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“Because they are easy prey for the soul-devouring demons. The closer you travel to the center, the more dangerous and populated it becomes. Demons hunger for energy and magic, the two things that make up the Tapestry and weavers’ souls. But the protectors are the most powerful creatures within the Weave. They guard the Tapestry, care for the souls, and maintain the threads.”
“Wait, if demons eat souls, does that mean you’d eat me?”
She barks a laugh, her head shaking. “If I was hungry enough, but I am not a soul devourer. Souls have a rather slimy, unsavory texture. Demons like me feed off of deals with weavers or other smaller demons. We syphon off the energy of your Soul Threads.”
“That’s a relief.” I glance up at her. “Where is the Tapestry then?”
Jinx lowers down to her belly. She tilts her head in emphasis. “Hop on. You’ll be able to see when we draw closer, and it’ll be safer to travel than having you in my mouth.”
Even flat on the ground, she is still twice my height with no stepladder in sight. I fist my hands in her mane’s long fur to try to get purchase. The silken strands slip through my fingers like water, and I release my grip to run my fingers through the softness.
“That’s a fascinating sensation.” I comb my fingers again, lips parting as I gaze at how her mane sways as though submerged underwater, just like my long hair does now.
“You’re too slow,” Jinx complains and sweeps her head under me. I’m catapulted screaming into a dizzying spiral to collide on top of her head.
I pant, gripping onto Jinx for dear life. “For fuck’s sake, try not to launch me into those stars!”
Jinx grumbles low in her deep chest, the vibrations rattling my teeth. At least my form doesn’t ripple when she does it. I swivel around on her head and straddle her neck. I immediately sink into her mane with a shocked squeak.
I frown down at the fur surrounding me and wiggle until I’m confident that I’m straddling the base of her neck under all this fur. The mane arcs up in a wave, expanded like her cat tail does when she’s spooked. I hack and splutter the silken tendrils out of my mouth before she flattens it back to a smooth state.
If I didn’t know any better, I would say that I have become a growth sprouting from her neck. There’s no clear distinction of where I end and where her mane begins. I shift to reassure myself that I do, in fact, have a lower body. “Okay, that feels pretty secure. Are you comfortable with me sitting here?”
“It’s fine,” Jinx growls before she leaps.
I squeal and twist my hands in the long, smooth fur. Her long ears with little tufts at the ends flatten to frame me as she bounds through the dark, twinkling sky of the Weave.
The mirrored surface tires my eyes. Jinx’s feet spark little lights, and my skin crawls as I remember the creepy slug thing that attacked us. “Do you think we’ll be attacked again?”
“I am too fast for most of them, but avoiding them will become difficult when we reach the Tapestry.” Her head swivels, and she swerves. The space beside us ripples, and I flatten myself down onto her when a large, orange eye pops open to track us. “It’s been two thousand years since I was last here. Things might have changed, so stay vigilant.”
This is the most Jinx has ever talked about her past, and I might never get answers from her again. I lean down and rest on her head with my arms crossed. The pearls from the chain on my left arm dig into my chin. “What kind of creatures protect the Tapestry?”
Jinx stays silent for so long, I begin to lose hope until finally she says, “They are much larger than me with many legs and eyes all along the body. They have a…” She sighs exasperatedly and shakes her head, jostling me as she does. She snaps, “Your simple, limited language is endlessly frustrating.”
I scratch her favorite spot behind her ear. “Calm down. You’re doing great. Do the creatures have a name?”
Jinx pauses. “Spiders.”
I snort. “Okay, how is that hard?”
“It’s not actually what they’re called, dimwit. It’s the best translation I can come up with. They have the same eight limbs, but they do not act like spiders of your world. There is… a master, I believe. Ah-ha, a hive! Yes, it’s like a hive with a queen. They tend to her. They used to recognize the difference between demons who mean their Tapestry no harm and those who did. Then one day the cosmos screamed and reality trembled with the force of it. The spiders began to act differently. They killed not for sustenance or protection, but for the violence. I never dared to get too close again. I witnessed enough horrors before abandoning this place to become a familiar.”
“A queen. Have you ever met her?”
“No. I only know of her existence.”
Silence falls between us, and it allows my mind to wander to the painful things I’m trying to forget. Lucas is on his way to the Archweaver estate alone. He’s so powerful. So clever. But he is one human, and the three of us barely made it out alive last time.
He’ll die to save me, and if he succeeds, I could not stand existence without him.
My only hope is Valen and Emilia. Perhaps they can drag Lucas back to safety. But how long can I exist as a lost soul within the Weave?
A tear slips down my face. I’m so lost with no idea what to do. Lucas and Valen may die, and I can’t do anything to help them.
Jinx slows her run to a stroll, and I open my eyes when her voice rumbles softly. “Thousands of years ago, whispers and cries echoed throughout the Weave. Much like when you felt Lucas and Valen’s cries for you, we heard the wails of those who suffered and begged the universe for guidance and wisdom, or even companionship. We answered through your mirrors.”
My eyes widen, and I ease up to leaning on my elbows. She hasn’t told me stories in so long. “Were you the demons that whispered the secrets of magic to the priesthood?”
