Warped (Maurissa Guibord)

will be torn apart."
    Slowly the painful sensations of light and heat faded. Tessa took a deep breath and lowered her arm.
    "Look," Tessa said, her voice shaking, "Norn ladies. I didn't steal anything. I swear."
    "Return what was stolen, mortal," said Scytha. "You have meddled in works that you cannot comprehend. Seven threads. Seven lives. The loss of them has caused a rift in the Wyrd. For five hundred years we have searched for what was stolen. Now you have revealed yourself to us. You will not escape."
    "I don't know how this happened, but--" Tessa broke off. She swallowed and straightened. "I didn't steal anything," she repeated. "And Will's not a thread. He's a person. He's not going back."
    There was silence as the dark, cloaked beings in the mirror seemed to take this in.
    "This is your decision?" Scytha asked. "To defy us?"
    "Y-yes," Tessa stammered, lifting her chin and stepping back from the mirror.
    "It is a foolish one."
    The Norn wavered, and disappeared.

Chapter 25

You know your life is completely screwed up when you have to look up the mythological figures who talk to you in the bathroom mirror.
    "These women," Tessa told Opal as they sat on the front stoop of the bookstore the next morning. "They called themselves the Norn. They're the Fates who spin and weave and cut the threads of life."
    "No way."
    "Yeah. Way." Tessa bent her legs, resting her arms and her head on her knees. "I Googled them.
    "When Gray Lily stole threads of life, it kind of messed up the scheme of things. The Norn have been looking for the stolen threads ever since. They think I'm her. I mean, the one who stole the threads."
    After her confrontation with the Norn, Tessa had hardly slept, remembering the three ghostly figures in the mirror. She had stayed awake, expecting an eerie blue glow to creep into her bedroom mirror somehow, even though she'd kept the lights on. She'd also plugged in her old butterfly night-light as well as a Lava lamp, just in case.
    "The Fates. The real Fates," Opal repeated. She poked Tessa in the arm to get her attention. "So they could basically ..." She paused and made a quick slashing motion across her neck with one finger.
    "Um. I guess so." Tessa frowned, remembering the scissors and the searing light. "Thanks for the visual."
    "Well, don't worry," Opal said. "I mean, I'm sure they wouldn't do anything hasty. I mean, maybe they'd have to okay it with somebody first before they ..." She glanced skyward. "Maybe fill out a form or something?"
    "It's kind of strange," Tessa said thoughtfully. "All these so-called myths and fables. Everyone seems to have the same ones. They cross cultures and continents. Everyone has their own versions of unicorns, witches, even the Fates. Now we know why. Because they're real."
    Opal nodded. "Makes sense, I guess. Maybe in the olden days people even told those creepy fairy tales to kids for a reason. Maybe there really were trolls under all the bridges.
    Yikes."
    They were both silent. Tessa took a deep breath. "I am so scared," she said finally. "What am I going to do?"
    Opal's small face pinched up as she concentrated. She tapped one high-heeled boot on the pavement in a staccato rhythm. "What about getting someone to do an exorcism or calling one of those ghost hunter teams from television?" she offered.
    Tessa shook her head. "I think this is bigger than anything they could handle. These things aren't ghosts. Somehow they exist right now--just not in a place we can see."
    Opal nodded. "Maybe you just have to play along. Give the Norn ladies what they want."
    "I can't, " Tessa said. "That's the problem. They want the thread. And by that they mean Will. I wouldn't give him to those creepy women even if I knew how."
    Opal smiled and said something under her breath.
    "What did you say?" Tessa asked, narrowing her eyes.
    "I said you're smitten."
    "Oh, come on," Tessa said with a roll of her eyes, then glanced back and said hesitantly, "Really obvious, huh?"
    "Yeah," said Opal, eyeing her. "He smit you good."
    Tessa sighed and shook her head. "Well, it doesn't even matter, because this is all some kind of crazy, impossible thing that I don't even understand."
    "Uh-huh." Opal grinned like a maniac and bobbled her head. "Smitten with the esquire."
    "Okay." Tessa held up a hand. "Change of subject. Please? Like if the Norn are so in charge, how did Gray Lily manage to steal Will's thread in the first place?" She stopped, recalling the words of the Norn. "Actually," she