The Keepers #3: The Portal and the Veil

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 1

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 2

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Illustrations by

IACOPO BRUNO

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 3

7/12/17 1:28 PM

The Keepers: The Portal and the Veil Text copyright © 2017 by Ted Sanders Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Iacopo Bruno All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007. www.harpercollinschildrens.com ISBN 978-0-06-227588-2

Typography by Carla Weise 17 18 19 20 21

CG/LSCH

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

❖ First Edition

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 4

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Q For Rowan, whose mind I often envy. For Bridget, who I am proud to call my daughter. And for Milo, who I hope will discover these books some day.

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 5

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 6

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Q Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence. — ALAN WILSON WATTS

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 7

7/12/17 1:28 PM

contents As the Rabbit Runs Joshua...............................................................................3 Puzzling the Pieces..................................................... 14 One Day.......................................................................... 29 The Departure.............................................................. 58 The Missing................................................................... 72 Door upon Door........................................................... 89 Sanguine Hall............................................................. 108 Friends Like These.................................................... 122 Shadows across Time and Space............................... 141

The Meadow by Night The Call of the Laithe............................................ 169 The Where and the When......................................... 189 Gray Voices, Black Footsteps.................................. 220

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 8

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Into the Humour........................................................ 228 Eyes, Ears, and Nose.................................................. 237 The Sky Falling.......................................................... 252 A Sending Seen............................................................ 258 Every Bad Thing......................................................... 268 Leavings....................................................................... 281 The Stranger in the Field....................................... 291 Stranded...................................................................... 305 Destination Unknown............................................... 318

Into the Havens Seeking Shelter.......................................................... 327 The Lostling.............................................................. 345 Up in the Air............................................................... 360 The Well of Giving................................................... 375 As We Breathe............................................................ 403 Sharks Circling.......................................................... 422 Above and Beyond....................................................... 438 Veritas.......................................................................... 450 The Ro’ha..................................................................... 465 Thus Are We Protected........................................... 485 Sil’falo Teneves.......................................................... 507 This Fragile Hold..................................................... 526 If Not Ourselves........................................................ 556

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 9

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 10

7/12/17 1:28 PM

par t one

As the Rabbit Runs

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 1

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 2

7/12/17 1:28 PM

chapter one

Q

Joshua

Joshua knew about secrets. A secret was something you kept. A secret was a promise, and a promise—the way Isabel explained it—was like a burning light in the dark. A light that showed you where to go. If you kept your eyes on that light, kept walking toward it, you would never get lost, and your friends wouldn’t either. But as Joshua lay here alone, thinking hard in the cool quiet of the Warren, he wondered how you were supposed to know who your friends were. April was his friend, and her raven, Arthur, too. He felt pretty sure of that. They were far away now, in danger, and he was very worried about them. Worried in a way that you only worried for friends. Horace and Chloe and the other Wardens were far away too, out there trying to rescue April, and he liked them for that. He was also worried about them a little bit—maybe they were sort of

3

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 3

7/12/17 1:28 PM

friends. And now he was alone in the Warren with Brian and Mrs. Hapsteade. They were very nice to him, especially Mrs. Hapsteade. She was old, but was she a friend? Because if she was a friend, Joshua had maybe done a terrible thing. He hadn’t meant to. Not really. He had made a promise to Isabel, even though he wasn’t exactly sure what the promise meant. He wasn’t even sure “promise” was the right word. What he had said he would do—what he had done, what he was doing right now—it didn’t feel like a light in the dark. It felt like something heavy and cloudy. Doubt instead of hope. He opened his hand. Isabel’s wooden ring lay in his palm, warm with his worry. “Take it,” she’d told him. “Take it into the Warren, and then I can fix everything. Tell no one. Take it, and I can make us both the way we were meant to be. You’ll see.” A promise. And Joshua had nodded back at her. Was that a promise too? He thought maybe it was. But was Isabel a friend? She was his protector, that was for sure. She’d taken him away from his last foster home, where no one seemed to care whether he stayed or went, a place he wasn’t sorry to leave. She’d protected him from the Riven, right from the start, and had kept him safe more times than he could count. She’d promised she would help him, and she had—finally—brought him here to the Wardens. But was she a friend?

4

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 4

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Joshua sighed. Whether Isabel was a friend or not, he had done what she had told him to. He had brought the ring down the scary elevator and across the waters of Vithra’s Eye and into the Warren, right into this round stone room Mr. Meister and Mrs. Hapsteade were letting him stay in. The Warden’s sanctuary was cozy for a cave, maybe the coziest place he’d stayed in all his time traveling with Isabel. Isabel, meanwhile, was far above somewhere, in her room in the Mazzoleni Academy, the boarding school that sat atop the Warren. She wasn’t allowed to come into the Warren. The Wardens had taken her harp, Miradel, and were guarding it here. They didn’t trust Isabel. And Isabel couldn’t find the Warren even if she tried, not ever—Mr. Meister had fixed it that way, using something called a spitestone. But thanks to Joshua, Isabel’s ring was inside the Warren now. He hadn’t figured out yet what that meant. He was afraid to even wonder. He got out of bed. He paced back and forth slowly, his bare feet curling on the cold stone floor, the ring warm and smooth between his fingers. He should tell Mrs. Hapsteade about the ring. He really should. He should have told her already. “But I don’t want to get in trouble,” he explained to himself out loud—not too loud, because Mrs. Hapsteade was in the next doba over. Her stone house was simple and tidy and somehow cold and warm at the same time, just like Mrs. Hapsteade herself. But even as Joshua murmured the words, he felt—he knew—that they weren’t quite right. Getting in

5

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 5

7/12/17 1:28 PM

trouble wasn’t the reason he hadn’t told Mrs. Hapsteade about the ring. The real reason, a reason that scared him and thrilled him, was this: the nod he’d given to Isabel when she handed him the ring was a promise. A promise he’d wanted to make. “Take it, and I can make us both the way we were meant to be.” Joshua knew what that meant. He knew, and the knowing was almost more than he could bear. The whole reason he’d been traveling with Isabel in the first place—the whole reason for everything in his life that he could remember at all—was that he, Joshua, would one day become a Keeper. Isabel had told him so, over and over again. She told him so the first day they met, before she took him away. She said she could see it in him. And even if Isabel was lying, Mrs. Hapsteade said she could see it too. She and Mr. Meister both had told him he had potential. But they hadn’t actually helped him yet. No one had told him what kind of Keeper he might be, or what his instrument was. Maybe a compass, or a sextant. Something to do with maps, he hoped. The Wardens were all Keepers, of course, dedicated to protecting the Tanu from the Riven. They all had their own Tan’ji, instruments that gave them their amazing powers. April had her Ravenvine, and Horace his box. Chloe had her dragonfly, and Gabriel his staff. Lately, Joshua had spent a lot more time than he wanted to admit thinking about what his own instrument might look like, and what powers it might have. And now at last, just like she’d been promising all along, it

6

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 6

7/12/17 1:28 PM

seemed like Isabel might be going to help him find out. But there was a problem. Isabel was a thief and a liar. She had told him that she too was a Keeper—that she was Tan’ji. But she wasn’t, it turned out. She wasn’t Tan’ji and neither was Miradel, her harp. Those were lies. And when she and April and Joshua finally found the Wardens, it turned out Isabel had known all along who the Wardens were, and that she’d only been using April and Joshua to find them for her own reasons. That was a lie. And she’d done other things, too, things worse than lies. Things that had put his friends—his real friends—in danger. Joshua squeezed the ring. He should destroy it. Or no—it could be a trap. Isabel was good at setting traps. He would tell Mrs. Hapsteade what he had done. He would show her Isabel’s ring and try to explain. She didn’t trust Isabel. She was guarding Miradel even now. Maybe the ring was nothing. Or maybe it was something, but Mrs. Hapsteade would be so busy dealing with it she’d forget to be mad. Before he could change his mind, he started down the ladder to the first floor of his doba. He was so nervous he almost slipped and fell. Although Mrs. Hapsteade had been kind to him so far, he got the feeling that she could be cruel, too. But that was okay. Maybe he deserved it. He’d been a bad friend. Joshua stepped out of the doba and into the Great Burrow, the uppermost level of the Warren. The Great Burrow was as wide as a football field and five times as long, lit by dozens

7

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 7

7/12/17 1:28 PM

of golden lights from which swirling clouds of soft sparks drifted. Joshua had noticed the lights got a bit darker at night, and now the whole chamber was lit like a forest at sunset. And it was like a forest, except here the trees were huge stone columns as wide as houses, and the columns really were little houses. Almost all of the dobas were empty now. All but one. He moved slowly through the golden gloom to Mrs. Hapsteade’s doba. He was in no hurry. In fact, he had to make himself move forward, the ring still clenched in his fist. Mrs. Hapsteade’s front door was a thick black curtain, which meant there was no good way to knock. “Mrs. Hapsteade?” he called. No answer. Cautiously, he peeked inside. “Mrs. Hapsteade? It’s Joshua. From next door.” He squeezed the ring again, searching for words. “I have something to tell you.” Mrs. Hapsteade’s Tan’ji, a long white writing quill called the Vora, sat in its usual place atop a squat bookcase across the room. Three calm candles threw three feathered shadows up the wall. If the Vora was here, so was Mrs. Hapsteade. He took a step in. “Hello? Mrs. Hap—” And then she spoke from the shadows off to his right, her usually firm voice thin with strain. “I am Mrs. Hapsteade,” she croaked. “I am Dorothy Hapsteade.” The words pulled Joshua inside, heart racing. Just beyond a tipped-over chair, Mrs. Hapsteade lay on the floor curled into a crescent, chin against her chest. The hem of her dress had ridden up over her knees and her hands were in her hair,

8

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 8

7/12/17 1:28 PM

pulling strands loose from the tight bun. “I’m going,” she breathed through clenched teeth. “Going gone. Lost and found and lost.” She was in pain, he could see that. Her eyes were cloudy and frightened. It had to be the ring, Isabel’s terrible ring. It had done something to her . . . poison or a trap or something. He’d made a stupid promise and waited too long and now— Mrs. Hapsteade groaned. Joshua dropped to his knee in a blind rush of fear, scarcely thinking. With the ring cupped awkwardly in his hand, he smashed his palm flat against the stone floor. Isabel’s ring snapped like a crisp twig, a broken edge stabbing him sharply. On his palm, a bloody speck. On the floor, the ring shattered into three brown moonshapes. But still Mrs. Hapsteade writhed and muttered. What was wrong with her? “The harp,” Mrs. Hapsteade moaned. “My fault.” “Miradel?” said Joshua. “Where is it?” “Here,” said a new voice. Joshua lurched up and staggered back, swallowing all his breath. From a dark nook across the room, a small scribbled cloud of green light swelled into existence, pulsing like a heart, coming closer. “Don’t be angry, Joshua. Don’t be afraid.” Isabel stepped forward, her red hair like curls of copper in the emerald light. Miradel, her harp, hung from her neck. The tangled ball of wicker throbbed slowly, glowing green from within.

9

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 9

7/12/17 1:28 PM

“No one is being harmed,” Isabel said. “No one is doing anything wrong. I only came to set things right.” Joshua took a step sideways, toward Mrs. Hapsteade curled on the floor, head in her hands. He understood now, should have understood right away. Isabel had found the Warren. She had found Miradel here, and had severed Mrs. Hapsteade. “I promise she is okay,” said Isabel, watching. “She’ll be fine.” With her harp, Joshua knew, Isabel could control the Medium, the energy that flowed between Keepers and their instruments. She had severed Mrs. Hapsteade, cutting her off from her Tan’ji. Joshua had seen Isabel sever people before, including April. It only lasted a little while, but according to April it was awful. For a Keeper, being unable to feel your Tan’ji was like being dead alive. “Let her go,” he said. “The knots will come undone later,” said Isabel. “I didn’t want to do it, but I had to. She had Miradel here. She was expecting me.” Isabel came right up to him, bending to pick up the broken pieces of her ring. She crossed to Mrs. Hapsteade and knelt, holding out the shards. “This is how I found my way in,” she said. “I’m telling you so you can trust me, later. I’m telling you my secrets.” “The ring,” Joshua whispered, his stomach twisting. It wasn’t poison, no. But something just as bad. “A trap,” said Mrs. Hapsteade.

10

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 10

7/12/17 1:28 PM

“A signal,” Isabel said. “A lighthouse. You know the spitestone casts a cloud around this place, a cloud made just for me. But I wove a tiny thread of inversion inside the ring before I gave it to Joshua. Once he brought it into your precious Warren, into the cloud of the spitestone, the ring gave out a tiny light inside the dark—also made just for me. The ring called to me, the same way your Tan’ji calls to you.” She waggled a finger at the white quill across the room and smiled sadly. “The way it usually calls to you, I mean.” She sighed almost giddily. “I followed the ring’s call down from the Academy, and across Vithra’s Eye. The spitestone couldn’t stop me.” She dumped the broken pieces of the ring onto the floor and stood up. “And you had Miradel. Thank you for keeping her safe. Now Joshua and I can begin.” “I don’t want to begin,” said Joshua, only half hearing her. “You tricked me.” Isabel raised her eyebrows, smiling. “Did I truly?” Joshua squeezed his eyes shut, shame crawling over his skin like worms. “Don’t look backward now, Joshua,” said Isabel. “We’ve been searching for so long, you and I. Can’t you feel it?” “Feel what?” “Your instrument—your Tan’ji. It’s here in the Warren. I know it is. But the spitestone is still clouding me.” Joshua opened his eyes. His heart felt like it would burst. His instrument. It was here in the Warren after all, a thought he had barely allowed himself to have. But he had to shake his

11

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 11

7/12/17 1:28 PM

head. “I can’t feel anything.” And it was true, he couldn’t. Did he even want to? I wouldn’t even know what to feel, he almost said. Isabel ignored him, instead bending over Mrs. Hapsteade. “Where is the Laithe?” she asked the older woman sweetly. The word was new to Joshua, but it pushed a soft tremor of warmth through his chest. Laithe. It sounded like “blade,” a dangerous word, but this word sang with comfort and confidence. With promise. He almost hated the sound of it, but thought he might die if he never heard it again. What was it? Mrs. Hapsteade’s angry eyes found Isabel’s. “No,” she muttered, “No, you can’t. Can’t this way.” “It’s the only way,” Isabel replied. “Forbidden.” “I never liked all your rules,” Isabel said lightly. “Not when I was young, and certainly not now. But it doesn’t matter. We’ll find it, wherever you’ve hidden it.” She stood and turned away, Miradel swinging at her chest, a forest of faint green shadows tumbling over them all. Abruptly she stopped. “Oh,” she said, as if she’d forgotten something. “One more thing.” She crouched over Mrs. Hapsteade again, her smile growing as wide and sweet as a snake’s. “I believe there’s a young man here named Brian. I’ll be needing his help.” Mrs. Hapsteade grimaced. “Can’t . . . help you. There is no help.” “That’s what you always said. I’m not Tan’ji. Only a Tuner. Never mind that you were the ones who made me that way.”

12

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 12

7/12/17 1:28 PM

She cupped Miradel in her hand and lifted it, still pulsing. “If Brian fixed April’s Tan’ji, then he can fix me too. All I’m asking for is a little loan. Just to borrow Brian’s powers for a while. So he can fix what you made wrong.” Mrs. Hapsteade turned her face into the stone floor, muttering. “All wrong.” Isabel straightened, frowning down at Mrs. Hapsteade, and strode to the door. “We’ll fend for ourselves,” she said, seemingly to no one in particular. “We always do.” She jerked her chin at Joshua. “Come, Joshua,” she said, and swept out. Joshua looked back at Mrs. Hapsteade, still severed on the floor and tangled in the invisible threads Isabel had woven around her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Sorry,” Mrs. Hapsteade slurred. “Sorry so sorry.” “I don’t know what to do.” Somehow Mrs. Hapsteade’s eyes managed to find his. They were so empty—so full of lost things—that he almost had to look away. “Don’t let her fix,” she said through gritted teeth, “your mistakes.” Joshua stared for a second, and then stumbled out of the room. He squinted in the golden gloom of the Great Burrow, blinking back a sudden wetness. Isabel took his hand. She smiled down at him. Miradel sparkled darkly. “And now we begin,” she said.

13

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 13

7/12/17 1:28 PM

chapter two

Q

Puzzling the Pieces

Horace woke up. Overhead, a sprinkling of stars gleamed. Vega and Deneb shone brightly, and briefly Horace thought he was in his bedroom. But after a groggy moment he understood that these stars were real—distant suns in a distant past instead of glowing stickers on a painted ceiling. And there were trees here too, dark boughs heavy with fluttering fan-shaped leaves. Ginkgoes, yes. A nebulous memory came to him: eating hot ginkgo-leaf soup in the House of Answers with Chloe. But this was not the House of Answers. He looked around and saw a curving brick wall, ten feet high, that surrounded this quiet garden. No, not a garden either. A cloister—a safe haven of the Wardens. Horace rolled over. His back ached. Beside him on the ground, Chloe lay snoozing, her fists in balls and her brow

14

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 14

7/12/17 1:28 PM

puckered into a scowl. The huge crucible scar on her forearm, wide as a hand and twice as long, pointed at her face like a dark dagger. Her dragonfly pendant, the Alvalaithen, seemed to glow in the dark. A few feet away, Neptune slept flat on her back atop her cloak, her long legs still crossed and her hands loose in her lap. One of her pinkies was dislocated, jutting sideways from her hand like the pinky of a disfigured doll. Horace flinched, grimacing, and then remembered: Neptune had fallen during the night’s battle, when an Auditor had taken over her Tan’ji. Powerless, and suddenly exposed to the forces of gravity, Neptune had fallen to the ground. The battle. Snippets of the night’s events came to Horace slowly, piecemeal, in no particular order. The Riven surrounding April’s house. The charging Mordin in the woods. The phalanx. The tense standoff with Dr. Jericho, and Horace’s narrow escape. Slowly he strung the images into the full story. It wasn’t easy, because traveling by falkrete stone had fogged his memory. There was a circle of falkretes here, of course—every cloister had one. He examined the wide ring of motley stones now and recognized the bear-shaped stone that had transported him and the other Wardens to the ruined cloister near April’s house in the countryside. He recognized another that would lead them back toward the Warren, the secret sanctuary hidden under the busy downtown streets of Chicago. But the evening had begun long before any of that.

15

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 15

7/12/17 1:28 PM

So much had happened, so many paths taken. Horace had made seven leaps by falkrete stone tonight, each leap leaving him feeling split in two. The Horace who teleported forward to the next circle was haunted by the feeling that an entirely separate Horace had chosen to stay behind. But gradually this Horace here—himself, the only Horace—remembered dinner earlier that night, in his own home in the city. Not a normal dinner, by any stretch of the imagination. Horace and Chloe had arranged for their mothers to meet, for the first time in decades. How strange that Horace and Chloe had met each other only recently—both of them powerful Keepers with powerful Tan’ji—only to find out that their mothers had not only known each other as children, but had actually known the Wardens. They even seemed to have known Mr. Meister and Mrs. Hapsteade well, if such a thing was even possible. This whole time, Horace’s mom had been aware all of it: the Tan’ji, the Keepers, the Warren, the Riven, and even what it meant for a Keeper to join the Wardens, as Horace and Chloe had. Not that Horace’s mom nor Chloe’s—Isabel—had actually been Keepers. To be a Keeper, and become Tan’ji, you had to bond to an instrument. Chloe’s instrument was the Alvalaithen, the dragonfly pendant that allowed her to move through solid matter. Horace’s Tan’ji was the Fel’Daera, the small box at his side that allowed him to look into the near future. And Neptune’s was her gravity-defying tourminda. No, Isabel and Horace’s mom weren’t Keepers, but they

16

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 16

7/12/17 1:28 PM

had powers nonetheless. Potentially dangerous powers. They were Tuners, and they used instruments called harps to manipulate the Medium, twisting that energy, braiding it, and even severing or cleaving it. Horace shuddered at the thought and placed his hand on the Fel’Daera. When they were younger, Isabel and Horace’s mom, Jessica, had worked for the Wardens, tuning unclaimed instruments that were in search of new Keepers. Isabel had been particularly talented. Isabel alone was strong enough to use the powerful harp she called Miradel, even if she couldn’t control it completely. In fact, Isabel had used Miradel to tune the Fel’Daera years before Horace was even born, a revelation that made Horace squirm. Isabel, in a way, had helped to make him. And yet she had also betrayed them all. Horace sat cross-legged and watched Chloe sleep. This was a common occurrence, what with all their late-night adventures and Chloe’s prodigious napping abilities. He plucked at cluster of weeds, wondering what stormy dreams she was wrestling with now. Except for her black hair—and her many scars—Chloe looked almost exactly like her mother. Tiny and fierce. Pretty like a prowling cat. Chloe surely saw the resemblance, but she would hate to hear Horace say it. Chloe had never really known her mother, and showed no interest now. Horace couldn’t blame her. Isabel was difficult to trust, to put it mildly. As a girl, after stealing Miradel from the Warren, Isabel had run away from the Wardens, and had been banished for good. As an adult, she had run away from

17

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 17

7/12/17 1:28 PM

her family not long after Chloe became Tan’ji, seven years ago. Chloe had never forgiven her. Isabel had returned suddenly only a few days ago, unsettling everyone. The way Horace saw it, people who ran away usually had selfish reasons for running—good or bad—and nothing he’d learned about Isabel so far gave him much confidence that her reasons were good. Still, they’d tried the dinner. It had been Chloe’s idea, thinking that Horace’s mom could help her figure out the real reason Isabel had returned. For family, Isabel claimed. To set things right. Horace wanted to believe her, but he still wasn’t sure, especially after what had happened with the expired raven’s eye. A raven’s eye was a weak kind of leestone, a Tanu that protected Keepers from the Riven. But an expired raven’s eye, blackened and depleted, was useless—or so Chloe had thought when she let Isabel take one from her room. After dinner at Horace’s, Isabel had sneaked upstairs and found the harp belonging to Horace’s mom. With the harp, Isabel had toyed with the weaving inside the old raven’s eye. They’d caught her in the act, and suspected—even though Horace’s mom couldn’t prove it—that she’d been up to no good. Only later, after Chloe and her family left, with Joshua along for the ride, did they realize what Isabel had truly done. She had reversed the weaving inside the raven’s eye, turning it from what had once been a shield against the Riven into a beacon. She claimed it was an accident, but accident or

18

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 18

7/12/17 1:28 PM

not, the new weaving she’d made had led the Riven straight to Chloe’s family as they drove back to the Academy, nearly getting them all captured, or worse. The only reason they escaped was because Isabel had struck a deal with the Riven. If they left Chloe alone, they could have April, Keeper of the Ravenvine, an empath who had left the safety of the Warren and had returned to her home outside the city, with only Gabriel as an escort. But Isabel’s efforts only put them all in more danger, forcing the Wardens to come to April and Gabriel’s rescue. It was that rescue, and the desperate battle it sparked, from which Horace and the others had only narrowly escaped. But all that was over now. They were all safe. Back here in this cloister with its protective leestone—always a bird, this one orange with a gray head. The Riven could never find them here. Still, now that he’d slept the edge off his exhaustion, Horace found it hard to relax. They still had to jump five more times to return to the Warren, and Chloe and Neptune had already made a problematic number of jumps tonight. They’d leapt all the way back to the Warren before returning to search for Horace, when his final encounter with Dr. Jericho had kept him from following them right away. That was six jumps home and five jumps back. He was worried about the other Wardens, too. Would those traveling by car be back at the Warren by now? Horace looked up at the stars again and tried to clear his head, to let the time come to him. He’d always been able to do this—to

19

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 19

7/12/17 1:28 PM

simply know the time without looking. It was a talent suitable for the Keeper of the Box of Promises. Abruptly he knew that it was 11:58, give or take a minute. He’d escaped the battle just over a half hour ago, and had slept for fifteen minutes after that. The other Wardens probably wouldn’t get back to the Warren for another fifteen minutes more. Horace waited for the girls to wake. He’d give them ten minutes and then rouse them for the journey home. As he waited, he tried not to think about what Dr. Jericho had said just before Horace fled the meadow next to April’s home—his warning about the Mothergates, the remote and mysterious artifacts from which the Medium flowed. Dr. Jericho was one of the Riven, bent on taking all Tan’ji and ridding the world of human Keepers like Horace. He was a trickster and a beast. Nothing he said could be trusted. And yet. Neptune had sort of confirmed the Mordin’s warning just before falling asleep. Loopy and careless from the falkrete jumps, she had mentioned the Mothergates too, suggesting that there was something wrong with them. When pressed, she wouldn’t explain, but did eventually drop a bomb of a hint that clung to Horace still, a teasing echo of what Dr. Jericho had said outright: Nothing lasts forever. Horace had tried to interpret this hint any other way, but he couldn’t. The Mothergates were dying. According to Dr. Jericho. But also, apparently, according

20

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 20

7/12/17 1:28 PM

to Neptune. Meanwhile Mr. Meister, the leader of their little pack of Wardens, had yet to utter a single word about it. As for Horace, he struggled to let himself believe a thing he so hated to believe. But it was impossible to ignore. Horace took the Fel’Daera from its pouch. The striped wood shimmered; on its front, the silver sun with its twentyfour rays was almost entirely dark, an indication that the breach was very small right now. The box felt perfect in his hands. Perfect. How could he live without this? Logically speaking, if the Mothergates were dying, and every Tan’ji depended on the Mothergates for power, then the Fel’Daera was dying too. The thought was so agonizing and frightening that Horace could hardly find a place for it. He was a Keeper. The Fel’Daera was as much a part of him as his hands, his brain, his heart. Without the Fel’Daera . . . would he even exist? He thought for a moment, orienting himself, and then opened the box. The lid split in two, its wings unfolding smoothly to the sides. Inside, the blue glass bottom rippled in the starlight. Through that glass lay the future—the future four minutes and thirty-four seconds from now, to be precise. That’s how wide the breach was at the moment, the gap between the present and the future the box opened into. He raised the box and looked through it at future Chloe—still sleeping; fists still clenched. He briefly considered putting a handful of grass into the box and closing it above Chloe’s head. The grass would disappear, only to reappear four minutes and thirty-four seconds

21

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 21

7/12/17 1:28 PM

later, to fall onto his friend’s sleeping face. He snorted a soft laugh at the thought, but almost immediately felt childish. Would it be funny? He decided it would, but it would not be mature. It was the sort of thing his dad would do. And a part of Horace suspected that the real reason he wanted to send the grass had nothing to do with jokes. He wanted to reassure himself that the Fel’Daera was working fine, that nothing bad was coming, that the Mothergates—whatever and wherever they were—would last forever. Despite his worry, the box was working just as it always had. He swung it toward Neptune. “Whoa!” said Horace. Through the glass, a surprise— Neptune awake and very close, sitting up, eyes and mouth open; shaking her head and gesturing with her disfigured hand. She was looking up at something, or someone, and when Horace swung the box to see, he saw—himself, tall and shaggy haired, standing and talking animatedly. It was always unsettling, seeing his future self. What were he and Neptune talking about? He watched his lips move, crisp and clear through the rippling glass. He couldn’t hear, of course, but he was getting better at reading lips. As he watched, he saw his future self say, quite plainly—But what if she can? Horace snapped the box closed, frowning. What if who can? He slipped the Fel’Daera back into its pouch and told himself not to analyze it. The future came as it would. It was better not to overthink it. But Horace had never been an underthinker. Through 22

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 22

7/12/17 1:28 PM

the box, his future self had looked upset. And the scene had been crisp and clear, which usually meant that the Fel’Daera was seeing truly. What would possibly upset him in the next four minutes? He and Neptune seemed to be arguing. Was it something about the Mothergates again? Horace glanced over at Neptune, who was still sound asleep, but he resisted the urge to wake her. He watched the stars instead, naming the ones he knew by heart. Altair, Polaris, Kochab. He picked out one of his favorites, Eltanin, which was headed in earth’s direction and which—in a couple of million years—would become the brightest star in the sky. But tonight, as always, Vega was far brighter. Vega lay in a tiny constellation that was hard to pick out, but he knew it was there. He let his mind paint its shape on the night sky. Lyra, the harp. “But what if she can?” She was Isabel. He was sure of that. Isabel the Tuner and her strange wicker harp. What if Isabel can . . . what? As far as Horace knew, Isabel was still back at the Maz­ zoleni Academy. She was powerless, too, because Mr. Meister had confiscated Miradel. And yes, she had given up her harp willingly, which was comforting, but Horace also remembered what Chloe had once said about her mother. Isabel would never truly surrender Miradel. Isabel believed she was Tan’ji; she believed she was meant to be a Keeper. Isabel thought the Wardens could somehow make her a Keeper, and in fact Horace and Chloe had talked about whether Brian, with his 23

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 23

7/12/17 1:28 PM

incredible powers, could possibly— “Oh, no no no,” Horace said, realization dawning over him. He stood up, reasoning it through quickly as he could. “No no no,” he said again. Abruptly, Neptune sat up, groaning and rising from the ground like a reanimated corpse. “Gahhh,” she moaned. “Oh man, I hurt.” “Isabel wants Brian,” Horace blurted out, not even waiting for her to fully wake. “I’m sorry, what?” Neptune said, her voice thick with skepticism. She swept tangled strands of long brown hair out of her face, gazing at him with her sad, flat eyes. “This whole night, all of it, Isabel planned it,” Horace said. Neptune hummed doubtfully and frowned down at her jagged pinky. “Even my pinky?” she asked, pouting. “That’s just mean.” “I’m serious. The raven’s eye she altered—it wasn’t an accident. She did it on purpose. She lured the Riven and then, to save Chloe, she sent them after April. She knew we’d have to mount a rescue. She wanted to get us out of the Warren.” “Why?” “I told you. Brian. She thinks Brian can make her Tan’ji.” Brian, the most elusive member of the Wardens, was the Keeper of Tunraden, a Loomdaughter, an ancient instrument that gave him the power to create new Tan’ji—and other kinds of Tanu as well. Horace found it hard to believe that

24

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 24

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Brian, even with his immense powers, actually could make Isabel a Keeper somehow. But he definitely believed that Isabel believed it. Neptune hugged her knees to her chest, watching him intently. “You didn’t see this through the box.” “No. How could I?” “You’re just guessing.” “It’s more than a guess. It’s the only way the whole night makes sense. Isabel wants Brian.” “Isabel doesn’t even know Brian exists! No one does.” Horace couldn’t reply. He wondered if Neptune could see the blush of shame that burned across his cheeks. He glanced at Chloe, still sleeping. Neptune eyes widened. “Oh, god, Horace.” “It was an accident. Me and Chloe were talking at dinner tonight. Isabel was there. We were talking about Brian fixing April’s Tan’ji, and half an hour later Isabel was messing with the raven’s eye.” “So, basically, you were monumentally stupid,” Neptune said. “We didn’t know she was listening,” Horace protested, but Neptune was right. It was stupid to be so careless. Brian’s powers were so valuable and rare that he wasn’t allowed to leave the Warren. His instrument, Tunraden, was a prize the Riven would have dearly loved to get their horrible hands on, along with Brian himself. Brian, to put it simply, was a Maker. His existence had to remain utterly secret.

25

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 25

7/12/17 1:28 PM

But thanks to Horace and Chloe, Isabel knew. “Monumental or not, it doesn’t matter,” Neptune said. “Isabel can’t get into the Warren. She can’t even find it. The spitestone is there.” The spitestone, yes. Horace had seen it himself in Mr. Meister’s office, an owl figurine with a single glowing eye. Attuned to Isabel personally, the spitestone was designed to cloud her memories and her senses regarding the Warren. The Wardens had created the spitestone to banish Isabel all those years ago. As long as it existed, she could neither remember nor discover the location of the Warren, try as she might. But what if things had changed? “I don’t really know how spitestones work,” said Horace. “But what about Joshua? He’s inside the Warren right now.” “Joshua?” Neptune said, laughing. “You don’t trust Joshua?” But no, that wasn’t it. Horace was only grasping at straws. Yes, Joshua had been traveling with Isabel, and yes, he was a little weird, but he was just a boy, only eight or nine years old. Mr. Meister had welcomed him into the Warren, something the old man never would have done if he suspected him in any way. Plus, it was clear that Mr. Meister and Mrs. Hapsteade believed Joshua would become a Keeper, and maybe Horace was being a little unfair now because he had reason to believe that Joshua’s talents were somehow just like his own. He felt a tiny—very tiny, but embarrassing—bit of jealousy over the fact. Neptune leaned forward. “Joshua’s in the Warren, yeah,” 26

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 26

7/12/17 1:28 PM

she prodded. “But so is Mrs. Hapsteade. You think he’s going to overpower her and bring Isabel down to Brian’s workshop?” “No, I don’t think that,” Horace admitted, but the mention of Mrs. Hapsteade brought a memory back to him. His dread instantly doubled. “I’m not crazy, though—Mrs. Hapsteade stayed back at the Warren tonight because she was worried about Isabel.” “No she didn’t. She just stayed. She didn’t say why.” “Mr. Meister told me that was why,” Horace said, remembering. “She stayed because of Isabel, even after he reminded her that the spitestone would keep the Warren safe.” Neptune shook her head, waving her hands. “I didn’t hear him say that. And anyway, he’s right. The spitestone has kept the Warren hidden from Isabel for twenty years. Why would it stop now?” “What if she figured out a way around it?” Horace insisted. “Nobody can get past a spitestone.” “But what if she can?” “She can’t.” Horace paused, a queasy kind of déjà vu rolling over him. The future he’d witnessed through the box had just come to pass. “But what if she can?” He’d just spoken the words he’d seen himself say four minutes and thirty-four seconds ago. And here was a weirdness that only the Keeper of the Fel’Daera could truly understand: Horace had only begun to suspect Isabel like this because he had seen his future self say those words, and yet . . . he only 27

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 27

7/12/17 1:28 PM

said those words because he started suspecting her. It was the chicken and the egg, impossible to say which came first. He shook off the dizzying notion. The truth was this: through the box, Horace had seen what Horace would do. And as the Keeper of the Fel’Daera, he had to remember that the seeing and the doing were a single act, two sides of the same coin. If you were true to the box, the box would be true to you. So instead of resisting, he embraced the moment. Isabel couldn’t be trusted, and everything that had happened this night told him that his terrible suspicions might be correct. Even Mrs. Hapsteade seemed to be concerned, a step ahead of the rest of them as usual. Isabel wanted to find Brian, spitestone or no spitestone. It was only logical. Brian could be in danger. They had to get back. Horace crouched down in front of Neptune and opened his mouth to say the promised words again. “But what if she can?”

28

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 28

7/12/17 1:28 PM

chapter three

Q

One Day

Isabel squeezed Joshua’s hand. “The Warren,” she said, gazing around them. “It’s smaller than I remember. I think.” She released him and spun in a circle, scowling up at the walls. “My senses are still foggy. My memories, too. We have to find the spitestone. We have to destroy it.” “I don’t know where it is,” Joshua replied. “You’ve been close to it already tonight. Mr. Meister’s doba, maybe. Where is it again?” Joshua looked—but didn’t point—down deeper into the stone forest of the Great Burrow, where Mr. Meister’s huge doba loomed in the golden shadows, largest of all. Isabel grabbed him again and pulled him forward, moving so fast that he had to jog to keep up. Inside Mr. Meister’s office, the round red walls towered over them, covered in shelves and cubbies full of wondrous

29

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 29

7/12/17 1:28 PM

things, amazing things: a book as thick as a chest, a floating cube made of floating cubes, an owl figurine with a single yellow eye that glowed like a torch. Maybe Joshua’s Tan’ji was here, too. His heart skipped a beat as he noticed a white compass with a red needle on Mr. Meister’s desk. Was this the Laithe? But he stared and stared at the compass, and felt nothing. Not that he knew what he was supposed to feel. A couple of tiny birds fluttered down from above, chattering wildly around Isabel’s head, obviously bothered. For a moment, Joshua forgot his instrument and thought of April, and Arthur. Isabel had put them in danger, he knew that for sure now. All so she could break into the Warren. With Joshua’s help. “Were you here tonight?” Isabel asked. “Yes.” He didn’t bother to tell her he’d been here while the Wardens were figuring out how to save April. “Your instrument won’t be here, then,” Isabel said. “Meister would have seen your talent, and before he brought you here, he would have hidden the Laithe deeper in the Warren. I think that’s where we’ll find Brian, too.” She scowled fiercely. “But the spitestone is here. I feel it, like a shadow in a dark room. Do you see it?” “I don’t know what it looks like,” Joshua said, frowning angrily at the compass. Why was he angry? “It’ll be yellow. That’s my color. It might be glowing.” Joshua considered the furiously shining eye of the little owl, just beside the compass. It was right in front of her.

30

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 30

7/12/17 1:28 PM

He looked away quickly. “I don’t see anything like that,” he said. She cocked her head at him, eyes narrowing. “You’re lying.” “I’m not.” She crouched down and grasped his hands. “I’m trying to help you, Joshua. You’re going to be a Keeper at last, just like I always said.” “If that’s true, then I’ll become one anyway, even without your help. Mr. Meister will make sure I do. He said so.” Isabel hesitated, and then broke into a low, cruel laugh. “After what you’ve done? Helping the hated Isabel break into their precious sanctuary? You think they’ll want you now?” She released him and stood straight. “Let’s just wait for them to return, then. Let’s see how it goes.” Joshua clenched his fists, his head and gut a tornado of fear and anger and doubt and regret. Would they forgive him? Would they let him become a Keeper now? “I can fix it all, Joshua,” Isabel said gently. “I’m going to take you to your instrument, and fix myself, and then they’ll see. Then they’ll understand. They’ll forgive us both once they see.” She clasped her hands together, pleading. “It’s the only way to make everything right, Joshua. Help me. Where is the spitestone?” His stomach full of lead, Joshua spoke. “It’s here. It’s right here.” “I can’t see it,” Isabel said. “What is it? Pick it up for me.”

31

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 31

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Reluctantly, Joshua took the one-eyed owl. It was warm to the touch. The gleaming yellow eye brightened, lighting up the room—but not, he noticed now, Isabel. It was like the light couldn’t admit she was here. She cast no shadow in it. “That’s it,” Isabel said, though her eyes wouldn’t focus on it. “We need to destroy it. I think there’s a . . . hole here in the Warren. Like a bottomless canyon. I remember but don’t remember. Do you know what I mean?” “You mean the Maw?” “That’s it,” Isabel snapped greedily. “Take me there. Take me now.” Clutching the owl, his heart still heavy, Joshua led her back outside and deeper into the Great Burrow, where the chamber ended in darkness at the edge of a wide, deep chasm. The bottom of the Maw was so far down you couldn’t see it. A narrow staircase led down into the gloom, carved out of the stone—the Perilous Stairs, a sign announced, and then in the fine print:

Swallow up your fear, or be swallowed up yourself. Joshua had never been invited down these stairs before, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to be, but he’d come to understand that Brian did in fact live below. “Throw it over the edge,” Isabel said. “What?” Joshua said.

32

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 32

7/12/17 1:28 PM

“Throw the spitestone into the Maw. It’s clouding me, and I can’t help you unless we destroy it.” But Joshua didn’t think he could do it. He would have to admit to Mr. Meister that he’d not only helped Isabel sneak into the Warren, but that he’d destroyed the spitestone too. “You do it,” he said, and he awkwardly shoved the owl into Isabel’s hand. She shrieked, as if it had burned her, and jerked back. The little statue fell. It tumbled over the edge of the Maw and down the steep cliff. Once, twice it bounced, and on the third it shattered, exploding with a loud shriek into a sparkling cloud of startling gold. Joshua jumped. The shrill cry faded slowly as the breeze from below blew the cloud apart into nothing. Isabel laughed with relief. “Better,” she said, looking up and all around as if the lights had just been turned on. “Oh, much better. Now I see. I remember.” Her dark eyes fell on him and widened. She grabbed him by the shoulders and leaned in so fast he flinched. “It’s here,” she muttered hoarsely. “It’s yours. The Laithe of Teneves.” Joshua froze. That name again. The Laithe. The Laithe of Teneves. But he shook his head, feeling like he might drown in the very idea of it. “It’s yours, Joshua,” Isabel said. “I tuned the Laithe myself, years ago, and I know it better than anyone but its Maker.” Isabel had tuned his instrument? So maybe she did

33

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 33

7/12/17 1:28 PM

know—maybe he was its Keeper, whatever it was. That sick flame of hope flickered in his chest again. He tried to ignore it. “I don’t want it,” he said, and it was a terrible lie. The worst lie ever. “But you do,” Isabel insisted softly. “All this time I’ve been promising you, and now you’ll see I was right. Tonight you become a Keeper, Joshua. We just need to find it. You’ll lay eyes on it, and then . . . everything will change. You will become who you are.” Isabel scanned the air around him. Joshua could barely breathe. She looked down at the ground, then spun about and spotted the staircase. “The Perilous Stairs,” she breathed, with the voice of someone who has just discovered a longforgotten thing. “That’s our path.” She started down the stairs. Joshua stood there swaying for a moment. You will become who you are. He looked back into the Great Burrow. Mrs. Hapsteade was back there somewhere, unharmed but helpless. Isabel could have cleaved her, he knew. But she hadn’t. And what if everything Isabel was saying now was the truth? Wouldn’t the Wardens understand? Wouldn’t they forgive him? He couldn’t let himself answer. There were answers he couldn’t bear. He turned and followed Isabel in a daze. The Perilous Stairs were rough and terribly steep, and on one side the bottomless Maw yawned like the mouth of a giant beast. Joshua kept close to the wall, turning sideways to manage each high step as they zigzagged down the cliff face.

34

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 34

7/12/17 1:28 PM

The breeze ruffled his dark hair and made him shiver. He told himself to keep his fear swallowed. He counted the steps to keep himself distracted from everything—Isabel breaking into the Warren, Mrs. Hapsteade severed and helpless, the deadly fall just inches away, the possibility of his promised instrument waiting for him below at last. The Laithe of Teneves. As they rounded a sharp bend in the stairs, Isabel said, “Back when I tuned the Laithe, when I worked for the Wardens, I wasn’t much older than you are now. I’ve never forgotten it.” Joshua nearly tripped, unable to ask her anything—all the things he wanted so badly to know. She glanced back at him, her brown eyes full of dark excitement. “It’s a globe, Joshua,” she whispered. “Wait till you see. It’s a living globe, a tiny earth. Every continent, every river, every mountain range, every forest—every house! All there to be found. All of it. That’s how I know the Laithe is yours.” And now Joshua did stumble, so caught up in her words that he missed a step entirely. He plunged toward the edge, his heart frozen. But Isabel swiveled and caught him nimbly by the arm. She righted him and then continued down the stairs without comment. “Every Keeper has a talent,” she said. “And yours, of course—” “Maps,” Joshua breathed. Joshua loved maps. Reading

35

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 35

7/12/17 1:28 PM

maps was his only hobby, the only thing he remembered always doing. He scoured them, memorized them easily. And it was his talent because he’d always thought of the world as a map he was standing on, walking across. He could hardly imagine not thinking this way. How did other people get around? Directions and distances and destinations—Joshua knew these things as easily as he knew colors. And this Laithe, this globe, it sounded . . . “The Laithe is the greatest map that has ever been made,” said Isabel. “More than a map—you’ll see.” “And it’s for me?” Joshua managed to ask. “You’re sure?” “It’s already yours. It always has been.” At last they reached the bottom of the Perilous Stairs. One hundred and forty-seven steps, roughly—Joshua had missed a step or two when he’d nearly fallen. They were now almost two hundred feet below the Great Burrow. To the north, a great stone bridge crossed the Maw to a kind of balcony on the far side. To the south, the path they stood on cut into the rock face, into a narrow tunnel. Joshua squinted into the tunnel, confused. A little ways in, the passage darkened into a clean rectangle of total black. Impossible edges, impossible black. Isabel tilted her head curiously at the darkness. “What’s this?” She stepped into the tunnel, right up to the black. It was only a shadow, Joshua could tell, but its edges were so sharp that it looked more like a thing. Like a door. Isabel studied it, the wicker sphere pulsing and glowing again at her chest. 36

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 36

7/12/17 1:28 PM

“Oh, that’s clever,” she murmured. “Something precious on the other side of this, no doubt. Something and someone, I think.” “Was this not here before?” Joshua asked. “When you were little?” Isabel scowled. “Meister didn’t allow me down here,” she said bitterly. “He didn’t let me do anything but the one thing he wanted from me. I came and tuned his precious unclaimed instruments, so that they’d be clean and ready when—if— their Keepers came to claim them. That’s all the Wardens wanted me to do.” She stepped up to the edge of the shadow door. Miradel grew huge, its tangled strands spreading and spilling green light everywhere. “But I can do much more,” she said, and then the shadow door seemed to shiver. It shuddered violently, and then suddenly it came loose, falling toward Isabel like a giant black domino. She didn’t move, and looked as if she would be crushed, but the darkness was only a shadow and not a thing at all, and it passed through her like air. It vanished with a puff as it toppled onto the ground. Beyond, the tunnel stretched onward toward a bright light shining eighty feet ahead. Isabel looked back at Joshua, laughing like she’d surprised herself. “There’s not another Tuner alive that could do that,” she said. “Was it a trap?” “No, nothing dangerous. Just a trick. The Wardens are full of tricks, you know.” 37

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 37

7/12/17 1:28 PM

“They’ve been nice to me,” Joshua said. A flash of fury slid across Isabel’s grinning face, but then she tugged her red hair and smiled again. Not a real smile. “Of course they have,” she said calmly. “You’re valuable. They want to keep you for themselves. Just like April.” “They helped April. Brian fixed her.” “Yes, and now it’s my turn. My turn at last,” said Isabel. She gripped Joshua by the arm—not too hard, but not exactly soft—and looked into his eyes. “Brian is going to take some convincing. Don’t be alarmed. I won’t really hurt him.” Without waiting for an answer, she pushed him gently into the hall. When they reached the far end, Joshua paused at the threshold to Brian’s workshop. He could see him at his bench, concentrating hard on an instrument, his eyes almost crossed. “Go,” Isabel whispered. Joshua swallowed hard and then stepped through the doorway. Brian looked up and began to smile. A real smile. He looked goofy, not because of his ghostly pale skin or his ponytail, but because of the crazy goggles strapped over his glasses. He looked like an insect, or an alien. Almost as soon as his smile began, though, it vanished. He jumped up, knocking over his stool and dropping his equipment to the floor. “You must be Brian,” Isabel purred, right behind Joshua. “I’ve heard so little about you.” “Who are you?” said Brian, backing away. Isabel walked up to him and plucked at his shirt. “‘Beware

38

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 38

7/12/17 1:28 PM

of Danger,’” she read. “Is that why they have you locked away down here? Danger?” “You’re Isabel,” Brian said, his gaze falling to Miradel. “How did you get in here? Where’s Mrs. Hap—” “She’s fine, totally fine,” said Isabel with a wave. “We’re old friends . . . or old somethings, anyway. I’m not here to hurt anyone.” Brian looked at Joshua, his face a question. Joshua could tell he was mad and scared. Joshua wanted to leave. “Don’t blame Joshua,” Isabel said. “He’s here for the same reason I am.” “But . . . the spitestone,” said Brian. “How did you find us?” “The spitestone is gone,” Isabel said with a laugh, not really answering. “Finally gone, and it’s like . . .” She pressed all ten fingers to her scalp. “It’s like I discovered a box of old diaries.” She held a finger in Brian’s face, like she was lecturing him. “It’s not just that I haven’t been able to find the Warren, you know. All my memories of this place have been cloudy. It’s like the spitestone—” “I’m pretty up-to-date on how the spitestone works,” said Brian. “Yes, you would be, wouldn’t you? You’re the one that fixed April’s Tan’ji. There’s only one kind of Keeper that can do something like that.” Brian took off his goggles. Joshua just stood there, not knowing what to say or do. “I’m not a Keeper,” said Brian. “I

39

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 39

7/12/17 1:28 PM

just tinker around down here in the basement.” “Tinker,” said Isabel with a giggle. “Let’s not waste time. You are a Keeper. Your Tan’ji is a Loomdaughter. I’d like to see it.” Brian shook his head. “No,” he said. “No way.” Isabel sighed. Miradel began to swell and glow, a green haze lighting the space between Isabel and Brian. “You don’t seem to understand. I need help. You are going to help me.” Miradel throbbed, and Brian staggered, grimacing, his eyes glazing over. “What are you doing?” Joshua cried, even though he knew. She was severing Brian. Brian staggered numbly for a moment, and then straightened, his eyes clearing. Isabel had stopped, apparently, but Brian still looked like he was in pain. Joshua wondered if he’d ever been severed before. “Just a friendly reminder of what a Tuner can do,” Isabel said. “And severing isn’t the worst of it, as I’m sure you know.” Brian swallowed so hard Joshua saw his Adam’s apple bob up and down. Isabel was talking about cleaving, ripping apart the bond between Brian and Tunraden by force, all at once. Permanently. Joshua told himself she wouldn’t do it. That she would never. “Of course, there’s no need for anything like that,” Isabel said. “Not between friends. All you have to do is help me.” Brian eyed Miradel. Joshua thought he looked worried, but not as worried as he himself would have been. Something

40

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 40

7/12/17 1:28 PM

bright and thoughtful was burning behind those glasses. “Help you what?” Brian said calmly. “Be what I’m supposed to be. I was meant to be a Keeper. And you, I think, were meant to help me finally become one.” Joshua wasn’t sure, but it almost seemed like Brian hesitated—like the idea interested him somehow. But then Brian shook his head again. “That can’t happen. No way. And even if I was willing to try—which I’m not—it would take hours. The rest of the Wardens will be back before then.” “Oh, you won’t do it here.” Brian laughed. “You expect me to leave? With Tunraden? Forget it. Cleave me if you like, but taking Tunraden out of here is literally impossible.” “Tunraden,” Isabel sighed. “That’s a lovely name. And if I know Meister, I’m sure it’s true you can’t leave the Warren with her—not by the usual routes, anyway.” She swept past him. She crossed the cluttered chamber to a tall cabinet against the far wall. She opened the door, revealing shelves full of strange objects—a black disk laced with red streaks like lightning, a cat head made of silver, a tiny brass top, a transparent rod with a long thin fish inside. Joshua stared, his eyes flicking wildly over these wonders. Tan’ji, they had to be—or technically, Tan’layn, instruments that still hadn’t found a Keeper. “Those aren’t for you,” Brian said, looking nervous. “No, they’re not.” Isabel reached into the cabinet and pulled something out. A sphere as big as a grapefruit, blue

41

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 41

7/12/17 1:28 PM

and white and green. Joshua’s mouth dried up, and his heart began to pound. “What are you doing?” said Brian. Isabel ignored him. She brought the sphere over to Joshua. He felt glued to the ground, pinned in place. “Here,” she said, holding it out. “This is yours now, Keeper.” Brian gasped angrily, but Joshua barely heard him, frozen in place. The Laithe of Teneves. Here in front of him. Isabel had said it was a living globe, but Joshua hadn’t understood what that meant until now. The little globe, wrapped in a glowing haze, was made of water and air and earth. Clouds moved across the surface. Currents rippled on the oceans. Africa and the Middle East were pointed at him, and he could see the grainy surface of the Sahara and the Arabian Desert. He could see the rugged brown of the Himalayas, the turquoise blue of the Caspian Sea, the fertile green of the Ganges Delta. He thought he could even see little splotches of giant cities—Mumbai, Cairo, Istanbul. It was a map like he’d never imagined, a map to erase all other maps, and it was all so perfect and real that he stood there thinking maybe he’d never— “Here,” Isabel said again, and she set the Laithe in his open hands. Joshua had never been so terrified. He thought he might drop the Laithe from fear. The globe was small enough that he could almost wrap two hands around it. It felt like a stubborn cloud beneath his fingers, and he somehow understood

42

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 42

7/12/17 1:28 PM

that he couldn’t actually touch the surface of the little earth. There was a copper meridian around the globe, too, a flat ring that circled it. He gripped the ring now. Lots of globes had meridians, all anchored at the north and south poles, but the Laithe’s meridian had no anchors. The globe hovered inside the encircling meridian without touching it, like Saturn inside its rings. Gently he brushed a finger across the globe, and discovered that it could rotate freely inside the meridian in every direction. What was this thing? How was this thing? And no, he wasn’t ready for it, not for this, it was too beautiful and perfect and . . . important. The copper meridian was smooth and blank, which was strange. Normally, meridians had lines to indicate degrees, north and south. Joshua flipped the ring over, marveling as the globe inside stayed almost perfectly motionless, still centered on the eastern coast of Africa. The other side of the meridian was covered in strange markings—not degrees, no, but curious arrows that pointed in a clockwise direction. There were inscriptions that looked like words in a language he’d never seen. At the top, a small golden rabbit was attached to the meridian. It was curled up, as if asleep. “Well?” said Isabel, watching him with her dark brown eyes. Joshua struggled to speak, staring at the rabbit. “It’s . . . too much.” Her eyes flashed. “It’s yours, Joshua. I see that. It’s a lot to take in, going through the Find—”

43

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 43

7/12/17 1:28 PM

“Uh, this is not the Find,” Brian said. Isabel rounded on him, but he only shrugged. “Speaking as the only Keeper in the room, just saying. This is not how the Find works. And if you don’t go through the Find properly, you can—” “It won’t be up to the Wardens to decide what’s proper today,” Isabel snapped. “The Laithe is Joshua’s. Surely you can see that.” Brian shrugged again, slowly this time. “I can see . . . things,” he said, gazing at Joshua through his glasses. “But it doesn’t matter what I can see. The Laithe is Tan’layn—one of the unspoken. You’re going to speak for it?” “It isn’t Tan’layn anymore. It has been claimed. It is Tan’ji, and Joshua is its Keeper. Show him, Joshua.” Joshua thought he might cry. He wanted this wonderful globe, he did. But he felt sort of like someone had poured a thousand gold coins into his hands—an incredible treasure, but too much to carry. And now Brian was saying this wasn’t the Find. “I don’t know what to do,” he said, and he meant it in all the ways it could be meant. But Isabel impatiently reached out and touched the meridian of the Laithe. Joshua frowned. People weren’t supposed to touch other people’s Tan’ji, he knew that much. Isabel didn’t seem to care. “Here,” she said, pointing to the golden rabbit. “Slide this.” Hesitantly, Joshua took hold of the rabbit. He tugged it gently, and the rabbit began to slide around the meridian, as smoothly as a skate on ice. Instantly, the surface of the globe

44

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 44

7/12/17 1:28 PM

began to shift. Madagascar was still right in the middle, centered inside the Meridian, but as he slid the rabbit, the island began to grow. It swiftly tripled in size. Meanwhile oceans and continents around the edge rearranged themselves, drifting outward and shrinking. Joshua released the rabbit, terrified. “I broke it!” he cried. “Look!” “It looks the same to me,” said Isabel. “You’re zooming in, but only you can see it. You didn’t break it—you’re doing what it was made to do. You are its Keeper.” Only he could see. He was its Keeper. Trying to believe it, Joshua slowly slid the rabbit farther around the meridian. Madagascar continued to expand. The tip of India vanished over the horizon. Africa shriveled slowly away to the west. By the time the rabbit was a quarter of the way around the ring, the island nearly filled his view, a green swath of rainforest in the east, highlands in the middle, and drier land to the west. Joshua kept going, moving the rabbit. Central Madagascar grew closer and closer. Off to one side, there was a lake he didn’t know the name of and a city he did—the only city in Madagascar he knew by name, Antananarivo, a name that was fun to say out loud even if he wasn’t sure how to pronounce it. When the rabbit reached the bottom of the meridian, Joshua realized there was nothing there to stop it, so he kept going on around the circle, back up toward where the rabbit had begun. He heard Brian say, “Whoa,” but Joshua didn’t look

45

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 45

7/12/17 1:28 PM

up. If it was true that no one else could see what was happening on the globe, Brian must be seeing something else—the Medium, probably. On the globe, hills began to appear. A winding road, and river—a gray snake and a green. Blocks of buildings, and now the dots of individual houses. Trees, though many of them had lost their leaves. Joshua’s mouth fell open. In real life, Madagascar was below the equator, which meant it was winter there now, especially in the highlands. There was farmland there too, not like the big square farms in Illinois, but sculpted in ledges across the hillsides. Terrace farming, it was called. Joshua looked up. He blinked his eyes—he’d almost forgotten where he was. Isabel stood in front of him, her face eager. Brian was right there too, closer now, and Joshua turned to him. “Will I see people?” He wasn’t sure why he thought Brian would know. Brian seemed smart, smarter even than Horace, maybe. And he knew about Tan’ji. “Some,” said Brian, his eyes darting through the air around the Laithe. But then he waved his hands like he was trying to erase his answer. “Don’t ask me questions. This shouldn’t even be happening.” People. Tiny people down there on this living globe. They couldn’t be real people, of course. Could they? Joshua pushed the running rabbit farther, two-thirds of the way around now. The land beneath him continued to grow from the center and melt out of sight around the edges of the Laithe. He passed

46

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 46

7/12/17 1:28 PM

through a cloud. The view descended into a narrow valley of terraced crops between two forests. A farmhouse. Dirt lanes. But then suddenly, as the rabbit reached three-quarters of the way around, the Laithe began to get fuzzy. Little blurry circles began to appear, like raindrops hitting a puddle. He pushed the rabbit farther, but the circles spread and grew. He couldn’t see anything anymore, just ripples of brown and gray and green. “I did break it,” he whispered. “I can’t see anything.” “What happened?” said Isabel. In a panic, Joshua slid the rabbit backward. The ripples went away. The dirt lanes and the trees and the farmhouse reappeared, shrinking. The land farther out crept back in over the horizon too. “Wait,” he said, pushing the rabbit forward once more. But again, as he zoomed in, the rippling circles covered the surface of the Laithe. “I can’t get close. I can’t see all the way.” “You have to,” Isabel said. “Try again.” “What do you see, Joshua?” asked Brian in a friendly way, leaning in over the Laithe. “Like . . . circles. Ripples.” “And where are you now? Where are you looking?” “Madagascar.” “Wow! That’s pretty far away from where we are right now.” “Nine thousand miles,” Joshua said automatically.

47

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 47

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Brian whistled. “Super far. And have you ever been there?” “What? No. When would I go to Madagascar?” “I don’t know. People go places. Some people, anyway. But if you haven’t been there . . .” “Enough,” said Isabel, holding a hand up to Brian. “You’ve made your point.” Brian stepped back. “You can’t expect him to master it in five minutes, zooming all the way in on a spot he’s never been to, halfway around the world. If he were doing this the right way, he’d be in the Find for weeks before managing something like that.” “Weeks?” said Joshua. “We do not have weeks. We have minutes.” Isabel snapped her fingers at Brian. “Take me to the Loomdaughter.” Brian looked startled, like he had forgotten why Isabel was here. He frowned at Isabel’s wicker harp. “If you think I’m coming with you, you’re crazy,” he said. Miradel flared violently at Isabel’s chest, spilling a forest of green light across Brian. He tensed, his eyes going wide. “Don’t, Isabel!” Joshua cried. “You said you wouldn’t hurt him!” Isabel’s face was rigid with anger. After several frozen moments, it softened. The glowing green harp shrank and dimmed. “I’m not crazy,” she said quietly. “I’m desperate.” Brian shook his head, breathing once more. “I get that. But I can’t help you.”

48

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 48

7/12/17 1:28 PM

“You can,” Isabel insisted. “You want to try, I know you do.” He looked away, but not before the strange fire in his eyes seemed to brighten. “I’m not . . . ,” he began, and then started over, speaking slowly and carefully, holding his hands up like shields. “You’re desperate for something that might not even be real.” Joshua’s eyes darted to Isabel in alarm, but there was no anger, no burst of green light. Instead, she looked almost happy. “But it might be,” she said. “Take me to the Loomdaughter. Show me. If you can convince me that you can’t do what I want . . .” “You’ll let me go?” Brian asked lightly. Isabel tilted her head in a way that wasn’t quite a no, wasn’t quite a yes. “Just show her,” Joshua pleaded with Brian, frightened by the conversation and wanting it to end, willing to worry about what came next when it came. “Just for a minute.” Brian looked long and hard at Joshua. At last he gave a single nod and abruptly turned away, walking deeper into the workshop without a word. They followed him. In the back, Brian led them into a small, round chamber. It smelled like a rainstorm. There was a tall stone table there, and on top of it sat a big oval . . . thing. Joshua got up on his tiptoes to see. “Tunraden,” Brian said, his voice sullen and distant. Tunraden was a great stone slab, almost two feet wide and six inches deep. It looked very, very old. There were no

49

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 49

7/12/17 1:28 PM

markings on it, except for the top, where there was an engraved outline around the edge and two circles at each end of the oval. It looked very ordinary, Joshua thought, but it didn’t feel anything like ordinary. Not at all. It felt like thunder. “What does it do?” Joshua said, clutching the Laithe. “It makes Tan’ji,” Isabel said breathlessly, circling the Loomdaughter. “And he can use it to fix Tan’ji too. This is how he made April whole again, how he fixed the Ravenvine. And it’s how he’s going to help me become a Keeper.” “Well, two out of three, anyway,” muttered Brian. “You can . . . make Tan’ji?” Joshua said, not sure he heard right. “On a good day, yeah.” Still studying Tunraden, Isabel said, “It’s astonishing.” “Um . . . thank you?” Brian said, obviously trying not to sound pleased. “It’s bigger than I thought it would be,” she went on. “I get that a lot. Tunraden is one of the small ones, supposedly. The first few Loomdaughters were too big to even move. But you can see now why taking her outside is a bad idea. We can barely get around.” “I’ll get you where we need to go,” Isabel said. Brian shook his head. “If the Riven discovered there was a Loomdaughter on the loose—” “I can protect you.” “Says the woman who just threatened to kill me.” Brian watched her with that dark and thoughtful light still in his

50

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 50

7/12/17 1:28 PM

eyes. “I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I don’t think you really would cleave me. Why would you destroy the only person who could possibly help you?” Isabel gave a smile that was more like a snarl. “If that person refuses to even try to help me, what would I have to lose by destroying him?” Joshua stepped forward, his heart surging. But Brian simply said, “Hope. That’s what you’d lose. Nearly all of it, I think.” When Isabel didn’t reply, he said, “Let’s wait for the other Wardens to come back. Let me talk to them. I can convince them to let me try and help you.” It was impossible to tell if Brian meant it or not. But Joshua certainly did not want to be here when the Wardens got back, when they learned what he and Isabel had done. They would take the Laithe away from him, he was sure of it. “Please,” Isabel spat. “Meister would never let you help me.” “I can’t go with you, I’m sorry,” said Brian. “You’ve been down here a long time, haven’t you?” Isabel said. “I doubt Meister ever lets you leave. How long has it been since you felt the sun? Breathed fresh air? Stood under a tree?” Brian shrugged like he didn’t care, but it didn’t ring true. “How long since I got sunburn?” he asked. “Smelled car exhaust? Got pooped on by a bird?” He scrunched up his long face. “Actually scratch that last one. There are a surprising number of birds down here.”

51

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 51

7/12/17 1:28 PM

“How long?” Isabel pressed. Brian scratched his chin. “Three years.” “Whoa . . . ,” Joshua said slowly, trying to imagine living in a cave for three years. He could hardly even imagine three years of anything. “And how many more years before Meister lets you go?” said Isabel. Scowling at her, Brian said, “How many years since you’ve been trying to get your harp under control?” Isabel scowled right back. “I have it under control.” “Mostly,” said Brian. “Usually.” He gestured at the air around her. “I can see it, you know. That thing is like a tornado in a bottle, and you’ve got your thumb squeezed over the spout, constantly.” It was obvious from Isabel’s face—a smooth but guilty slab of shock—that he’d struck close to home. And Joshua knew that Isabel sometimes did lose control of the harp. But she shook her head stubbornly. “You don’t know the first thing about it,” she said. Brian crossed his arms as if he had all day, and said, “Then tell me.” Isabel hesitated, leaning over Tunraden. “I can’t always control it,” she explained at last. “It gets away from me sometimes. It’s gotten away from me in the past and . . . bad things have happened.” She glanced at Joshua. “But nobody else could ever even use it at all. Not even a little. Besides, I was meant to be Tan’ji, and the Wardens robbed me of that. Then

52

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 52

7/12/17 1:28 PM

Miradel came along, and . . . I was the only one for her. The only one. But it isn’t quite right. Not yet.” “How is it not quite right?” asked Brian. “If I were going to try and help you—still a huge if—I would need to know.” Joshua couldn’t help himself. Brian did need to know. “Sometimes she severs people on accident,” he said. “Rarely,” said Isabel. “When I’m angry, or . . . upset.” Brian looked at her for a long time, chewing his cheek again. He said quietly, “Bad things have happened, you said. How bad?” Isabel took a deep breath. She took another. “When Chloe was little, after she brought the Alvalaithen home but was still going through the Find, she was in the yard. She was playing with the dragonfly, going thin. I heard her screaming. I ran outside, and she was . . . sinking into the ground. It hadn’t happened to her before—I guess she hadn’t imagined it could happen.” Isabel paused, looking up at the stone ceiling, like she was imagining the surface of the earth hundreds of feet above them. “Chloe was in up to her knees, hanging on to a lawn chair like a life jacket, screaming. Like she was drowning. I panicked. I got upset, and—” Little prickles of horror skittered across Joshua’s skin. “You severed her,” he said. “While her legs were in the ground,” said Brian. Joshua remembered the Mordin on top of the car earlier in the evening, how Chloe had gone thin and put a crowbar

53

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 53

7/12/17 1:28 PM

into its leg. He remembered the scream. You couldn’t put two things in the same place at the same time. Bad things happened when you did. Isabel nodded. “I severed her. Just for an instant.” “But her legs would have been ruined,” said Brian. “She should have lost them,” Isabel agreed. “But you’ve seen Chloe. She’s a Paragon.” Brian’s eyebrows shot up skeptically. “What’s a Paragon?” asked Joshua. It sounded like a shape. “It’s just a story,” said Brian, and Isabel huffed and rolled her eyes. “But if you believe the story, each instrument—over its entire lifetime of perhaps hundreds of years—will only encounter one true Paragon. The one Keeper who can fully master all of its powers. The perfect Tan’ji.” “And that’s Chloe,” said Isabel. She sounded proud. “It’s not just a story. I know it now like I knew it then. When she got herself out of the ground that day, her legs were broken. Shattered. But she shouldn’t have been able to get them out at all. Only a Paragon could have done that.” Joshua looked down at the Laithe, at soft rings of clouds drifting over the Indian Ocean. Could he be a Paragon? Probably not, he decided. After all, he wasn’t totally sure—not totally—that he was even supposed to be the Keeper of the Laithe. The thought filled him with an anger he had never felt before. All this talk about helping Isabel, and taking Brian out of the Warren. Isabel was using him, and Brian too. But no

54

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 54

7/12/17 1:28 PM

sooner had the rage flared up than it was gone again, washed away by a flood of confusion and uncertainty, of hope and desperation. He clutched the Laithe to his chest. “So your daughter, the Paragon,” said Brian. “Did you ever tell her it was your fault, the thing that happened with her legs?” Isabel stiffened. “Not then, no,” she admitted. “But now I have.” “Just the other day, you mean. Seven years after it happened.” “Yes. And you don’t need to remind me that I didn’t give up Miradel back then, either, even though I was a danger to Chloe. I left my family instead. That should tell you something about me and my harp.” “It does,” Brian said softly. “It really does.” “I’m devoted to Miradel. She belongs to me, and I can’t give her up, just like you can’t give up Tunraden. But I want my family back.” “And you expect me to fix it all,” said Brian. “You fixed April,” Isabel said. “And you made Meister’s vest, didn’t you? I can tell.” Brian didn’t deny it. Joshua was confused—the red vest was Tan’ji? And Brian had made it? Isabel held Miradel in her hand and pushed it toward Brian. The green light inside seemed to swirl and sparkle. “If you can turn a vest into a Tan’ji, why not a harp?” Brian still didn’t answer. His glasses shone emerald, two

55

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 55

7/12/17 1:28 PM

copies of Miradel reflected across the lenses. And although it seemed to Joshua that every emotion was written on the older boy’s face, fear didn’t seem to be one of them anymore. And there was still that strange little fire in his eyes. “Do to Miradel what you did to the vest,” said Isabel. “Help me. Help my family. Fix me, and I’ll become whole again, in all the ways. And you will have done what no Maker has ever done before.” Brian stood there, thinking. Joshua couldn’t imagine what he himself would do, if he was Brian. Isabel was sad, and needed help. But Isabel was also bad, Joshua knew that—or at least, he knew Isabel did bad things. He tried to convince himself that the bad came out of the sad. He didn’t understand quite how that worked, or if it was true. He only understood that it might be true. Judging by the way he was looking at Isabel now, Brian seemed to be thinking the same sorts of things. He looked sorry for her, but sort of disgusted by her too, like the way a person might look at a badly injured animal. After a long time Brian said, “Twenty-four hours. That’s how long I’ll give you. If I can’t do it in one day, you bring me back and you give it all up.” Isabel bent her neck, pressing her forehead briefly against Miradel. She looked up at Brian, beaming. “One day,” she said. “Thank you.” “And you have to take me someplace safe. Someplace with a leestone. If I use Tunraden for more than a few seconds

56

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 56

7/12/17 1:28 PM

without a leestone, it’ll be like a dinner bell as big as a church for miles around. You have to protect me.” “I will. I have a plan.” She glanced at Joshua. “Okay,” Brian said. “We’re headed out, then.” He stuck his fingers under his glasses and rubbed his eyes, then looked down at his own ghostly pale arms. “I don’t suppose anyone has any sunscreen.”

57

Keepers3_txt_des4_cc15.indd 57

7/12/17 1:28 PM