared at her, and Chelsea looked a bit hurt.
“What do you mean?” Chelsea asked.
“He’s the one we’ve gotta worry about, right?” Addie asked. “I’ll go with him to make extra sure he doesn’t disappear on any of us ever again!”
Chelsea managed a smile at that. “Right. I get it.” She ruffled Addie’s hair. “I’ll be counting on you, kiddo.”
Addie giggled. “You sure can!”
“I kinda feel bad with all of us leaving at the same time, though,” Shana said. “I mean… Fae just left not that long ago, with her whole team. If all of us leave… the house was so full. But now…”
“It’ll fill back up again,” Caleb said. “We all have things we need to do, and places we need to go. But that doesn’t mean we’re not coming back.”
Shana nodded. “Right,” she said softly. Her eyes shone with determination. She stood up. “We’re not leaving without saying goodbye, though.”
“Of course not!” Caleb said, leaping over the back of the couch. He took Chelsea’s hand as he headed towards the back patio, and Addie took his other hand, following along. Shana’s team wasn’t far behind.
On the back patio, its glass walls looking out over a flowering garden, sat Delilah, Alice, and Isabelle. Maribelle and Marcus were out on errands of their own.
“What, leaving already?” Alice asked, noticing the group first. Delilah looked up, and the look in her eyes pierced Caleb’s heart.
She’s feeling just like Shana. A full house for the first time in so long, and it’s already emptying out…
“It’s not like we’ll be gone forever!” Addie said, striding up to her sister. “So don’t miss me too much, okay?” She smiled teasingly.
“Nothing to miss,” Alice said with a shrug. She twirled a sword-shaped pendant in her fingers. “You already made me a gift. What else do I need from you?”
“Rude!” Addie cried, reaching to snatch the pendant back. But it vanished, and a moment later, Alice was holding it up in her other hand. “Give it back! I don’t give gifts to ungrateful jerks!”
“But you love your little sister, don’t you?” Alice asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “The little sister that’s taller than you?”
“We’re the same height!”
The sisters bickered back and forth, while Delilah and Isabelle joined the others.
“You’re leaving me again already, Anna?” Isabelle asked, frowning slightly.
“It’s temporary, of course,” Annabelle said. “You’ve got your own business to attend to as well. Let’s both do our best.”
Isabelle’s expression brightened at that, and she nodded. “Yup! I’ll take care of everything!”
“We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for any clues about the Key of the World,” Shana said to Delilah. “And we probably won’t be gone long. Heart didn’t have anywhere else for me to go, so…”
“I might be gone by the time you get back,” Delilah said. Her expression had relaxed, accepting what was happening. “But whatever happens… well, we all just need to work hard at what we’re tasked with.”
“We will,” Shias said. “And we know you will, too.”
Delilah nodded. Shana wrapped her up in a hug, and then motioned to Caleb and Shias. “Get in here, boys,” she said. “You too, Chelsea. Addie, too! Stop arguing already!”
“But —” Addie started, then changed her tune when she saw the group hug happening, and enthusiastically joined in. “Come on, Alice!”
“I’ll pass, thanks,” Alice said. “Not much of a — hey!” But Reginald had snuck up behind her, and a friendly push from the butler cat was enough to get Alice within reach of Delilah, who snatched her wrist and pulled her into the hug.
“I’m actually kind of glad we’re not all staying together for long,” Delilah said.
“Why’s that?” Caleb asked.
“Because… it means that when we’re all together again, then maybe…” But Delilah trailed off.
“Then Fae will be healed up next time,” Shana finished. “Just in time for Christmas!”
Caleb’s gaze turned to the dark sky outside, as dark as midnight though it was only three in the afternoon.
For a Christmas that won’t be dark like this…
We can’t sit around hoping for things to get better. Even though we’re parting…
It’s so that when we’re back together, it’ll be even better.
Caleb and Shana’s groups then found their parents in the library, and bid their goodbyes to them as well. In all of it, no tears were shed, even though Shana’s eyes frequently glistened.
We’re coming back. And when we do, things will be even better.
That was the thought, the thread, that bound all of them together, and made the parting easier.
At least, until…
“You’re sure you’ve got everything, right?” Chelsea asked. She smirked at Caleb, but Caleb thought the expression looked forced.
“I’m all set,” Caleb said.
“Me, too!” Addie said. “Don’t worry. I won’t let him out of my sight!”
Chelsea snorted. “Thanks, kiddo.” She sighed, then tugged at Caleb’s hand, pulling him into a gentle embrace. “Be careful, you. We’re meeting back here before going to Midnight Bridge. Don’t keep me waiting.”
Caleb nodded. “I won’t,” he said. He pulled back slightly, just enough to kiss her cheek. He rested his forehead against hers, gazing into her eyes. “You’re already so strong. Whatever you learn at the Summit… I can’t wait to see how much stronger you become.”
“You’re never short on flattery,” Chelsea said with a soft laugh. “You’d better get all the answers you need. Don’t leave any stone unturned.”
“You got it,” Caleb said. He kissed her firmly on the lips, and then let her go.
“I’ll miss you,” Addie said, rushing in to hug Chelsea. Chelsea hugged the girl back, and looked up at Caleb with the first hints of tears in her eyes.
“You’d better,” she said, kneeling to kiss Addie on the forehead. “Take care of Caleb, okay?”
“I’m all over it!” Addie said, grinning. She turned and took Caleb’s hand, and they joined Shana’s group.
“You’re going to feel a strange tug at you,” Annabelle said. “Give into it. Let the pull take you, and you’ll get where you need to go without any trouble. Is everyone ready?”
“We’re on it,” Kathryn said, and next to her, Rae nodded.
“Ready here,” Ben said.
Shias and Shana nodded, and Caleb and Addie did as well. A moment later, Caleb felt the tug, and he gave into it. But as he started getting pulled away, he cast one last look at Chelsea.
And then Greyson Manor, and Chelsea, were gone. Caleb careened through a wild, dark void. For a moment, he thought he was going to be sick. Then he thought he was going to black out. But a moment later…
His feet touched solid ground.
“Oh,” he said softly, taking a few breaths. “That’s… weird.”
The nausea, the disorientation, all were gone in an instant, as if they’d never existed.
“Super weird,” Addie said. She was still holding his hand, but she was staring straight ahead, eyes wide. “Whoa…” she murmured.
Caleb agreed with her. Before him stretched a somewhat familiar sight — he recognized the peak of the mountain in the distance, at least, and the strange sky above, and the foliage so far away to the left and right — but it was so changed that it completely floored him.
He was standing on Hollow Island, about halfway between the shore and the mountain, in what had once been dense, thick jungle.
But small bits of wood and leaf cracked and crumbled underfoot. Ash clung to the dry, scorched earth.
This section of the island was desolate, barren, lifeless.
“What happened here?” Shana asked, gaping. “It’s so… it’s not anything like how you described it.”
“I remember seeing this,” Caleb said. “From the train to Midnight Bridge. It’s like one fifth of the jungle is completely blasted away.”
“Burned,” Shias said, kneeling and touching some of the charred remains. “It’s old enough to start to recover —” he brushed away a thick layer of scorched jungle to reveal darker soil beneath, “so it’ll grow back, given time. But it definitely seems recent.”
Just then, Caleb’s eyes widened.
I collapsed on Hollow Island. And then I was gone, I never came back. It was only after that — after Chronoshin — that I saw this part of the island from way, way up in the train.
Could Chelsea have…
But this is way too much.
Or…
No. It isn’t too much. She’s… really powerful. Especially when she gets pushed.
Is this what me overdoing it with Time Magic pushed her to?
The entire group walked on solemnly, following Annabelle’s lead. They were to enter an opening at the base of the central mountain, where a set of stairs would take them to the hidden Woven Nest. Tucked away beneath Hollow Island, a place where few ever walked. And yet…
Maribelle had told Shana and her group a bit about the Nest, but her knowledge only came from reading. She’d never been there, and her reading didn’t cover what lay within.
It’s not exactly “beneath” Hollow Island. It’s like… a mirror? What was the word she used…?
“The other side.”
But not in terms of horizontal space, like the opposite side of the island from here.
She made it sound so mysterious. I wonder what it’s actually like.
One boon about the current state of Hollow Island was that their group could cross the distance to the secret entrance without any trouble. No Hollows to fight, no jungle to navigate.
Just a straight line. As easy as it could get.
But they walked in silence. Crunching across ash-choked remains of what had once been a lush jungle, still smelling the acrid scent in the air, occasionally coughing on ash-dust that rose as it was disturbed…
It was a solemn, quieting scene. Shana carried Altair in her arms so he wouldn’t dirty his paws, and he lay in her embrace quiet, reverently watching.
When they reached the mountain, the “secret” entrance was as plain as day. A door was carved into the rocky face, a curved door that was much wider at the bottom half — wide enough for three or even four of their group to enter side-by-side — but narrowed at the top to only a quarter of that width. It was a tall door, too; twice as tall as Caleb, the tallest of their group. Hefty masses of charred foliage and massive burn marks across the edges of the door showed how it had once been concealed.
Shana led the way. The door opened inward, and from the darkness inside wafted a cool, aromatic breeze. It smelled like honey, and violets, with a hint of something like cinnamon, but Caleb couldn’t be sure.
Inside was a spacious, domed chamber, and at the far side it dropped off into an endless chasm. Faint, glistening blue and silver lights shone from far below. And descending into that chasm was a spiraling staircase.
“It feels strange,” Shana said as she started down with Altair. Shias was right behind her, and then Annabelle. Kathryn, Rae, and Ben followed them, and Caleb and Addie took up the rear. As soon as Caleb placed his hand on the rail of the stairs to steady himself, he started at the touch of it. Looking closer, he understood.
It’s like… woven steel.
Tiny threads could be seen on close inspection, all woven together to form what, from even a few feet away, looked like wrought iron.
“Check it out,” Caleb said, drawing Addie closer. “See how tiny they are?”
“But they feel like metal,” Addie said, gazing in awe, running her hand gently along the rail, as if it were something delicate. “But kind of… wet. And cold.”
“Yeah,” Caleb said, taking hold of the rail again. He held Addie’s hand with his other hand, and started down after the group. But as he walked, he looked closely at everything.
The stairs are the same. Every step, like it’s been woven. A tapestry of steel threads, tinier threads than the threads in my bedsheets. They give slightly, but they still feel strong and sturdy. And they sound like metal, too.
The glow from far, far below became brighter during their descent. The air grew colder, as well, and then they started to see tiny motes of white light drifting upward on the draft, swaying this way and that, lightly tossed by the breeze. When one was close enough, Ben, just ahead of Caleb, reached out and caught it. He stared at his hand in astonishment. “It’s snow!” he said.
“Good thing we dressed for it,” Kathryn said.
“But, it’s snow!” Ben said. “Flying upwards!”
“It’s so pretty,” Addie said breathlessly.
The farther they went, the more shimmering snow filled the air. Whenever Ben or someone else caught a gleaming flake, the light faded, and the snow swiftly melted. But when it started to get really cold, like a proper winter evening, Caleb finally reached out and lightly caught an ascending snowflake on his gloved fingertip. Drawing it gently closer, he gazed closely at the snowflake, kneeling down so Addie could look with him.
“It’s the same as the stairs,” Addie said, eyes wide. “Like it’s made out of thread.”
“It’s still melting, though,” Caleb said, watching as the flake slowly began to turn to water. But even then, the thread-like, woven appearance of it was maintained, and the watery strands dripped individually from Caleb’s finger.
“It is called the Woven Nest,” Rae said thoughtfully. “Maybe everything is like that there.”
“Oh, whoa!” came a stunned, echoing cry from Shana, far down. “Hold up. This is… this is totally nuts!”
The whole group stopped, as Shana and Altair stepped back up a few stairs, then down a few, then up a few, and back down. “No. Freaking. Way.” Shana’s eyes were wide in amazement, and she looked up at everyone else. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. Just you wait and see. This is as trippy as it gets.” Altair barked excitedly.
One by one, the others had the same reaction, and none of them explained it, despite Addie pleading more and more vocally for an answer to their excitement.
But, finally, it was Caleb and Addie’s turn. Everyone else was looking up at them expectantly.
“Ready?” Caleb asked, giving Addie’s hand a little squeeze.
“So ready,” Addie said. Together, Caleb and Addie took the next step.
…
“Wait…” Caleb started, staring.
“…What?” Addie asked, staring with him.
Together, the pair stepped back to the previous step.
“Oh,” Addie said, eyes wide.
“That is so freaking weird,” Caleb said, shaking his head.
He and Addie took a step back. They were looking down at the others below them. But when they took a step forward…
They were looking up. The rest of the group was above them. The stairs were ascending.
The snow was falling down.
There was no perceptible “shift,” no transition from descent to ascent. One step, they were descending. The next, ascending.
The light, now up above them, was brighter than it had ever been.
“You guys ready?” Shana asked, grinning.
“I… wanna do it one more time,” Addie said. Caleb laughed, but he wanted to do it again too, so they did together. Back to descent, then returning to the ascent. Addie giggled, Caleb smiled, and then they joined the rest to continue climbing.
The ascent went quickly, and they soon emerged into a wide, snowy grove. Snowflakes, glittering white, fell steadily, softly all around them. Trees were spaced widely apart, giving them plenty of room for their blue flowers to bloom.
What seemed like a white sky at first slowly appeared to be a ceiling. The first clue was a pair of white lanterns bearing glistening blue light. They didn’t stand on lampposts, but instead hung from long, white thread, and those threads appeared attached to the sky itself. A ceiling, then. And Caleb understood.
“The Woven Nest,” Shias said softly, nodding as he inspected one of the lanterns. He then walked over to a tree, nodding again. Tilting his head back, he gazed at the ceiling. “I get it.”
“Do you think it’s totally enclosed?” Shana asked.
“There’s hardly any wind,” Rae said, pulling off her glove and holding up her hand. “Probably.”
“Even the trees are like that?” Ben asked, squinting as he stepped close to a tree. “Woven together out of… what? It feels like bark. And the flower petals feel like flower petals. The snow feels like snow… what kind of place is this?”
“A nest,” Kathryn said, bobbing her head back and forth thoughtfully. “A nest for what, though?”
“Let’s find out,” Addie said, pointing. A path of stepping stones lightly dusted by snow wound its way ahead from the stairs, farther into the bright, open woods.
“No, Altair, stay close to me,” Shana said to Altair’s expectant stare. “We’re supposed to be here, but… that doesn’t mean it’s safe.”
Shias took up the front, while Caleb and Addie brought up the rear, as their group started along the stepping-stone path. Everyone kept their eyes and ears open, alert for any sign of danger.
But it was such a peaceful, quiet walk. The Woven Nest was a tranquil place, and Caleb found himself smiling as he walked. More of the white lanterns hung down from the ceiling along the sides of the path, dangling just around Caleb’s eye level, so he could see the light within quite clearly. It was some kind of amorphous blob, featureless and gleaming blue with light, contracting and expanding, wriggling and twisting, all of its movements slow and measured. The same went for every lantern and the gleaming blob within.
Not that the lanterns needed to be here, shedding their light, at all. The ceiling of the Nest was alive with white light, filling the space with a calm, bright gleam.
Their path soon led to a set of stairs climbing up a hill. Whatever lay at the top was out of sight. Shias led the way, Shana close behind. Rae held her Talisman close, ready to Summon Brutus at a moment’s notice.
Caleb was ready and alert, but… he didn’t have the nervousness he saw on the faces and in the actions of the Dawn Riders. For some reason, he felt that this place was safe.
At the top of the stairs, he paused. Because he saw her again, standing there by a lantern.
The Time Lady.
That’s what he’d taken to calling the blue phantom who never spoke a word. Judging by the actions and expressions of the others, they couldn’t see her. But Caleb saw her clearly, and before he could ask a question, she answered it with a simple gesture.
She’s inviting me forward. So… it’s okay. This is where I’m supposed to be.
The Time Lady nodded, then vanished.
The top of the hill was a wide, snowy plateau, and at the far side of it, against a wall of woven snow and ice, was an arched wooden opening. The wood was a dark red, and the passage through it glowed a soft blue, lined with the lanterns seen throughout the forest.
“Guess we… go in there?” Shana asked. She was eyeing the opening suspiciously.
“It is the only way forward,” came a voice from inside the opening. It was a woman’s voice, deep and silky smooth. Her voice was accompanied by strange sorts of footsteps — more than two, it seemed, and they stepped rather quickly, but also lightly, sounding almost like the skittering of tiny pointed claws. “And you are meant to be here. Please, allow me to welcome you.”
The woman emerged, and immediately Shias was in front of Shana, brandishing his pen Talisman. Caleb stepped forward, watch in hand. Ben split into numerous phantom clones of himself, each looking identical to the other.
The woman was… like nothing any of them had ever seen. Her torso was bare, but pale skin was mixed with an onyx, glistening carapace that ran up her front like a V to coat her shoulders and then run down her back. Her arms were slender and long, her fingers the same and quite elegant. Raven-black hair tumbled down her shoulders and upper arms. Her face bore several black, web-like tattoos in shapes and symbols Caleb didn’t recognize. Her eyes were black, her lips red.
But where things became truly strange and frightening was below her waist. Her torso melded into a massive, bulbous lower body, borne up by six spindly legs, each ending in a black claw. And rising up from beneath her hips in the front were two more of those legs, longer and larger than the other six. On either side of her hips, nested within her bulbous lower body, was a large, black eye that looked out to either side.
“Spider,” Shana managed to gasp weakly, shuddering as she took a meek step backwards.
“What kind of trap is this?” Ben asked. “There’s gotta be more of them, right?”
“Fan out and search the area,” Shias said, his voice taut with focus.
“Wait!” Rae suddenly cried, racing forward to stand between Shias and the spider-woman. “She isn’t going to hurt us!”
Everyone was silent and still for a moment.
“But how would you know that?” Shias asked. “She —”
“Doesn’t feel like a villain,” Kathryn said, joining Rae. “She’s kinda freaky-looking, I’ll admit that, but she isn’t attacking us. And we’re supposed to come here, remember?”
“The Woven Nest,” Annabelle said softly. She took a step forward. “So the Weavers are real?”
“Weavers?” Caleb asked, thinking immediately of the spider-like Hollows.
“Not like the monsters you fight, Caleb Greyson,” said the spider-woman.
“You… know me?” Caleb asked.
“I know all of you,” the spider-woman said. “Adelaide. Shana and Shias Greyson, the twins, and little Altair. Annabelle, Princess of Solitude. Rae Shoto, Kathryn Thompson —”
“Okay, yeah, we get it,” Ben said, raising his hands and dismissing his clones just as the spider-woman was about to say his name. “But… why? Who the heck are you?”
“My name is Ariadne,” the spider-woman said. “I am the Queen of the Weavers. And I have long expected you. Please. There is no danger here, no violence. Only knowledge and truth, for those who seek it.”
“You’re…” Shana started, taking a hesitant half-step forward. “You’re not going to… hurt us?”
“All of us know well your fear of spiders, Shana,” Ariadne said. “We will be careful and gentle around you, so as not to frighten or disturb you unduly. There is little we can do about our appearance, and I apologize for that.”
“No, no, it’s… fine,” Shana said slowly, shaking her head. “Guys, it’s fine. We’ll be safe.”
“How can you know for sure?” Shias asked.
Shana smiled, then nodded towards Ariadne. “Look at Altair.”
The little blue pup had trotted up to Ariadne and given her a few sniffs, before stepping back and looking up at her, wagging his tail.
“He can distinguish friend from foe,” Shias said, lowering his pen. “Even strangers.”
“Okay…” Caleb said slowly, pocketing his watch. He looked down at Addie. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Addie said, eyes wide, a smile on her face as she gazed at Ariadne. “She’s beautiful. And she looks and sounds so kind.”
Caleb looked back at Ariadne. As long as he stared… he couldn’t see it. He was too distracted by the eight clawed legs, the bulbous lower body, the strange carapace that covered over her torso, to see whatever Addie was seeing.
But her voice is beautiful, and kind. I can hear that much.
And she isn’t attacking us. Though it’s just like a spider to…
He shook his head.
That’s not the right way to look at this. She’s not a spider. She’s… something. A Weaver, but I can’t use that term, it’s too linked in my brain to Hollows. Even though her appearance is frightening to me…
Isn’t that because I only ever see spiders as villains and dangers? I’ve never seen a spider person before. I’ve never been here before. I don’t know anything about any of this.
Except that I’m supposed to be here. And so is Shana. Which means it can’t be all bad.
“We’ll go with you,” Shana said, walking slowly up through the snow to stand close to Ariadne and gaze up at her. Slowly, she held out her hand. “I know you know me already, but… we’ve never really met. I’m Shana Greyson. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Ariadne, Queen of the Weavers,” Ariadne said, shaking Shana’s hand. “The pleasure is ours, Dreamer.”
If Shana can get past her own fear enough to be that close…
Yeah. We’ll be okay.
“We’re going, right?” Addie asked, tugging at Caleb’s hand.
“Yeah,” Caleb said, as Shana, Altair, and Annabelle led the way with Ariadne, the others following close behind. Caleb and Addie took up the rear, passing through the arch and into the tunnels of the Woven Nest.