Free Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

belt.
    “What are those?” I asked, tensing in case they were weapons after al .
    She arched an eyebrow at me, taking in my defensive stance. “Skeans—the Weavers’ tools.
    You’l see what they do.”
    She drew a breath as she closed her eyes. Then she began to move. The skeans slashed the air; each swift stroke left a blazing trail of light in its wake, and a bel -like note hung around us. Adne’s body moved rapidly in a mad dance. She dipped to the floor and flung her limbs toward the ceiling, guiding the skeans in motions that resembled a crazed form of rhythmic gymnastics. The gleaming threads that bloomed from her skeans began to layer upon each other. The sounds that fil ed the ear created a rippling chorus of chiming notes. Her arms wove through the air as though the skeans were dipping in and out of a giant invisible loom. The intricate pattern of light blazed brighter until I had to pul my eyes away from the glare. Waves of sound poured through the room until I thought I might drown in an ocean of music and light.
    Al at once it stopped.
    “Look,” Shay whispered.
    I turned back to Adne. She stood, breathless, in front of a giant shimmering rectangle. It hung in the air, a tapestry of light suspended and glowing. My breath caught in my throat as I moved closer. The undulating rectangle held an image: the inside of a warehouse. Stacks of crates fil ed the dimly lit room.
    “Is that where we’re going?” I murmured.
    Adne nodded, stil trying to catch her breath.
    “Nice weaving.” Connor patted her on the shoulder.
    “No problem.” She smiled, wiping sweat from her brow.
    “So what do we do now?” I stared at the gleaming scene.
    “It’s a door,” Adne said. “You walk through it.”
    I eyed the tal portal of light. “Does it hurt?”
    “It kind of tickles,” Connor said, mocking solemnity.
    Adne whacked him with the flat side of one of her skeans.
    “Ouch!” Connor rubbed his arm.
    “It’s fine, Cal,” Shay said. “This is how I got to the Academy. I know it looks crazy, but it’s safe.”
    “Crazy?” Adne protested.
    “Crazy beautiful.” Connor grinned at her. “I’l go first.”
    “Please,” I said, not wanting to admit how much the shimmering doorway made al my hairs stand on end.
    Connor strode confidently into the light-fil ed image. His body blurred for a moment and then there he was, standing among the crates. He paused, stretching his arms and yawning, and then suddenly dropped his pants and mooned us.
    “Oh God, Connor!” Adne groaned. “Get through there and bite him, Shay.”
    “I’m not coming, remember?” Shay objected, but he laughed. “Even if I was, I wouldn’t bite his ass.”
    “Maybe Cal a wil .” Adne grinned.
    “Not likely,” I muttered, though on a second glance I had to admit that Connor’s ass wasn’t that bad to look at.
    “Enough,” Anika said, briefly embracing Lydia.
    “Be wel .”
    “Of course,” Lydia said, rushing into the portal in time to smack Connor’s bare skin with the flat of her dagger before he could stumble out of the way.
    Adne burst into laughter.
    “Go ahead, Cal a,” Monroe said. “Adne wil be right behind you.”
    “Wait.” Shay held on to me. “What are we doing while they’re gone? Just sitting on our hands until it’s over?”
    “No.” Monroe came to his side, gently drawing him away from me. “We have a task of our own to accomplish.”
    “We do?” Shay’s brow furrowed.
    “We’re dropping in on some of the Academy instructors,” he said. “And you’re going to convince them that it wil be just fine when they have a pack of young wolves joining their classes.”
    So that’s what an al iance meant. We wouldn’t just be fighting with them. We’d be training with them, learning about their world. As much as that idea was strange, it was also exciting.
    Adne began to tap her foot. “Come on, Lily. We try to open and close the doors quickly. This isn’t window shopping.”
    The nickname