Warped (Maurissa Guibord)

cried Tessa. "But you're a monster!" Hannibal's ears flattened and he tossed his head as he stepped in place. Tessa gripped his sides with her legs and went on, "You took Will's life. You've trapped him in this tapestry for hundreds of years."
    Gray Lily made a sharp, derisive noise. "You know nothing about it. I protected his life."
    "What are you talking about?" Tessa said slowly.
    "Do you know what came to Cornwall a fortnight after I took the young master?" Gray Lily asked. When Tessa answered her with only a silent, distrustful stare, she went on. "A plague of smallpox. The entire village was wiped out. They all died, with bleeding pustules and fever and racking pain." Gray Lily paused and watched Tessa. "Will de Chaucy was to die. That was the life the young master had to look forward to."
    Tessa stared. "You're lying," she whispered. But she lowered her weapon.
    "Look it up," Gray Lily said tersely. "You'll find no modern village of Hartescross. No descendents of Gervais de Chaucy. Or," she added, perhaps seeing the flicker of uncertainty cross Tessa's face, "you already have. Yes. You know that what I say is true."
    Tessa swallowed. Her throat felt parched. She stared at Gray Lily, trying to take in what she'd been told. Smallpox.
    "You had no right. He might have lived," Tessa said, but her voice carried all the weight and conviction of smoke from a dying fire. In the Middle Ages people did die from plagues of infection. It would explain why the village was wiped out, gone from history. Why there were no descendants of Will's family. Tessa's grip on the crossbow slackened.
    Gray Lily shrugged. "If I hadn't taken him, he would have been laid rotting in a shroud before another month had passed. And you? You would never have seen the unicorn in the tapestry. You would never have met him. Do you regret that?" Gray Lily pressed.
    "No," answered Tessa dully. "I don't regret meeting him."
    "Then why not let him live on? Here. It is your only choice."
    Choice? Tessa saw no choices anymore. Everything was going too fast, and there no time left for her to think. If the stolen threads were not returned, her father's life, her whole world, would be destroyed. And if Will's thread went back to the Norn, what would happen to him? Would he go back to suffer and die with the plague?
    What can you do when you have no choices?
    At the edge of the trees a twig snapped. The unicorn stepped into the clearing. It was Will. Without a doubt. His eyes were fixed on Tessa, and his breath blew in gusts of vapor against the cool air. The strong columns of his legs were spattered with mud, and bloody scratches marred the milky white shoulders and flanks.
    The unicorn seemed to light up the dusky gloom of the clearing as he stepped forward. Tessa could only watch in heartbreak as the beautiful creature came closer, elegant and strong. "Will," she whispered.
    "Of course," muttered Gray Lily. "I should have known he would come. You are the virgin in his haunts."
    "Except I'm not here to trap him," whispered Tessa. "I'm here to save him." She swept a cold look at Gray Lily. "And it's got nothing to do with being a damned virgin."
    Gray Lily gave her a curious look.
    "He came here because he loves me."
    Dizziness washed over Tessa, and she stiffened her body against it. She closed her eyes. She had been here before. She took a breath, recognizing the herbal scent of the wet grass and the sounds of birds. Other visions, other dreams came back now, crystalline and real. Running in terror from the woods. Tearing off a bloody gown that didn't belong to her. In another life, in another time, she was the girl who had trapped Will de Chaucy. An aching sense of loss invaded every part of her.
    Kill the unicorn, Tessa .
    Find the first. Return the seven .
    Was Will's thread the first that Gray Lily had stolen? It made sense. His thread had given her power and youth.
    "Do as I say, girl, and come here," Gray Lily demanded, interrupting Tessa's thoughts. "Or the unicorn will suffer. Would you like a demonstration?"
    She clutched a thread in her supple fingers and twisted. Hugh de Chaucy stepped out of the shadows. Tessa saw the glint of the spear tip as he raised his weapon. Aimed at the unicorn.
    "No," Hugh whispered. He turned a pathetic gaze on Gray Lily. "I beg you." His head shook back and forth as if he were having a seizure and was trying to control his own limbs. Gray Lily made a small flicking motion with her fingers.
    "Hugh," Tessa screamed.