Invisible Strings II

Chapter 7: Twisted Silver

The fire began to dim, its light dulling into red embers. Isadora rose quietly and knelt by the hearth, coaxing the coals with the poker.

No logs left. Her jaw tightened. Frustrated with herself for not thinking ahead of time. She stood and glanced toward the window, where the world beyond had disappeared into white. Snow raced sideways, the dark swallowed whole.

She weighed it silently. The distance, the wind, the weight of the cold.

She wasn't cold. Not really. Her blood kept her warm in ways most people wouldn't understand.

But when she looked down at Hannah, everything changed.

Hannah's edges flickered faintly in the firelight like a bad signal. Her hands were tucked into her sleeves, her shoulders pulled tight even in her sleep.

Isadora exhaled through her nose.

Decision made.

She crossed the room and slid her boots on, shrugging into her coat. When she cracked the door open, the storm howled like it had been waiting. Wind forcing its way inside, and snow skittering across the floor.

Hannah fumbled awake instantly. "Isadora?" Her voice was thick with sleep.

Isadora leaned into the door, shoving it closed with effort as the wind fought back like it wanted inside more than anything. The latch finally caught with a heavy thunk.

"I need more wood," she said simply. "The fire's dying."

Hannah pushed herself upright to sit, hair fallen into her face, blanket drooping around her shoulders. "I'm fine," she mumbled automatically.

But her outline shimmered in the firelight. Her hands curled deeper into the sleeves of her sweatshirt.

Isadora didn't even pretend to believe her. She walked back across the room and crouched in front of Hannah, steady eyes searching her face.

"No, you're not," she said gently.

Hannah didn't argue. There was no point pretending Isadora didn't see through her. She never had.

Isadora sighed under her breath and turned toward the kitchen instead. She grabbed the kettle from the stove and carried it to the fireplace, crouching down to set it carefully over the remaining coals, what heat was left still pulsing red beneath the ash.

"Tea?" Hannah asked from behind her, voice small.

"Something warm," Isadora said gently. "For you."

Hannah shuffled after her, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself. "You don't have to do all this."

Isadora glanced back at her. "I do."

She filled the kettle and balanced it just right before standing again.

"Okay. Come here," she said, guiding Hannah back to the couch with a light hand at her elbow. She tucked another blanket around her shoulders. One more layer between Hannah and the cold.

Hannah huffed softly, the corner of her mouth pulling up. "I'm fine. You don't have to baby me."

Isadora smiled without thinking. "You have always had to be babied." The words had barely left her mouth before she froze.

Hannah blinked. "What?"

Isadora shook her head quickly and turned away, moving back toward the fireplace like she'd been called there suddenly. "Nothing. Just... sit still. I want the water to heat fast."

Her hands hovered uselessly over the kettle as she pretended to watch it. Her breath felt too loud in her ears.

She'd said too much.