Luna glanced back at him. “If we can find it.”
I crossed my arms, thinking it through. “You said he was pulled. That means something called him.”
“Or someone,” Luna added.
That didn’t sit well.
“Do you think the Priestess could do that?” I asked.
Luna shook her head slowly. “She could set things in motion. She’s not waiting anymore, Maeve. You can feel that.”
I nodded, because I could. It wasn’t just the shadow mark or the birthmark or the strange pull that seemed to hum beneath everything lately. It was the way the world felt just slightly off, like something had shifted and hadn’t settled yet.
“I need to find him,” I said, the words coming out firmer this time. “Not just because of the stone. Because of Skonk too. He made a choice, and now he’s in it.”
Twobble straightened. “He is very much in it.”
Luna stepped closer, her gaze steady. “Then we don’t go chasing blindly. We start where the threads are strongest.”
I frowned slightly. “Meaning?”
“You,” she said simply.
That caught me off guard. “Me?”
I knew my mom was in even more danger. When the Priestess first captured her, she probably made my mom feel welcomed, but once my grandma realized, my mom wouldn't budge; she was ready to discard her. Time was not in our favor.
“You’re tied to the stone now,” she said. “Whether you want to be or not. That connection you feel… it’s not one-sided.”
I swallowed, my hand almost lifting toward my shoulder before I stopped myself. Ever since my injury and the shadow mark that was left behind, I'd felt different.
On one hand. I felt more connected to something I didn't understand, but it also felt isolating. I didn't want to believe I was connected to anything related to my grandmother or to shadowing. But the stone had been communicating with me; I felt it.
“You think I can track it.”
“I think you can try,” she said gently. “And I think you won’t be alone when you do.”
Twobble nodded. “I’m excellent at providing company. I’ll come along.”
I glanced at him. “That’s not comforting. The thought of you in danger is more than I can handle.”
He shrugged. “I'm an old pro. Danger is my middle name.”
Luna reached for a small bundle of yarn, deep silver threaded with faint streaks of something darker, and placed it in my hands.
“This won’t tell you where to go,” she said. “But it might help you listen better.”
I looked down at it, feeling a faint warmth pulse through my palms, subtle but there.
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
She smiled. “You already know what you need to do. You’re just waiting for permission to believe it.”
I let her words settle, as my grip tightened slightly around the yarn.
“I’m done waiting,” I said. “It's time to get my mom back and face my family's past.”
Twobble grinned. “That sounds promising.”
