Midnight Awakening (Midnight Breed 3)

Lay it flat, please.

I'll clear the table, Savannah said, and she and Tess went to work quickly removing the food and dishes to make space. Okay, here you go.

Elise trailed Gabrielle as she spread the tapestry out. She studied the piece in silence for a moment, remembering the rest of the cryptic verse:

to the borderlands east turn

your eye

at the cross lies truth

I'd like to try something. I will need to fold the cloth, but I promise I'll be very careful.

At Gabrielle's agreeing nod, Elise brought the top of the tapestry toward the center of the design, then lifted the bottom of the piece and folded them so that the castle and the field below Lucan's mount met.

Castle and croft shall come together under the crescent moon,' she murmured, watching as the two meeting portions of the design formed a new picture.

It looks like some kind of mountain range, Tess said, as a distinctly shaped rock formation became visible within the stitches. How did you know to do that?

The Odolf journal contained odd scribblings--the same weird phrases that Petrov Odolf became obsessed with in the weeks before he went mad with Bloodlust and turned Rogue. The same phrases that his brother had written before he went Rogue. My God...it seemed like a puzzle we were never going to solve.

Gabrielle's eyes were wide. You mean this tapestry is somehow linked to all of that?

I think it must be, Elise whispered. She looked back down at the folded design. To the borderlands east turn your eye...' Maybe if we turn the tapestry to the left?

She pivoted the weaving ninety degrees, so that the top border was facing east. The folded center was running vertical now. And within the design emerged another--one that hadn't been obviously visible until held at this new angle. The faint outline of a cross was stitched into the tapestry, and in the center of it was a single word spelled out in the threads.

Praha,' Elise read aloud, astonished that a voice from so long ago was suddenly speaking through the silk and canvas of her work. The secret, whatever it is, is in Prague.

That's incredible, Savannah gasped.

She reached out and ran her fingertips over the hidden text. No sooner had they skimmed the stitches when the female drew her hand back as if she'd been burned.

Oh, my God. Her dark brown eyes were stricken and wide. She pressed her hand down onto the fabric again, holding it there in grave silence.

Savannah, what do you feel?

When she finally spoke, her voice was airless with dread. This tapestry has a few more secrets to tell.

Chapter Thirty

The warriors were gearing up for patrol when the glass doors to the tech lab whisked open and four beautiful women rushed inside. Elise and Gabrielle were carrying the tapestry from Lucan's library; Tess and Savannah walked behind them with serious looks on their faces. Savannah seemed especially grim, her mouth drawn into a flat line, her hands flexing and fisting at her sides as she walked.

Tegan met Elise's anxious gaze. What's going on?

The tapestry, she said as she and Gabrielle spread it out on the meeting table. I think we've figured out what the Odolf riddle refers to.

You serious?

Yeah. Her sober expression told him that it wasn't going to be good news.

Tegan and the other warriors gathered around the women. Okay. Let's see what you have.

He watched, astonished and proud, as she recited each puzzling verse and folded the design accordingly. It was incredible, and so obvious now that Elise was putting it together for them. The tapestry correlated exactly to each seemingly nonsensical phrase. When Elise was finished, she stepped back and revealed an entirely new design--one that Kassia had hidden in the threads as she sewed the piece all those years ago.

Elise met Tegan's curious look. When I was at Irina's place, she showed me some needlework that was incredibly detailed. It also had a secret design woven into it. When I saw this tapestry on the wall just now, I knew it had to have been made by the same hand. The more I looked at it, I wondered if there might be something more to it.

Tegan smiled. He didn't care one bit that everyone saw him bring her under his arm and lovingly kiss her brow. Good work.