Warped (Maurissa Guibord)

hundred years ago? Servitude. Filth. Disease. Spawning children whether or not your body could bear it. Whether or not you could feed them. The Norn made life where none should be. And cut down other young lives like blades of winter grass." Her hands were flexing and fisting rhythmically as she spoke. Her huge silver ring with its yellow stone glinted. "Those hags controlled everything. They still do."
    "That's not true," Tessa said. "People make choices."
    "No. The Fates decide," said Gray Lily. "Tessa Brody," she went on, "do you want your life back?"
    "Yes," whispered Tessa, staring into the hard black eyes. "That's why I have to return the threads you stole to the Norn. They've made my father sick. And changed my friend Opal. Everything is ... wrong."
    Gray Lily let out a bark of laughter. "So that's it. You've become an errand girl for the Norn." She sat down in a chair and leaned back, then pushed her high heels from bunion-knotted feet. "Their threats don't frighten me."
    "And why should they?" Tessa said angrily. "It's not your life they're destroying. And it's not a threat. My father is dying." Her throat closed around the last word, as if her vocal cords would refuse to produce it. He was dying .
    "Everyone dies, child. Except me, of course." Gray Lily slitted her eyes to watch Tessa and smiled. "It's interesting. No, ironic, really, that it's you again after all these years. I don't like irony."
    Tessa frowned. "Me again?" She repeated. Something lurched inside her.
    Gray Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. "You've had past lives, dearie. You think a thread is cut and that's the end? No. They weave you again. Twist you. Do whatever they wish with you. Again and again. You used to be a little slip of a thing with dirty skirts and a willful tongue." She slid a glance over Tessa. "Not much has changed."
    "The hunt," whispered Tessa. "I remember the hunt." The visions were real, then. She had been there in the wood when Will was captured. That was why she felt such a connection to him. The thought made her light-headed. The virgin in his haunts .
    "Yes," said Gray Lily. "I tried to get your thread that day as well, but you ran like a rabbit. And now here you are. Not only did you somehow release my unicorn, but now the Norn use you to get my threads. That's irony for you," she muttered. "Biting me in the ass."
    "They're not your threads," said Tessa, flashing her eyes to the old woman. "They are people's lives. And I will get them."
    Gray Lily shook her head. "No, child. You'll just die. And the Norn? They are beyond any pity or compassion. They won't give your old life back to you. Nor those of your loved ones." She cocked her head in a considering attitude. "But I can."
    Tessa didn't want to dwell on how confidently Gray Lily had just informed her of her impending death. "How?" she demanded.
    "You must help me capture de Chaucy again. I would have my unicorn back."
    "No!" Tessa said in a disgusted, angry voice. "He's a human being. Do you really think I would help you do that to him?" Tessa glanced at the dark tapestry and bit at her lip, wondering where on earth Will was, if he was okay. If he was alive.
    "He is whatever I make him," said Gray Lily with an impatient flip of her hand. "And as the unicorn he is more glorious than any frail, pathetic man could ever be. With my unicorn fixed once more in the tapestry, I will have Will de Chaucy's youth, his strength, forever." She looked at her own wrinkled hands. "I want those things. I can't last like this much longer."
    "I won't do it," said Tessa.
    "Then your father will die." Gray Lily yawned. Tessa glimpsed the black mouth and shivered. "I know the ways of the Norn. It will be slow and painful for him. And then you'll be all alone."
    Tessa twisted away from the old woman's gaze. She felt trapped and confused. The tapestry lay before her and she stared at it, mesmerized by the mysterious depths. She reached out a hand and imagined she could feel the living threads beneath the surface. Find the first. Return the seven . The words echoed and spun in her ears. She blinked.
    She thought she had spotted a silvery white thread.
    "Will," she said in a low cry. She felt dizzy. She swayed.
    Her outstretched fingers were still poised near the surface when a dirty hand ripped through the tapestry. And grabbed her.

Chapter 37

Tessa screamed and tried to wrench free, but the strong fingers tightened on her wrist and dragged her down. Her hand disappeared into the dark