The Weaver's Source

Chapter 71

Anastas' hands clenched. "We will not leave, Weaver. You are meant to be dealing with this."

"And I am but I can't protect you and hunt whatever it is at the same time. Shifters are hard creatures to hunt as they never have one face and I'm not strong enough to constantly sense it." Grigore lied. "If you wanted this done quickly you should've asked for a higher ranking Weaver. But I'm all you've got."

"At least you have some news." Anastas didn't look happy but I didn't expect him to. He had just lost his son. He looked exhausted. "Just get rid of it quickly."

Grigore bowed lightly. "I'll work as fast as possible." He promised and turned to leave, dragging me after him.

I glanced back and noticed the Lord Master was rubbing his forehead with Filip gripping his shoulder in comfort. I knew what was feeling. I had gone through the loss of loved ones several times and it was hard to get through it.

Once we exited the hall, Grigore hurried me down a hall and ushered me beside one of the many ugly statues that littered the manor and glanced warily around for any ears that were listening. His expression was steeled dangerously and his brow knitted deeply.

"We have a problem." He muttered darkly.

"What is it?" I asked as I pulsed his cloak free and pushed it into his large hands.

"Edd was killed by the myling, I'm sure. Doors being unopenable and drowning are often a sign of a haunting. But Harry was poisoned. That's not a way any spirit would kill. They drive men mad, burn them, crush them, drown them, push them to their deaths but not poison."

"So the myling didn't kill Filip's brother?"

"No. A human did. Poisoning is a human way of killing." He rubbed his mouth hard. "We have a murderer in this manor as well as the myling. One who targeted Harry."

"If it's a human thing, why not leave it to the guards?"

"I can't, not without giving away the myling. So far Anastas is buying the shifter story but it won't last, not if I don't give them some proof." He gazed at me thoughtfully, all rejection I made him feel earlier was now gone as the hunt took his attention. "I need you to continue trying to find out more about the myling. I'll try find out more about Harry's death and see who killed him. Either Harry knew something or someone's taking advantage of the current situation to kill him. I'll also look into the captain's death. The myling killed him so Edd had something to do with the child's death and made himself a target."

I nodded quietly. "I'll go to Ana then and see if she'll tell me anything."

Grigore grunted and slipped his fingers around my chin, tilting my increasingly pink face upwards as his gaze flickered over me possessively. "Be safe. I'll come to you if you get in trouble. Just don't anger any humans."

I nodded, my cheeks glowing a little in joy from the contact with him, then watched him stride off down the hall, his swinging his cloak back over his shoulders. I stood still for a moment, my mind softening at his promise of protection, before I shook my head, slapped my cheeks and focused on the hunt.

The captain was dead. The myling had killed him. It made me wonder what Edd had done. He never seemed the type to kill or harm little boys but people often hid their true selves well. But Harry being murdered was the most worrying. If he had been killed because he knew something, then I had to be careful not to give away my task. While Grigore would protect me, he would be limited in what he could do. If he killed a human, he would be hunted down and killed by his own kind. I couldn't allow that.

Humming to myself in thought, I pushed myself off the wall and wandered back down the hall, seeking out the main entrance where Ana promised she would meet me. As I hoped, she was there, peering at the front door expectantly. I tapped her shoulder after approaching her quietly, making her jump and cry out. She whirled around, wide eyed with fear and obviously expecting something else. When she saw my face she calmed a little though.

"You scared me."

I smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry."

Ana smiled thinly and pushed her thick greying black hair back. "It's okay. I'm just a bit skittish at the moment." She offered me her arm. "Let's go work then."

I hooked my hand on her arm and let her guide me to where we would clean that day. We passed several servants, all whispering and gossiping about Harry's and Edd's deaths. Whenever Ana heard about it, she would flinch and scuttle along faster, dragging me behind her weakly.

Eventually we set to work, scrubbing at the floor of the often used dining hall. I kept myself working, holding my tongue and waiting for the right moment. That time came when a couple of middle aged women walked into the hall, swapping our buckets with fresh water. They chattered loudly, talking about the deaths without any fear of being overheard. As they took out the buckets and left, I turned to Ana. She was frozen and her face white.

"Are you okay?"

Ana glanced up sharply and smiled oddly as she tried to hide the fear plastered on her face. "I'm fine." She said weakly.

I paused then pressed on. "The deaths sound like ghost attacks." I said as I continued scrubbing, feigning knowledge in the field as best as I could. "My father often studied spirits. He found them fascinating. Drowning is a way ghosts often kill, especially mylings. Child ghosts."

Ana attention was entirely fixed on me. "The ghosts of children?" She echoed fearfully.

I nodded. "They crush you or drown you mostly and only ever attack those they felt wronged them."

Ana was entirely white now and her eyes dull. She was shaking a little. "The Captain. I told him. I tried to." She whispered.

"What did you tell the Captain?" I asked softly, hoping I finally cracked her.

But her wide eyes blinked and focus returned. "Nothing."

I frowned and tried one more time. "Well, the Lord Master's son was probably murdered. Poison is not the way a ghost kills."

I watched her out of the corner of my eye and thought it was impossible for her to get any paler. White with terror, Ana laughed weakly and plunged her scrubbing brush into the bucket.

"Talking of the dead like this is wrong, Lyra." She stammered. "Let's talk of something else."

While I wanted to press more, I obeyed. I didn't want to break her and she was terrified right now. I steered it onto something that might soothe her and spoke of her daughter. That cheered her up a little and some colour came back into her wrinkled face.

I couldn't help but wonder what on earth she knew. She knew about the Captain and I had a horrible feeling she knew something about the murderer too and why Harry died.

Oh, Ana, what have you done?