Weavers (The Frost Chronicles) (24 page)

I turned another page and sucked in a breath. Here it was.

What woven secret will keep you warm
?

I traced the words with my fingertip. “It was my father’s riddle,” I said. “And the answer led us to the PLD.” I tapped my hand against the device. “The woven secret was my mother’s quilt—a map of the Frost—and we found the hiding place of the device hidden in the stitches.” I turned another page and saw another word that made me dizzy.

Weavers
.

“My family name,” I said.

Borde’s eyes were alight with interest, but I glanced at the clock and my heart sank.

“I have to get back and find my friends. They will be frantic. We’re out of time. And I can’t tell them about you.”

“I understand,” he said. He gathered up the teacups and rose to carry them to the kitchen. When he returned, he looked at the PLD but didn’t touch it.

“Before,” he said. “You said you are all leaving tomorrow. Or, today, rather.” He glanced at the clock ruefully.

“Yes,” I said. “We have to make the jump back during the window of opportunity, and that only comes at certain specific intervals. And we don’t dare stay longer with the Sickness spreading.”

He nodded, absorbing this. I could tell he had more questions that he longed to ask, but he was restraining himself. I was grateful. I didn’t know how much I could answer, or how much I should reveal. I’d already told him far too much...but so had he.

The weight of the secrets I’d accumulated pressed against me as I rose from the chair and picked up the PLD. I snapped the case shut and slung it over my back.

“Come,” Borde said. “I’ll drive you back.”

~

I climbed from his vehicle at the entrance to the town. I didn’t want anyone to see me with one of the top scientists of the Compound and start asking questions. I made the rest of the trek in the dark, and when I reached the barracks, I went inside and trudged to my room. Every muscle in my body screamed with exhaustion, but I didn’t know if I even had time to catch more than a few hours of sleep. Also, I needed to find Jacob somehow and let him know that I’d found it.

When I stepped inside my room, hands grabbed me.

“Gabe,” I gasped, relieved when I recognized him.

“What’s going on?” he demanded. “Jacob is frantic. He says the PLD is missing. There’s a security breach at the Center. Everyone is on lockdown—”

“I’ve got it,” I interrupted. “I found it.” I slung the device off my shoulder and set it on the bed.

“What? How—?” He looked from my face to the PLD as his shoulders sagged with relief.

“It is an impossibly long story,” I said. “Do you think you can find Jacob and tell him? He wasn’t at the Security Center.”

“When were you at the Security Center?”

“Not long ago.” I fingered the dried blood on the place where I’d cut my finger.

“No one is supposed to go there now. There’s been a breach.”

“I know,” I admitted, the sentence an exhale. I sank onto the bed beside the device. I felt scraped, squeezed, and strung too thin.

Gabe studied my expression for a moment. “You have things you aren’t telling me,” he said finally.

“I’m sorry.” It was all I could offer, at least for now.

He nodded. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or not. “I will find Jacob and bring him here to speak with you.”

“Thank you.”

He pressed a hand to my cheek, and then he went out and I was alone.

I locked the door, tumbled into the bed, and shut my eyes.

But sleep wouldn’t come. Thoughts filled my head. Ideas.

Atticus had told me only to bring the people on the list. In fact, he’d threatened my family if I didn’t. However, the situation here was becoming increasingly dangerous. I couldn’t just leave them. What about Juniper, Claire, the children...Gabe? With the Sickness spreading and the threat of war, I didn’t have the heart to deny anyone passage home, but my loyalty lay first with my family.

I touched the dried blood at the end of my finger, thoughtful. My mind spun. I was a Weaver. My blood gave me access to the Frost in a way no one else’s did. And...the same was true for Jonn and Ivy.

It was my trump card.

Atticus wouldn’t dare hurt them. Not if they were worth so much. I had to count on that.

When the footsteps finally signaled Gabe’s return, I had washed and dressed in a clean uniform. My eyes felt full of sand and my muscles still ached, but I felt alert again. I was ready.

It was time.

Gabe knocked and I let him in. Jacob stood behind him, eying me warily. They stepped inside and shut the door. “You’ve got it back?”

“Yes, no thanks to Claire.”

“Claire?” Gabe interrupted. “What does she have to do with it?”

“She helped one of the scientists steal the PLD.”

“I don’t believe it,” he said.

“It’s true.” I crossed my arms and glared at them both, daring them to argue further.

Jacob scowled. “I’ll tell the others to watch for her, but there’s little we can do about that at the moment. We have to get out of here. What about the matter of the list?”

There was much that needed to be said, as much as I didn’t want to deal with this now. I looked from him to the PLD.

“You don’t want to leave anyone behind—”

“I won’t.” He gritted it through clenched teeth.

“I know,” I said. My stomach twisted into a knot of apprehension. This was the move I’d decided was the best one. The smartest one. It was the gamble that just might pay off. “So...we’ll take them all.”

Gabe straightened, blinked.

Jacob’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Just like that?” he asked.

“Just like that.” I crossed my arms, hiding my cut finger.

“What’s the catch?” he asked. Suspicion leaked into his tone. He looked at the PLD again.

“No catch,” I assured him. “But you have to know...you go to a difficult situation. Aeralian soldiers have occupied my village, led by an officer called Raine. There is little food, and the Frost is, as you may know, quite dangerous.”

“I know,” he said. “But right now I think it’s safer than staying here.”

~

The fugitives gathered in the meeting room in the basement where they had their weekly meetings. Someone had spread the word—I didn’t know who. By the time Jacob, Gabe, and I arrived, they had all assembled. Tired faces and expectant eyes turned toward us as we entered the room. I looked, but didn’t see Claire.

Did she know we were looking for her? Did she know we knew what she’d done?

I stopped at the back of the room. The PLD thumped against my shoulder blade as I toyed with the case strap. I set down my bag of clothes and other things, which now included the mysterious sealed box from Borde that I was bringing back for Jonn. Gabe stood beside me and his presence gave me strength.

Jacob stepped to the front of the room and addressed the fugitives.

“Fellow travelers,” he said. “Today, we are offered a choice. A chance. A gift. We have a way to return home to the world we came from, to the life we left.”

“But what do we return to?” someone called. “We’ve built a life here for ourselves.”

“Yes, but the Sickness—” another began.

Jacob lifted his hands, calling for quiet. The questions died away to a low murmur, an undercurrent that punctuated his next words. “Nobody has to go if they don’t want to,” he said. “We will be returning to perilous times. The device—a type of gate—returns us to the Frost at the exact place where we originally left. Aeralian soldiers now occupy it. There is little food or shelter for us. It will be hard. I will not pretend otherwise. However, I want everyone who wishes to return to have the opportunity. This world will not be safe forever.”

He meant the Sickness, we knew, and other things. Everyone knew that this world no longer existed in the future. What nobody knew was when it ended. Nobody knew how long it would be safe to stay.

Silence swept the room. Heads turned, wide eyes met and held. I could see them evaluating. If they left now, would they be leaping from the frying pan into the fire?

My gaze fell on two small children sitting beside a woman in a gray uniform, and my heart stuttered as I recognized them. The two fugitive children I’d rescued in the forest and hidden in my barn. The boy gazed at me with solemn eyes, giving no sign that he recognized me, and the girl stared at the ground. Their chests rose and fell with even breaths. The woman sitting beside them patted the boy’s shoulders, and I wondered if they wanted to come back to the harsh, unforgiving world they had left. This one must have been kinder to them.

Suddenly, the urge to speak was almost more than I could bear. I cleared my throat and spoke loudly, so my voice would carry over the whispered words.

“Fellow fugitives,” I said.

Heads swiveled in my direction. I licked my lips, apprehensive. My hands were clammy and my legs trembled, but I had no time to focus on fear. I needed to speak my piece.

“I don’t want anyone to be deceived. As Jacob said, if you come back with us, you return to perilous times. There is little food. Never-ending snow. Watchers. The Aeralian soldiers have taken over my village. Our world is unsafe.” I paused. “But it is our world. Our families are there.” I thought of Ivy, of Jonn. “Those we love are there.” Adam flashed before my eyes, and I blinked. Ann too. I pushed away those thoughts. I did not have time for them, not right now. “So I won’t pretend it will be easy. Here you have warmth and food and some veneer of safety. There is the Sickness, yes. There is talk of war, yes. But in many ways it is easier. So, you choose, but if you return with us, you are going to have to hide again. You are going to have to struggle. You are going to have to take an oath of loyalty—” I paused again and looked at Jacob firmly. “—to the Thorns.”

I checked the faces of the travelers. They were listening. I saw Juniper at the back of the crowd, watching me intently.

He was nodding.

Strength flowed through me in a surge, and I lifted my chin and spoke louder, clearer. “If you come back with us, you will bind yourselves to secrecy. You will join with us, swear loyalty to our cause. You have seen much and your knowledge is dangerous. But you can help. You can make a difference.”

Their expressions were ragged with hope and fear and uncertainty. Eyes softened at my words and mouths curved. I could see that they were tired. They were tired of waiting, doing nothing, simply existing like rats in a hole. I could see that my words were feeding strength and courage into hearts.

“So come,” I said. “And join us. Or stay. Only commit to do what you know you can. Commit what you know you can keep.”

With that, I knelt to the ground and began to take out the device from its case.

It was time to go.

Gabe crouched beside me. “What can I do?” he asked. “I want to help.”

The PLD was heavy in my hands as I placed it on the ground. My fingers tingled against the cold metal, and as I powered it on, light glittered over our faces and danced on his face. Our eyes met and held. A world of unspoken things passed between us. Vulnerability, empathy, hope.

I withdrew the page with Jonn’s scribbled instructions from my pocket and passed it to him. “Help me,” I said, and my words were an invitation of trust.

Jacob was speaking again. “If you wish to go, gather your things and return in less than half an hour. If you wish to stay, say your goodbyes.”

The people rose and began reaching for one another. Mouths moved, hands squeezed hands.

Gabe helped me lay out the wires and punch in the codes. The PLD hummed to life beneath our fingers. Green light shot out in streams and played across the ceiling of the room, making patterns like light over water. Light leaked from the seams. Once I’d arranged the wires in the right pattern—each one stretched out straight at equal distances from the others, like spokes splaying from a wheel—I pressed the largest button, and the PLD sprang to life.

Light erupted from the center in a column that plumed outward, fanning into a circle of pulsating energy. A low rumble filled the room. Jacob went very still as he stared at the newly made gate.

“Incredible,” he whispered, and wonder leaked into his voice.

The light danced and snaked in lazy spirals in the center of the gate’s eye. I was transfixed as I watched the colors collapse and reanimate. It was like strange fire, like the lights that sometimes danced in the winter sky. It was beautiful.

Gabe’s fingers found mine. “We’ve each done this alone,” he said, “but this time we’re going to do it together. Don’t be afraid.”

“I’m not,” I said out of habit, because I was always the strong one whether it was true or not. But then, I realized that the words I spoke were true. I wasn’t afraid. I was full of wonder, exhilaration. Happiness.

I was going home.

The door opened, and Juniper re-entered the room. I hadn’t even seen him leave. He carried two packs with him. “If you’re going to be living in a place with not much food, you might need some supplies,” he said with a weary laugh. He dropped the packs at our feet. “This should feed a few people for a week.”

I bent and opened one of the packs. Cans of food glittered in the green light of the gate. I raised my eyes to his. “Thank you,” I said.

He nodded somberly.

I found Jacob. “If the others do not return in time, they will be left,” I said.

“I understand.”

Agitation rippled through my blood as the minutes ticked past. I itched to turn and step through that gate, but we had to wait. According to Jonn’s instructions, once we opened it, we would only have a little time. We had to wait and all go at once.

The door creaked open and shut as some of the fugitives returned. I counted more than a dozen that gathered around us, clutching packs and bags and wearing their coats. The two young children who I’d personally rescued months before were among those preparing to leave. Their eyes were round and their mouths clamped tightly shut. They clung to each other, but they didn’t cry. The thin woman was not with them.

I wondered what thoughts ran through their young minds. How did one make such a decision at such an age?