While Shana and her team slept, Caleb and Addie followed Ariadne through the Woven Nest’s tunnels.
“Your sister has her part to play,” Ariadne said, “and will no doubt awaken ready to see it through. But you had your own purpose for coming here, Caleb.”
“Time,” Caleb said with a nod. “You said that you weave together Fate, Dreams, and Time. But… what does that mean?”
“These three weavings show us the shape of the world,” Ariadne said. “The universe, as you call it. Surely you understand by now that the world is much more than what you can see and feel, hear and smell, taste and perceive? And what you can or cannot perceive, how well you can understand the true shape of the world, depends on perspective, and requires you to widen your gaze.”
“Time Magic has taught me so much. The intrinsic link between space and time… and how when I manipulate time, it doesn’t stop there. The rules of physics, gravity, the physical world, they change and warp along with it. The Phase Step shouldn’t work the way it does if I changed time by itself and nothing else. I… I see it. I know all of this. But even now, I’m still struggling to understand. My trial, how my powers are changing, the Chronos Vault, they’re all just adding more layers on top of what I know, and I…” Caleb chuckled. “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.”
“Then this will be familiar,” Ariadne said. “You will learn more, and your understanding will both broaden and deepen. But you will also gain more questions. Do not let the questions frighten or disturb you, though. You will never have all answers, but that should not dissuade you from learning more. You walk a very unique path, Caleb. One that would normally be isolating, and yet…” the queen of the Weavers look over her shoulder and smiled, “you are not isolated in the slightest.”
“And I’m here to make sure he never is again,” Addie said proudly. “He disappeared on us before. I won’t let it happen this time.”
Caleb laughed. “Yeah, I…” His mood shifted from laughter to a deeper, quieter joy. “I’ll never be alone.”
They turned down a few more branching tunnels, then emerged into a large, spherical chamber with woven ramps crisscrossing their way up and down. And running all throughout the chamber, looking to Caleb rather like harp strings in their arrangement, were shimmering blue strands.
“Time weavings?” Caleb asked, tentatively approaching one. It was so thin, and he leaned in close to look at it. Even as thin as it was, the strand was clearly made up of multiple strands woven together in an intricate, interlocking pattern. All shimmered and shone with the same light, but they were translucent in a way that made Caleb pause.
Woven… light?
He started to reach out to touch the strand, but Ariadne stopped him with a gentle hand on his arm. “You must not touch a weaving without permission,” she said. “Follow me. There is a very specific weaving that you must see.”
They climbed the ramps, and Weavers deftly, gracefully moved out of their way. They all moved so silently, and the more Caleb saw them, the more he was astonished. He’d never once thought of spiders — or any arachnid or insect, for that matter, except butterflies — as “beautiful.” But watching the Weavers, that was the word that constantly, resoundingly, came to mind, over and over again.
They were beautiful. In their stature, in their movements, in their speech, in their expressions. Here in the Woven Nest was a grace, a serenity, that felt on one hand completely alien from the world Caleb knew, and on the other hand…
Like something that had been lost from the world he knew. Captured here, crystallized, made perfect. All the noise and bustle of the world Caleb knew seemed, the longer he remained here in the Woven Nest, more incomplete than ever.
We lost something. And the Weavers… they’ve found it. Or they’ve always had it, and continue to have it despite what we lose.
But it wasn’t the first time Caleb had experienced this sort of serene, quiet beauty.
Beyond the Time Wilds, in the place with no name that he knew, where he’d met the woman who oversaw the River of Time.
And again, more crystalline and powerful than ever, and yet just a glimpse — when he and Chelsea had broken free from the Shadowheart. For the briefest moment, he’d seen what Chelsea had seen in the Library of Solitude.
Light.
“Here we are,” Ariadne said, perching on the edge of a ramp, making space for Caleb and Addie to step past her and approach an isolated blue strand, a weaving of Time. “Touch the strand gently. If you have questions afterwards, I will of course answer.”
“Only him, right?” Addie asked. She held Caleb’s hand as she gazed up at Ariadne.
“You must only hold onto him, little one,” Ariadne said. She seemed apologetic, but Addie nodded with surprising enthusiasm.
“I understand,” she said. She smiled at Caleb, and Caleb smiled back at her. Then he took a step forward, reached out his free hand, and gently touched the shimmering blue weaving.
He was instantly transported.
And yet… not.
He could still feel himself in the Woven Nest, still hand-in-hand with Addie, as if she tethered him to that physical place. And if that was the case…
This is something different. Something new. But…
It was strange. The world around him was the blue of the River of Time, with shimmering bolts of light bouncing here and there, and a faint tick-tick-tick-tick- in the distance.
It’s like Time-state. The new Time-state, ever since my Trial.
But he was clearly not in the Woven Nest. The scenery, bathed in blue, was wholly alien and unfamiliar. And it was constantly changing. Great, craggy islands formed and then were washed away. Trees sprouted, grew, withered, and collapsed in seconds. Roads wound along, and people filled them, then vanished. The same roads turned into rivers, then wild waterfalls that tumbled, tumbled, tumbled out of sight, emptying into the void, leaving the landscape clean and empty once more.
On and on the transformations went, and Caleb stood, watching in silence.
Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-
Caleb was suddenly aware of a sensation. It was like touch, but somehow, he knew it wasn’t the same. This place wasn’t properly physical, not in the way he understood it. But in this place…
Caleb looked to his right, and saw the woman. Here she was, more clear and real than ever before. Her whole body was the blue of the River of Time, and yet she didn’t blend into the landscape, standing out distinctly. Her hand rested on Caleb’s arm, and she smiled at him in the same melancholy way she always did.
“Can I —”
Caleb caught himself as he tried to talk. His voice didn’t have the same feel or sound as it would normally. It was… like everything else in this place… strange. But the woman tilted her head slightly, eyes on him expectantly. So he continued.
“Can I talk to you?”
The woman nodded, but said nothing. And that answered Caleb’s next question, so he left it unasked.
She can’t… or won’t… speak.
So what do I…
“What… am I supposed to learn here? All of this…” Caleb gestured at the changing landscape, “I don’t…” He stopped, chuckling. “I feel like I’m saying it a lot lately. But I don’t understand.”
The woman looked away, the turn of her head somehow inviting Caleb to look with her. He did, and the landscape suddenly became completely, startlingly, empty. For a long while, Caleb waited.
Slowly, new forms started to appear. Like paint, but somehow forming three-dimensional shapes, the forms came to life as a scene. A platform, and a tall, narrow house. A stack of crates, and…
Two people.
It’s… my training. With Mister Midnight.
There was Caleb’s three-dimensional silhouette, hands on his knees, gasping for breath. And Midnight, sitting casually atop the stack of crates, shoulders shaking with boisterous laughter.
The scene lasted a moment longer, then shrunk, surrounded by a translucent bubble, and floated high and away. A new scene was painted in three dimensions, and Caleb recognized it more quickly than the last.
Christmas at Greyson Manor.
How old was I in this one? Everyone’s there, even Fae… and Delilah and the twins are so small. I must’ve just been starting high school.
The memory brought a pang to his heart. Before Fae’s group had left Greyson Manor, Madeline had shared with everyone the drawing Fae had been able to make, of everyone together for Christmas.
“For hope.”
Those two words resounded in his heart.
For Fae to write that…
She’s been through so much. She’s changed so much. And I’ve…
…missed all of it.
It felt bittersweet, both because he hadn’t been able to see Fae’s growth, and because the last time he’d “seen” her, she hadn’t really been there. Not in a way that he could see or interact with.
Fae… please, don’t give up. I can’t imagine what you’re going through. But I’m looking forward to seeing you again, really seeing you. Back in your body, like you should be.
This memory, too, shrank down and was encased in a bubble, floating off to join the first. One by one, more memories did the same. He saw himself choosing new glasses in Alexandra’s mansion; his first day as a proper Hunter with Chelsea; battling Valgwyn in the Library of Solitude with Mister Midnight; winning the national championships with his swim team in his final year of high school. Each of these memories became encased in a bubble, and they floated together as the landscape transformed into the River of Time itself. The bubbles arranged themselves in proper chronological order, fitting into place along thousands more, and far more than that, more than Caleb could keep track of, all flitting by so fast that he couldn’t get a proper look at any of them. But it was now that he understood, because this was familiar.
“I saw this,” he said, looking at the woman beside him, “at the place beyond the Time Wilds. But this means…”
The woman who had overseen the River of Time had hinted as much, but now Caleb understood what she’d meant.
“I can… I can look at these memories, pick them out and view them myself?”
The blue woman beside him nodded.
“But it’s impossible to travel through —” But Caleb stopped himself. “I see. It’s not traveling. I can look, but I can’t touch, can’t interact. But I can look at more than just my own memories, like I did at the River of Time before, right?” Another nod.
Caleb took this all in. Sensing that his time here was drawing to a close, he found himself amazed by what he’d learned, but also frustrated. Because he had questions about Time-state, about how his powers operated now, and instead he’d only learned…
…about something new.
“Do you… at least have a name?” Caleb asked this as the blue woman was starting to drift away, fading into the River of Time.
The woman’s melancholy smile seemed even sadder, and yet there was a spark of joy, as well. A name floated to him, not in a voice, not in sound, but as if it wrote itself onto his heart:
“Kaia.”
Caleb smiled at the name and waved goodbye, watching Kaia vanish.
And then he was back, as if he’d never gone anywhere. Standing before the Time weaving, holding Addie’s hand, with Ariadne beside him.
“Welcome back,” Ariadne said, bowing her head.
“You were gone so long!” Addie said, squeezing Caleb’s hand.
“Really?” Caleb asked. It hadn’t felt very long. But…
“Time is a strange thing,” Ariadne said. “Humans, Enchanted, and us Weavers as well, experience it in a linear fashion, and yet that is not the true shape of Time. Where you went…”
“Where was it, really?” Caleb asked. “I’ve been in the River of Time, multiple times. I’ve been to the Edge of Time, where I could see it from the outside. But that place in there… it was different.”
“Like your Time-state,” Ariadne said, earning a nod from Caleb. “But not exactly the same. The Weavings of Time are —”
She cut off, as a sudden, clear peal of a bell rang from a distance. “Danger,” she said in a hushed tone. She started off, just as two male Weavers with their ornate weapons arrived to escort her. “Come with me, you two,” she said to Caleb and Addie. “But keep your heads down unless I say otherwise.”
Caleb scooped Addie into his arms and leapt from the high ramp, careful to avoid touching other weavings, and landed lightly on the soft, springy floor, hurrying after Ariadne. He kept carrying Addie, because the Weaver Queen led them at a pace the little girl wouldn’t have been able to keep up with. The path they took through the winding tunnels, through so many crossovers and switchbacks, left Caleb disoriented, and he knew he would never be able to find his way alone.
Or maybe I could. If I could access this memory, then I could study the path and memorize the Nest’s layout.
It was an idle, fleeting thought, background noise in Caleb’s mind as he focused on following Ariadne. But it stuck with him, as a further understanding of applications for his new power — a power he still had yet to attempt to use.
They emerged, out onto the hill where Caleb and the others had entered the nest. Ariadne motioned for Caleb to stay back and out of sight, but as soon as Caleb saw the pair hovering above the treetops, he struggled to follow the Queen’s orders.
Sal was here. And beside him was Valgwyn, half his face horribly burn-scarred.
They weren’t hovering, as Caleb had first thought. Behind them was a portal of darkness, and at their feet was a pitch-black platform likely born of the living darkness.
“Sal!” Caleb shouted, setting Addie down and motioning for her to stay out of sight as he stepped out into the light. “What do you want with this place?”
Sal wore his constant, unflappable smile. That lazy smile that also carried with it such an air of haughty, elitist arrogance. “Why, pray tell, would I answer such a question?” he asked.
“You must leave this place, Lord of Night,” Ariadne said. Despite the anger in her voice, none of the beautiful, melodious sound was gone from her tone. She showed grace no matter the circumstance.
So…
Caleb stared up at Sal.
…he really is the Lord of Night, then.
It wasn’t just theory or conjecture anymore. Ariadne wouldn’t say such a thing lightly.
Sal sighed, waving his hand. “I’m not remotely interested in what I ‘must’ or ‘must not’ do.”
“Mister Midnight told me about you,” Caleb said, taking a step forward. “Sal… you went after the Radiant King for revenge. But now… what happened to you? How did you end up here?”
Sal raised an eyebrow, just slightly. “Vengeance has been cast far from my mind,” he said. “But back then… yes. I tried to kill Leon for what he’d done. My mother’s blood stained his hands. And he very nearly killed me.” He shrugged, even chuckled. “It was a fool’s errand, on my part. A fool against fools, and the lone fool took the fall. I thought I was dead. I awoke in darkness, and remained there all alone for so long. When I realized I wasn’t dead… well. Everything changed. You’ll hear the story one day, I’m sure. But now isn’t the time for waxing poetic about the past. Valgwyn and I only came here for one reason.”
“And what’s that?” Caleb asked. His pocket watch was in his hand, gleaming with white light. “If you mean harm for this place —”
“Oh, I do,” Sal said. “But save your heroic speeches and threats.” His smile turned into a smirk. “I have made a choice. That is all you need to know in order to realize that any opposition would be futile.” He nodded to Valgwyn. “Valgwyn, you see, has a very special role. All of my Sons do. But Valgwyn… he is a catalyst. Or, in less-flattering terms, but just as accurately, he’s a gardener. He plants the seeds that make all our dreams possible.” He waved, and only then did Caleb realize it was too late. Valgwyn’s languid, deceptive slowness fooled him as it had at the Library of Solitude. Bow was already in the Son of Night’s hand, with black, writhing arrow already fitted to the string. Caleb couldn’t even enter Time-state before the arrow was fired, before it struck the ground just a few yards in front of him.
“You have made a grievous error,” Ariadne said, glaring up at Sal. But Sal simply chuckled, stepping back into his portal, Valgwyn following. The portal closed, and Caleb was left reeling at his own helplessness.
It had all happened so fast. Too fast. And yet…
It was like… my mind was telling my body what to do, but my body wasn’t receiving the message.
He stared at the pocket watch in his hand, his Talisman. It gleamed brightly with magic left unused.
Did Sal… stop me? Without me even realizing he’d done something?
But he couldn’t think anymore. His attention went with Ariadne to the spot where the arrow had struck. Darkness was spreading from the point of impact, webbing outward like poisoned veins, transforming the snow-covered ground from pristine white to pitch black.
“What do we do?” Addie cried, racing out and staring at the spreading darkness in horror.
“We can seal off this place,” Ariadne said. “We can escape, evacuate everyone. The darkness will not destroy us. Only…”
Caleb saw her gaze go back to the tunnel into the Woven Nest, and his heart skipped a beat. “Shana,” he said.
Ariadne nodded. “We cannot wake her prematurely. And until she has purified the nightmares of the Weavers of Dreams, we cannot move them. We cannot evacuate them.”
Caleb gripped his pocket watch tightly. “What can I do to help?”
Ariadne issued brief orders to the pair of guards with her, and they raced back down the tunnel. “If you can, stand with us,” she said to Caleb, taking a few steps towards the spreading darkness. She tapped the ground just ahead of where Caleb stood with one of her arachnid legs, and a thin line of white light crossed the ground, a small barrier between them and the darkness. “We cannot stop the spread, only delay it. The Woven Nest will not stand forever — and once it falls into darkness, it will remain so until Valgwyn — and likely Sal as well — are vanquished for good. We have other places we can go, and once sealed, the darkness will be contained to this place alone. But until Shana awakes and rescues the Weavers of Dreams, we must hold the line.”
“Addie, stay behind me,” Caleb said, standing beside Ariadne, facing the darkness. It wasn’t just spreading across the ground, but also beginning to bubble up, writhing and foaming. Creatures were beginning to form from the darkness, slowly birthed from the viscous toxin.
With a word from Ariadne, she and Caleb began the battle.
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