Firewalker (Worldwalker 2)

Lily frowned to herself. She knew the Woven weren’t like other animals, but they had still been made from animals. It didn’t make sense to Lily that their behavior would be so alien.

“It’s like they have a vendetta against people or something, which is impossible. That’s human behavior,” Lily argued.

“Well, there’s a legend that they are part human,” Rowan said, still searching the ground.

“But you don’t believe it,” Tristan guessed.

Rowan didn’t answer right away. “When I was a kid one of the girls in my tribe captured a wild Woven just a few days after it had hatched. It looked like a tiny cat with iridescent butterfly wings. It was beautiful.” He kicked at the snow, ostensibly to uncover the bare ground, but with more force than necessary. “She fed it, cared for it, tried to teach it tricks like one of the tame Woven that they breed in the cities for rich people. She had that thing for years.”

“What happened?” Una asked, like she could sense that there wasn’t a happy ending to this story.

“It ate her.” Rowan continued to kick the snow aside angrily. “She loved that thing and it ate her while she slept. Not because it was hungry—no. Ahanu would go without food sometimes to feed it. It ate her because that’s what wild Woven do. I don’t care what the legends say. Anything that’s even part human wouldn’t eat a little girl who loved it.”

Lily stopped arguing for Rowan’s sake, but she still couldn’t let it go. There was no animal she could think of that behaved like that. Not even insects killed unless they were hungry or threatened. People were the only creatures on earth that killed for spite. Lily searched the ground like the rest of her coven, but her mind wasn’t fully on her task. The Woven were a riddle to her, and maybe it was because of Lillian’s memories and how important getting rid of the Woven had been to her at one time, but Lily was starting to feel as if the Woven were the riddle she was meant to solve.

They all blundered around in the dark without speaking for twenty minutes before Una called to the group.

“Here!” she said. “I think this is definitely something.” They gathered around a raised patch on the ground. It was about five feet wide and five feet long, forming a perfect square. “Not a lot of right angles in nature,” she said.

“Everyone take a side and start digging,” Rowan said excitedly.

They worked feverishly and had the frozen sod up in half an hour. A large metal plate, flaky with rust, was embedded in the ground.

“Light a fire,” Rowan ordered. “Lily? We’ll need your strength to lift this,” he said. She nodded quickly, giving her assent.

They got a fire going and Lily fed her mechanics enough energy to pull the huge metal plate up from its bed. Beneath the plate was an iron grate that was welded over the top of a duct. Rowan bent back some of the bars of the grate, leaving enough space for them to climb through. He put his head down the hole, his willstone brightly shining with magelight.

“There’s no ladder,” he said, frowning. He brushed some dirt from his hands. “This duct has been out of use for a while. It may not even meet up with the main line.”

“I don’t think we have much of a choice but to follow it,” Tristan said. He stuck his head down next to Rowan’s and let his magelight a

dd more brightness. “At least there are plenty of handholds,” he said.

Rowan nodded in agreement. “Una, you go first, then Breakfast, me and Lily, then Tristan. Tristan, close up the hole behind us, and I’ll carry Lily,” he said. “Everyone take as much energy as you can from Lily now.”

Lily stood close to the fire and rose up into the air on her witch wind. She fed their willstones until Rowan told her the fire was nearly out. She let go of the power loop, dropping out of the air and into his outstretched arms. He gathered her close, stamped out the last of the embers, and swung down the hole after Breakfast.

Rowan. I hate being underground. It’s like being back in the oubliette.

No it isn’t, because I’m here. You’re safe, Lily. No one’s going to hurt you while I’m around.

Rowan held her shaking body tightly to his as Tristan heaved the large metal plate back over the hole, blotting out the moon and the stars.

CHAPTER

10

Lily turned her face into Rowan’s chest and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. The smell of earth and rust wrapped around her and sank so deeply into her skin she could taste it on the back of her tongue.

She tried to focus on the sway of Rowan’s body as he climbed down. She listened to the beat of his heart. Steady and strong. The enchanting hue of his magelight lit the other side of her eyelids reassuringly. She tried to imagine his magelight as a candle burning in front of her, although she could feel no heat and could gather no power from it. Magelight could not fuel her. Lily touched her willstones with the tips of her fingers, feeling their soft, solid shapes. She told herself that no one was going to take them away from her this time, or ever again.

“What’s wrong with Lily?” Tristan asked anxiously. He could feel her fear. They all could.

“Witches don’t like to be underground,” Rowan answered. “They’re cut off from the light of the sun and moon. It drains them.”

“Witches can get energy from the moon?” Breakfast asked, surprised.

“Of course,” Rowan replied. Lily could hear the smile in his voice. “Didn’t you ever hear of witches dancing naked in the light of the full moon? Why else do you think they’d do that?”