Warped (Maurissa Guibord)

and hung on. "I hit it with my tennis racket. But I don't think--It may not be dead."
    "We'll see," he said, gently disengaging her fingers.
    Tessa crept behind her father as he climbed the stairs. He opened the door to her bedroom. Inside, the rumpled bedcover lay on the floor, motionless. He stepped forward and prodded the mess with the toe of his shoe. "Under here?"
    "Yes, be careful," said Tessa. She cast her eyes over every inch of the floor, watching for any movement. But the room seemed empty, still.
    Her father picked up one edge of the flowered coverlet. With a quick jerk he snatched it back. The floor was empty.
    Tessa shook her head in disbelief. "It's gone," she murmured. No way could it have slid under the door. It was too big. "I'll check under the bed," her father said, hunching over.
    "No!" Tessa grabbed him. The tapestry, she thought, with a sudden sureness. The snake had come out of the tapestry. And now it was gone. She could sense it.
    "I--I think I must have fallen asleep and had a bad dream," Tessa stammered.
    "You fell asleep?" Her father glanced at her curiously. "At five in the afternoon? You must be sick." He put his hand to her forehead. "You don't feel hot."
    "I'm okay, Dad," Tessa said, pulling away. "I'm just kind of tired. Sorry about scaring you. The snake, I mean. It couldn't have been real. Sorry."
    Her father straightened and surveyed the room: the toppled lamp, the books strewn on the floor. "Must have been some dream," he commented.
    Tessa looked down at the comforter. There was a gash torn through the middle of it. "Yeah," she replied to her father, bending to pick it up before he could notice the damage. Even she couldn't dream that violently.
    "Are you scared, Tessa? You know, about the break-in?" her father asked. "You don't need to be. I'm putting in a security system, new locks, everything. You're safe, honey."
    "I know. Thanks, Dad." Tessa righted the lamp. Safe was the last thing she was, and she knew it. But she did her best to give a normal, relaxed smile. Literally lying through her teeth.
    Her father left with a shake of his head, and Tessa ducked down to peek under the bed. Cautiously, she dragged the tapestry out, touching only the edges. She unfolded it. There was the snake, appearing exactly the same as before. Except for one thing: it was now lying on the grass in the foreground. It had moved.
    Tessa had supper with her father, then told him she was going to make an early night of it. In her room she emptied a gym bag and with quick, gingerly motions stuffed the tapestry and the Texo Vita inside. When she was certain her father had gone to bed, she walked to the back stairway, up to the studio, and knocked on the thin door. "Will!" she whispered. "Let me in."
    Silence followed, and Tessa had the sudden, sickening feeling that something terrible had happened. He was gone.
    But the door opened and Will stood there. The room was dark, but moonlight washed in from the tall windows and made him a dark silhouette, gleaming around the edges.
    "At last," he muttered. "Mistress Brody." He reached out and hauled her into the room.
    "Are you all right?" she demanded. She peered around. "Did anything weird happen here?"
    "Weird?" he repeated coldly. "In the context of my life the term has little meaning, mistress." He watched her as she dropped the gym bag to the floor. "You're shaking," he said in a softer tone. He stepped closer and took her arm in a firm clasp. "What has happened?"
    For a moment Tessa's brain refused to focus on anything except how close he was. How tall and strong he felt next to her. What would it be like, she thought, to take just one step closer? To melt against him, just for a second? The feeling was so strong, she sensed herself sway. It was like standing next to a cliff.
    "There was a snake," she said finally, in a low voice. "Like a Jurassic Park snake."
    "A snake? From a park? I don't understand you."
    Tessa closed her eyes. "A really huge snake came from the tapestry. It was in my room."
    "Did you conjure it out?" Will demanded. "Did you pull another thread?"
    Tessa glared. "No. I didn't do anything. I was reading," she said. "I heard a noise under the bed and then, boom. Or," she corrected herself, "more like hiss . And there it was."
    Will gave a grimace and then a curt nod. "Was it of a rather large size?" he asked. "Yellow and green?" In the dim light she could see him watching her intently.
    "Yeah. How did you know that?"
    "I have seen this