Heidi released my hand. “This is the antechamber,” she explained. “Every entrance from above leads here.”
“There is more than one entrance in Trinity?”
“Solaris is the flame in every hearth, so every hearth is a gateway, if he allows it to be.”
“Okay, so we’re here. Now what?”
“Now, we wait. No one is permitted to go farther than this room. The catacombs are ever-shifting; only the Weave Watchers can navigate them.”
Images of scuttling, burrowing creatures filled my mind, along with a reminder that no student who’d seen these Weave Watchers had returned to tell the tale. “What are they? The Weave Watchers?”
She shook her head slightly, her gaze flicking from tunnel to tunnel in a way that made me more nervous than I already was. The way she stiffened, the tension in her jaw—everything about her body language screamed fear.
“Heidi? Hey?”
She licked her lips and shook her head once more. “No one knows for sure. They simply…are. But we know what they do. They protect the sanctity of the Weave and act as intermediaries between the mortal realm and the Trinity, so…” She trailed off, head tilting to one side, listening to the silence. “They’re coming.”
I felt it then, the strange shift in atmosphere. The air thinned, charged with an unnatural energy that pricked at my skin, and goose bumps crawled up my arms.
The primal instinct to run rushed through me, but I locked my knees and swallowed past the sudden dryness in my throat. “Where… Where are?—”
The lights went out, and when they flashed back on, we were no longer alone in the chamber.
CHAPTER 15
This plane of existence is simply one of an infinite number. Pockets between life and death are passages between worlds where up is down and down is up, and the rules that we cling to matter not at all.
A THEORY OF EVERYTHING BY THEODORE REGENT
Five hooded figures floated a foot above the floor surrounding us, their presence bringing a fresh chill to the chamber, which intensified the power of my primal fear. I breathed through it, reminding myself that they weren’t here to hurt me, that I hadn’t committed any crimes. Yet.
“By the Trinity, we are blessed,” Heidi said, her voice coming out smooth and confident—completely at odds with her tense form. “And by the Trinity, I beseech you to aid this woman in reclaiming her connection to the Weave.”
“We know what you want,” they said in unison. Their words echoed through the chamber with an otherworldly timbre that made my stomach hurt. “We know why you are here. We remember what was done. But can it be undone?” They floated back a few steps, and shadows rushed forward to cover them as a strange green light bloomed around me.
Where was Heidi? I couldn’t see her anymore. Couldn’t see anything beyond the blinding green light.
“Anamaya Onyx, daughter of Ariana Onyx, blood of Dharma Onyx, the chosen betrayer. You seek to be blessed?”
“Yes. I do.”
“You deem yourself worthy?”
“I do.”
“Liar,” they hissed. “You do not feel worthy. You deem yourself as broken. Undeserving.”
Phantom fingers gripped the back of my skull, and a strange pressure resonated through my head. They were trying to get inside. To read me.
No. “No!”
The pressure released.
“Whynot? What are you hiding,hmm?”
“I’m not the one floating around in a hooded cloak.” Fuck, fuck, fuck. What was I doing? Shut your mouth, Ana.
“You’re afraid, and so you lash out.”
