Page 162 of North Is the Night
“She just left,” I reply, shifting another step further from the trap door. “If you leave now, you can catch up with her.”
Vammatar’s eyes narrow as she glances around again. “Why are you in here?”
“To weave,” I reply coolly. “You gave me this assignment, remember?”
“Now is no time to weave, you silly fool. My father may delight at keeping you in the dark, but danger is danger. I’ll not let it be my skin he shreds if he finds out I let you sneak around unattended.”
I go still, not daring to look at Siiri. “In danger from what?”
Vammatar raises a finger to her lips. From far beyond the walls, I hear it.Horns.They blast from east and west. “Do you hear that?” the witch teases. “Someone has entered our realm uninvited. Some treacherous snake is slithering through our garden. Father has us all on alert. Frankly, I don’t care if a snake swallows you whole. You’ve been nothing but a nuisance. And I don’t give an apple for prophecies. My sister witch can keep them. I only care about the here and now.”
“Surely, I’m safe in this room,” I say. “I’ll bar the door when you leave. I’ll hide in the storage room.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she scoffs, striding forward. “You’re coming with me. I’ll take you directly to my father.”
I duck to the right, hoping to keep her from looking towards Siiri and the trap door. “If there are dangers beyond this room, you should just—ahh—”
Two things happen at once. Vammatar grabs my arm and jerks me forward, and Tuoni throws open the door of our bond. I cry out as I feel every fiber of him demanding to know where I am. Vammatar lets me go. “What’s wrong with younow, bonebag? Are you afflicted?”
I groan, pressing a hand over my chest as I soothe down the bond at Tuoni.I’m well. I’m unharmed. I’m with Vammatar, and she brings me to your side.I don’t dare let myself think or feel anything else.
Down the bond, one feeling overwhelms me. It’s strong enough I practically hear him shouting it in my ear.Stay put.
“Have you gone deaf?” the witch hisses, reaching for me again.
“It’s him,” I pant, rubbing at my chest. “He knows I’m here. He wants me to stay.”
She glares down at me, looking for the lie. Could this be enough? Could she believe me and walk away? She closes her hand around my forearm. “Come on, bonebag. Let’s lock you up tight in your tower.” She pulls me along at such an angle that she cannot possibly miss seeing the open trap door.
“No,” I pant, trying to steer us away. “Unhand me, Vam-matar. I can walk myself—”
The witch stops, her body going still as stone, and I know she knows. I know shesees. The loom stands off-center. Slowly, she turns, her claws pressing into my flesh. She glares down at me.
“You’re hurting me,” I say, wrapping my hand around her wrist.
“I will ask you only once more, little bonebag... what are you doing in here?”
I don’t dare let my eyes dart to Siiri. “You hate me, Vam-matar,” I begin, my voice soft. “Rightfully so, for I’ve upended all your lives. You hate the turmoil I’ve brought to your family—sister turning against sister. You want things back the way they were. Before prophecies, before all these lies and intrigues.”
“And?”
I hold her dark gaze. “What if I said I could give it to you?”
The witch doesn’t move. Her face is suddenly impossible to read.
“Let me go, and everything will be as it was before,” I whisper. “I am the thorn in your side, so let me remove myself.”
A quiet moment stretches between us as the witch calculates. Slowly, her blank expression turns to a sneer. “Where is she?”
“Where is who?”
“My wretched sister. Only she would put these thoughts in your head. Does she go to prepare the way for you? Is this tunnel how she did it before? Will she help you swim to the veil?”
“Loviatar had nothing to do with this,” I say quickly. “I found this door on my own. I asked for her help, it’s true. But she denied me. I attacked her. If you go now, you’ll find her knocked insensible under the willow tree in the garden. Kukka is only helping because she’s bound to me,” I add, gesturing dismissively to Siiri. “She doesn’t know any better. She had no choice.”
Vammatar’s expression changes. “You really are that treacherous, aren’t you?”
“Don’t help me,” I plead, casting around for my last hope with this witch. “Help yourself. Let me go, and you’ll have everything you want. Let me go, and you’ll all be free again. You’ll be a family again.”
