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Doomed to extinction. My heart pulses, and I smooth a hand over my chest, the pearls of my family line’s chain pressing against my sternum.

Jinx drops her body down flat so fast that I almost fly off. Her bones turn liquid until she’s more black puddle than feline creature. Unsure what to do, I lie down as best I can.

This place rings with the eerie high-pitched bell of magic, the threads under Jinx gently vibrating through her flat body.

Then the darkness shifts, and my head whips to the left. In the far distance, something massive blocks out the twinkling stars. My breath puffs, an instinctual reaction to my building fear.

Something long and thin arcs up before soundlessly touching back down.

A heartbeat passes. Then two.

The shadow surges forward. Completely silent, with only the stars blotting out one by one as it charges. Jinx reforms with a leap, her paws digging into the threads to take off at a sprint.

My brain aches at the speed of something so large, the pressure building as I try to understand the darkness. Eight limbs ripple like a thousand joints fill them. Little spindly human hands appear at each point, gripping the Tapestry’s tightly woven threads for purchase.

Eyes of different shapes and colors open in a ripple and turn towards me lying on Jinx’s back. Then fall to Jinx’s sprinting form.

A screech that would make my real-life eardrums rupture shakes the cosmos above. I gasp, “Faster, Jinx.”

Jinx puts her full speed into her sprint, her body shifting so her hind legs lengthen. I grip her fur, my hair rippling behind me. I glance back. Completely soundless, the spider creature gains on us.

A four-pointed maw stretches open from where the legs meet. A tendril of slime dangles before a spiraling hell of inward-pointing teeth, spinning to capture and suck its prey down with no hope of escape.

“Jinx!” I scream.

Suddenly, the mane I’m riding in poofs up, and the strands I’m gripping rip from my fists. I spiral through the space, the stars and Tapestry blending confusingly together until I crash into the threads. I bounce, rolling and clutching the notebook to my chest one-handed. Disoriented, I scramble unsteadily to my feet.

Jinx dashes off into the darkness, leading the spider creature away from me. My cry for her catches in my throat and I sprint after them, but it’s no use. They’re too fast. I barely make it ten steps before they disappear.

I clutch my heart and scream silently, my knees colliding with the Tapestry as I crumble. I bow over, rocking. The bond within my Entropy Soul Thread, that connection to Jinx, is gone.

How could she leave me like this? No warning at all. No way for me to come up with a different plan that doesn’t leave us separated until I figure out some way to survive this mess. How could she leave me without knowing if I’ll ever see her again?

No, I cannot fall into the black pit of those thoughts. I’ll never get free otherwise. Scrambling to my feet, I scrape my flowing hair out of my face and turn in a circle. There’s nothing but tightly woven Soul Threads for as far as the eye can see. I can’t tell which way we came from or where we were going. I look up at the stars. They’re the same as always, and I nearly scream in frustration at my own stupidity. I should’ve made a chart of them when I had the chance.

I swallow and turn back to where Jinx disappeared. Nothing moves. No terrifying monstrous spider. No Jinx.

A vibration trembles up my legs and I choke back a scream. I can’t be absorbed. Not yet. I need more time.

Then my heart begins to race, not in building terror, but with that elation that comes with my Dual Threads dancing. I gasp, looking down at myself. My eyes glow bright green, and I rotate my hands. Magic ripples along my fingers, distorting them for a moment before my flames flicker into existence.

My family line chain shimmers, the pearls absorbing the magic of my flames until they glint with power. My head tilts as I touch one. A woman’s face flashes in my vision, and I stumble back, my finger leaving the pearl. The image is gone.

I turn my left arm, inspecting the chain, and touch another pearl. Then another. And another. Priesthood mages flicker before me. A soft echo that is not heard but felt rings in my heart. Jessari. Reavin. Windalyn. I press the raw ruby over my middle finger. Uldra. She’s beautiful, more beautiful than I could ever imagine.

My eyes burn, tears falling soundlessly. My ancestors. Each pearl lights with my connection to the Tapestry, and their Soul Threads glint like shooting arrows into the distance.

I glance down at my chest. My two threads light up, dancing around the Archweaver line. The black thread arcs out behind me, and I run my fingers along the pearls of my family’s Entropy Thread. The Tapestry appears to be moving in chronological order. Where my Entropy Thread extends from is the front of the Tapestry and where we entered would be.

Which means…

I turn around. My golden Creation Thread stretches out before me in the opposite direction, following the same path as the twisting Archweaver line. A smile tugs at my lips as hope soars.

Hold on, Jinx. I’ve got a plan.

The Tapestry is endless. It’s as if I’ve been walking for days. My body aches strangely from my crash landing. The sensation is like a sharp, electrical current that rattles my teeth.

The absence of Jinx within my soul is maddening, the silence carving into my heart over and over. What if the spider creature caught her? Tore her apart? Or what if she’s injured and another demon eats her? She warned me that she wouldn’t be able to find me again if we got separated. The only hope I have is breaking the curse and returning to my boys.