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“Yes, we were. Your kind were such small, insignificant creatures, but lived in a physical world that was beyond our comprehension. We were as curious about you as you were about us. Eventually, priests were able to open portals for us, and many demons left for the physical world. Those who remained formed bonds with a select few; we enjoyed watching your short lives play out, and even guided your souls back to the Tapestry if you became lost after death.”

“Who did you speak with?”

“Uldra. She is the red stone at the beginning of your chain. She was a powerful high priest with the threads of Entropy and Transformation.”

I touch the rough uncut ruby where it sits on my middle finger. “Uldra,” I whisper. I trail to the other pearls that represent the souls of my ancestors. “Did you know all the souls on this chain?”

“Yes.”

I trace the other rubies dangling from blue, green, and gold threads. “I had no idea you were a soul guide.”

She scoffs. “Do not belittle my importance. I was your family’s guardian. A household god, revered and worshipped by your ancestors. It was a joy, and I could visit you all within the Tapestry to ensure the spiders were taking good care of your souls. I’d even chased away any malicious creature who tried to sneak onto the Tapestry. As I said, things changed. The spiders no longer recognized me, and I was forced from the Tapestry to the outer ring of the Weave.”

Her three tails swish in agitation. “So many of Uldra’s descendants screamed for me during Alvius’ rise to power and the slaughter of the priesthood. So many lost souls were devoured. I tried to save those I could reach in time, but I could no longer deliver them directly to the Tapestry. If I was too close, the spiders would confuse me with one of the devourers, and I’d risk death.”

I place my hand flat on her head. “That sounds awful.”

She tilts her head into my touch. “It’s been millennia, and I can still hear their cries. Some days, it’s all I can hear.”

I stroke her and rest my upper body back on her head.

She sighs, her mighty shoulders expanding and dropping with the force of it. “It is painful for me to remember. It’s why I do not speak of it. I miss the golden age of the priesthood, and reliving the horrors and all I’ve lost is…”

She shakes her head and resumes her walk. An exhaustion hangs heavy in her voice as she continues her tale. “A few of the priesthood escaped the slaughter and hid among the Astrum Order, swearing loyalty to Alvius in exchange for their lives. Only one of Uldra’s descendants escaped the purge. She became Giuliana Rosemont.”

“Giuliana…” I snatch up the notebook and flick through the yellowed pages quickly until I come across Rossana’s elegantly looped handwriting. Valen’s mother had devoted her early years to trying to solve the declining weaver population issue and had filled her pages with family trees. My mother had assisted her in the hopes of saving the Rosemont line.

Finally, I find my mother’s spiky hand and trace the Rosemont family tree as it branches out onto the pages. I follow it until I come across Giuliana at the top, where she married into the family.

Jinx continues, “Then, Giuliana called on me. The black flame, Uldra’s gift to her descendants, had turned ravenous. It was devouring her grandchildren. She was so old, but she begged me for help. I knew I could not stop the black flame forever. I told her as much, but I could slow it. Maybe give her line a chance to discover why it was turning on them after generations of skilled wielding it with no issue. She accepted me, and I bound to her Soul Thread.”

My fingers trail along the Rosemont family tree that thins more and more until only Gildra remained. Doomed for extinction.

My heart thumps painfully. “What happened? Did it grow too strong?”

“No. It was I who grew too weak.”

I jolt. “You weakened? Why did you weaken?”

Jinx laughs. “There are some things that cannot be changed. It is the nature of the physical world to atrophy. From the moment a mortal is birthed, they are already dying. It is the beauty and curse of your existence. Everything ends.”

My heart pounds, and sweat that doesn’t exist chills me. I can barely speak. “But you’re a demon. You’ve lived for thousands of years.”

“But even I have limits, my stubborn girl. In the physical world, I atrophy. That is the curse I accepted when I came through Giuliana Rosemont’s mirror.”

“But, why?”

“Because I love Uldra. I love her lineage. I could not leave you, Tori. I loved you from the moment you kicked me for daring to nap on Gildra’s stomach. I swore I would stay with you until you no longer needed me.”

I sit up with a wave of mind-numbing sickness. “Stop. Okay, I get it. But why did the black flame start devouring the Rosemont line? Was it not like that in the time of the priesthood?”

“No. It was not.”

I tap the notebook’s yellowed pages. “Alvius Androclaria wrote about how magic was dying. How he came to discover the Tapestry and saw how the priesthood had damaged it. Perhaps what he found is causing the spiders to turn violent.”

She nods. “Could be. I’ll take you as far as I can within the Tapestry. If there is a way for you to break free of Alasdair’s curse or find a way to help Lucas, it would be within those threads.”

The excitement of exploring magical secrets dies quickly with a dripping chill. “But what if the spiders attack you?”