fae ability.”
“You think?” The fact that the ability had gone into hyperdrive around the Blood Moon when, supposedly, my fae soul had awakened, was a good indication of the connection between the two.
Falin ignored my sarcasm. “Planeweavers are rumored to be responsible for a lot of things. The folded spaces, the fact that Faerie and the mortal realm touch only in smal doorways, the fact that the fae can’t reach the Aetheric . . .
There are legends and myths that date back even farther than the oldest living fae’s memory.” And that would be a long time. He stepped forward. “But, Alex, planeweavers don’t exist anymore.”
“I think I’m going to beg to differ on that one.”
One side of his mouth lifted in a lopsided smile. “Yes. Of course you exist, though it would be best if the courts don’t learn what you are. What I mean is that there are no fae planeweavers in Faerie. No feykin planeweavers either.”
“And outside Faerie?”
“If the courts knew about a planeweaver, they would be in Faerie whether they were mortal, kin, or fae. Which is why, if you don’t want to be dragged off to Faerie, you need to keep your head down. The tear in the Quarter already has rumors circulating in the courts. You can’t be seen near that one.” He pointed at the TV screen and then reached out and smoothed a loose curl behind my ear. “Official y, as far as anyone in Faerie knows, the only planeweavers that exist are a pair of mortals. They serve the high king, and rumor says they are the only reason he’s held the high court for over a mil ennium—but they are changelings, mortal captives of Faerie, which is as good as saying sterile, so there wil be no more from their lines. I’ve heard rumors that the Shadow King has a changeling planebender, which is similar though not quite the same. Again, his planebender is a changeling, mortal, and the end of a line. There were apparently more mortal planeweavers in centuries past, but fae planeweavers have been extinct since the age of fae planeweavers have been extinct since the age of legends.”
And recently the legends had been returning.
The dread I’d been feeling since Lusa’s special report had aired intensified, and the clenching in my stomach moved to my lungs until it was hard to breathe. “I’m not a legend. But whoever opened that might have been.” I nodded at the screen, which was replaying Lusa’s footage.
I’d already faced a legend forgotten in time—I didn’t want to think about how much worse a legend not forgotten might be. “So now what?”
“I’l go check out the tear. You stay here, and stay inside.
We don’t know when more of those constructs could show up.”
Right. I frowned at his back as he took my keys and walked out the door. Of course, he was probably right. I couldn’t afford to add any more associations between me and the tears in reality. The only people who knew for sure that I could merge planes had been with me on the night of the Blood Moon, and that was a short list: Falin, Death, Rianna, and Roy . . . maybe Casey—I had no idea how much she remembered. My father also knew, of course, and at this point Caleb, Hol y, and Tamara suspected that at least I could punch holes to the Aetheric. But everything else was speculation and rumor.
I just have to keep it that way.
I’d have to wait to check out the tear after the commotion died down. If it dies down. I sighed, fed and walked PC, then cal ed Hol y to check on her. They were holding her in the hospital overnight for a sleep study, but if nothing unusual happened, she was scheduled to be released in the morning. I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad news. I was about to head downstairs and visit Caleb when Roy appeared in the center of my room.
“Alex, you aren’t going to believe this,” he said, his shimmering form al but vibrating with his excitement. “That guy you sent me to fol ow, Maximil ian Bel ? He just claimed guy you sent me to fol ow, Maximil ian Bel ? He just claimed responsibility for a tear in reality.”
Chapter 18
??Wait, Roy—slow down,” I said both to give myself a second to absorb his words and because the excited ghost looked like he might flit back into the deep realms of the land of the dead at any moment. “Which tear? The one at the Lenore Street Bridge?”
Roy scrunched his face around his thick-framed glasses.
“I’m not sure where. A phone cal came in, and then everything happened in a flurry. At first I thought I’d missed something. That his men had nabbed you despite his instructions to fol ow you discreetly—”
That would have been good to know before now. “—But then Bel and a bunch of his fol owers—that school is a cult, by the way—piled into cars and drove down to the river.”
“That has to be the same tear Lusa found.” I rol ed from my heels to the bal s of my feet. So Bel was on the scene.