Aeralis Read Online Free PDF Page A

it’s best, too. The villagers listen to you. They look to you for guidance.”
    “But—”
    “Stay here and look after your brother.”
    I’d just lost Gabe, and Jonn was at death’s door. How could I stand to lose Adam, too? How could I do this alone?
    “I don’t want you to go.” The words ripped themselves from me in a moment of sheer weakness.
    Adam’s eyes fluttered half-closed, and his lips pressed together in the way they always did when he wanted to speak but refrained from doing so. I saw frustration—and understanding—mingled in his eyes.
    I brushed past him for the house. Adam remained outside. I shut the door behind me and leaned against it. I tried to breathe deeply to calm myself, but my throat was squeezing too tight.
    How could the Trio ask Adam to walk away from the Frost when it was as weak and new as a fresh-born baby?
     
    ~
     
    After shutting myself in the room I shared with Ivy, I took the paper from the place where I’d wadded it into my belt and put it in the drawer of the bureau beside the bed. I fell back against the quilt and stared at the cracked plaster ceiling. Slowly, my vision began to blur, and I heard her whispering to me. My mother. Her voice was soft and warm, and I felt whole and well for the first time in weeks.
    “Don’t be afraid,” she said. “You’re strong, Lia. You’re a Weaver.”
    “I miss you, Ma,” I whispered. “I don’t know what to do.”
    I turned my head. She sat on the bed beside me, and she was so beautiful even in the darkness. Light glimmered like stars in her hair, and her smile was pure grace. She opened her mouth to speak.
    “Wake up, Lia.”
    It was Ivy’s voice.
    I lifted my head from the pillow and squinted at Ivy’s face in the near-darkness of early morning. I’d been dreaming.
    My limbs still ached with weariness, and my eyes were gritty with sleep. “What is it?” I curled my fingers around the edges of my pillowcase and wished for sleep, because with sleep came oblivion. With sleep came dreams.
    “It’s Jonn. The Healer says to come.”
    Jonn . The fog of sleep vanished. I threw back the covers and swung my legs over the side of the bed as dread sunk into my gut. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?”
    “I don’t know. They only said to fetch you at once.”
    She darted from the room like a nervous bird, and I followed, my mouth dry and my breath snagged in my throat.
    Adam was waiting outside the door to Jonn’s room, conversing with one of the Healers, a young woman. I slowed as I reached them, Ivy at my back.
    “How is he?” The words stuck in my throat. I forced them out.
    The Healer spoke. “He’s awake.”
    Ivy gasped. “Awake? As in he’s getting better?”
    I made no sound. Awake, as in not dead . I put out a hand to steady myself against the wall.
    The Healer didn’t smile. Her mouth moved, but I no longer heard what she said. My brother was awake. That had to mean something good.
    “Can I see him?” I found myself asking, interrupting her.
    The Healer looked at Adam before replying. “We do not know everything about the cycle of the disease, but from the books you’ve provided for us from the Ancients, his period of contagiousness has passed.”
    I already had my hand on the door.
    “Wait,” Adam said, and his voice broke through to me. “Lia, you...you should listen to her.”
    I looked at the Healer, impatient.
    “He is awake,” she said, “but he is not recovered.” She paused, seeing that I didn’t understand. “He is still dying, Lia.”
    All the air sucked from my lungs as the words hit me, a punch in the gut, a bruise forming around my heart and spreading to my limbs. I breathed in and out, a raspy sound in the sudden silence. Ivy’s hands grabbed for me, and we swayed together in silence, two sisters absorbing one terrible blow. I was glad she was with me in that moment; I didn’t know if I could have faced it alone.
    Ivy whispered, “Please, can we see him?”
    “Yes, but