Warped (Maurissa Guibord)

warm as living flesh. Tessa thought she could hear something: a faint thrumming sound was coming from the woven cloth. She peered more closely. Then she saw them--threads that were moving, shimmering and gliding through the interlacing network of fibers.
    "So. You can see them," said a low, whispery voice behind her.
    Tessa whirled around. "Gray Lily."
    The elderly woman stepped out of the shadows. She wore a silky blue dress whose draped neckline dipped, showing too much of a bony, caved-in-looking chest. Again, as in the alley, Tessa had the initial impression of frailty as the haggard woman shuffled forward. But up close, Gray Lily's eyes conveyed strength. Small, black, almost reptilian, and yet filled with a fierce power.
    "Good evening, child," said Gray Lily, nodding. "The tapestry draws you, doesn't it? And you can see the threads moving, I'll wager. Interesting," she mused, her gaze fixed avidly on Tessa. She gave a nod that might have been grudging approval. "Most people can't."
    "What have you done with Will?" said Tessa. "Where is he?"
    "The boy?" Gray Lily scowled as she looked at the tapestry. "Truth be told, I'm not entirely sure." She rubbed her stomach, a peculiar gesture, as if she were hungry and were debating what to eat. "Because of your father's impromptu arrival in the alley, I had to put de Chaucy's thread away before I could weave my unicorn. I believe his thread passed through the tapestry. He's inside somewhere." She waved a hand at the tapestry. "But don't worry. I'll find him and have my unicorn back once more." She glared at Tessa and stretched out a hand. "Now give me the book. I'll have no loose ends trailing behind me."
    Tessa hefted the package in her arms but made no move to hand it over.
    "Give it to me," Gray Lily ordered.
    "How can you be so selfish?" asked Tessa quietly. She took a step backward. "And so cruel?"
    "Cruel?" Gray Lily gave her an incredulous glare and lowered her hand. "Stupid girl," she muttered. "You think I am the villain? I'm not the villain. I was wronged. By them. " She paused. "You know of whom I speak?"
    "The Norn," said Tessa in a whisper.
    Gray Lily nodded, then hobbled to the draped window. She stood there for a moment as if mulling something over. Finally she turned.
    "I was a girl once, like you." She let out a raspy chuckle. "Full of hope and love and dreams. Can you imagine?"
    Tessa narrowed her eyes. "No."
    "It's true." Gray Lily nodded. "I loved a young man. John Porter was his name. One summer's day he fell from his horse and struck his head. He died three days later. Three days of torment. I sat by his side, watching him jerk and drool. I was powerless to help him," she said. "Nowadays they can treat such things, but back then--I just sat and watched as his brain swelled and burst inside his skull." Gray Lily's forehead furrowed and her small black eyes blinked. As if she were trying to remember how tears were shed.
    Tessa stayed silent for a long moment. "I'm sorry," she said gently. "But if he fell ..." She shook her head. "It was just an accident."
    "No!" Gray Lily shouted. Her face twisted in an ugly snarl. She stamped her foot. "Don't you understand? Even now? There are no accidents. It's all them. It's all planned by the Fates. Or the Norn, to be more precise." She bobbed her head at Tessa and said in a low, eager tone, "But that was the day I saw it."
    "Saw what?"
    Gray Lily's crooked hands wove a trail in the air. "I saw a faint thread drift away and out, through a crack in the shutter. I looked down and John was dead. Everyone in my village thought I imagined it, that I was crazed with grief," Gray Lily remarked. "But I knew what I had seen. It was only later that I understood it. It was the thread of John's life. It was his very soul leaving his body. I knew there must be a way to take hold of it. It took me many years, but finally I did it. I learned to control the threads of life. To weave life. "
    " Texo Vita, " whispered Tessa.
    "Yes."
    "How did you learn how to do it?" asked Tessa. "In the book you said you found something. A key."
    Gray Lily smiled crookedly. "Girl. I'm not about to share my secrets with the likes of you." She leaned forward. "I took only what I needed to be free. Now I have control of my life. My own world. Instead of them. Do you understand?"
    Tessa stared at her. "No one can control everything about their life."
    "Ah, but I can." Gray Lily looked at Tessa intently. "Do you know what it was to be a woman five