No! They have Lily! Caleb, Tristan—help me, brothers! Rowan called desperately in mindspeak.
Lily had no weapon and no idea how to defend herself, so she did as Rowan had done and grabbed the Woven by the throat to keep it from biting her. As she dug her fingers into the creature’s neck she felt something hard buried under its skin. Lily pinched the lump between her fingers and felt that odd presence again. She decided that the presence wasn’t a mind, but a collective of minds—inhuman minds that had no language. The eyes of the pale Woven above her widened, and the idea of distinct smells lit up a quiet, long-forgotten section of Lily’s brain. Lily recognized each scent as a being, and each being belonged to this pale Woven.
For half a second, images blurred through Lily’s thoughts. She saw Una hanging above her from a tree branch, slashing down at her with a knife. Then she saw Rowan straddling her and pushing a knife into her heart. Then she saw Caleb running her down on horseback. Lily only recognized the dizzying sensation for what it was because she’d felt it once before—when Rowan had taught her how to make a mind mosaic.
Lily suddenly felt an urge to jump to her feet and head toward the place where the sun sets. The pale Woven broke eye contact and wrenched herself away from Lily desperately. She sent out a howl, and her pack retreated into the trees to the west.
Still reeling from having her mind splintered into multiple perspectives, Lily blinked her eyes and tried to steady herself. She placed her palm down hard on what she thought was a wall and heard a thumping sound. When her eyes came back into focus, Lily realized that she was smacking Caleb’s meaty chest. He’d picked her up and he was moving her closer to the fire.
“Caleb,” she said, smiling through the pain in her left arm. He smiled back, his white teeth gleaming brightly against his dark skin. “It’s really good to see you,” she said, resting her forehead against his.
“Sorry we’re late,” he said, hugging her carefully.
Tristan was already bent over Rowan, helping him remove his blood-soaked clothes. He looked up at Lily and smiled warmly. “Hi,” Tristan said simply.
“It’s good to see you, too,” she told him. “Even though I’ve been seeing you,” she added with a grimace. The other Tristan gave her a strange look, but Rowan interjected.
“You’ll see in a second, Tristan,” Rowan said through a groan as he peeled off what was left of his shredded shirt.
“Who’s that?” Caleb asked, pointing to Una. Before she could answer, Breakfast and Lily’s Tristan caught up with them, already apologizing before they had even reached the clearing. They had a couple of bruises and some scraped knuckles, but they didn’t look anywhere near as banged up as Rowan did. He scowled at the two of them, and probably added a few choice words in mindspeak that Lily wasn’t privy to.
Introductions and explanations were made while Una and Caleb put salve on Lily’s and Rowan’s cuts. Although Lily’s bite wounds and the lashing that Rowan had taken cut deep, they were still only flesh wounds. With no broken bones, severed nerves, or torn ligaments to mend, the salve did its job quickly. It wasn’t nearly enough time for the two Tristans to absorb the fact that they had just met themselves.
The two Tristans sat across the fire from each other, both of them looking like they’d just seen a ghost. They were mirrors of each other, except that Rowan’s Tristan had streaks of red and black paint on his face, indicating that he had become one of Alaric’s elite fighters, like Caleb.