Tara nearly ran into the wall of the winding passage many times. Why was it so hard to run in a secret path? To top it off, her phone was dead, and she couldn't use its flashlight to see where she was going.
The Supreme Everine spent much of her time tripping, cursing, and feeling more and more grumpy.
"Great-Aunt Bridget, I've had it," Tara opened the door and stomped in without looking around first. "These dreams…whoa."
Tara's voice faded when she saw the carnage. The loom had been smashed to pieces. Other storage items had been tossed about, and mostly everything was vandalized.
"Bridget!" Tara screamed. "Where are you?!"
Her own words echoed back, mockingly.
"Unbelievable," Tara breathed. She stepped around the mess, searching desperately and found…
"Great-Auntie!" the girl knelt beside the motionless figure. Bridget seemed to be in a coma, but when Tara tried to touch her, a strange, purple energy stung her.
"Ow!" Tara did not use some nice words after that. Once she regained feeling in her fingers, she gazed over her relative.
She was lying as though she had fallen. One hand was held near her face, as if to ward off whatever caused the expression of abject terror on her beloved mentor. Dressed in her ordinary black robes, another arm was behind her, but at this angle Tara couldn't see what was in Bridget's hand.
Climbing over the smashed loom, she carefully maneuvered herself to the thin circular groove behind Great-Aunt Bridget, getting stung multiple times by the malevolent purple sparks.
"Good grief," Tara snapped. "What on earth…?"
A skein of golden thread was clenched in her relative's tight hand. Poking experimentally, it didn't prick her like she expected.
Carefully prodding the skein, she pulled and tugged to the point of frustration until she finally…
"There!" Tara straightened her cramped legs. "What on…?"
The skein was full of golden thread, but much of it was woven into a single word.
MAYSSHADOW.
It glowed in the soft sunlight, and suddenly, Tara had a piercing headache.
Her vision blurred. As Tara blinked, she was transported into the past…
There was Bridget, backing away as she held the small skein of thread behind her, weaving furiously with her fingers.
"Stay back!" Bridget warned, her other hand in front of her. Tara turned to see the perpetuator, but all she saw was a dark, cloaked figure, with one gloved hand reaching for her aunt.
But somehow, it was different. Bridget said more.
"You!" she gasped. "It's you!"

Tara woke up again, this time in the present. She was in the same position beside her aunt. Barely a second had passed.
"What is May's Shadow?" Tara asked the emptiness. Her heart craved an answer. "And how did she know about it?"

Leaving her aunt under a blanket and as comfortable as possible, the Supreme Everine took her leave. As Tara returned to the tapestry room, she stared up at the grand cloth. She gasped.
"What on…?"
A golden cloud of mist had been woven in the fabric, with hands reaching threateningly to the townsfolk. It almost looked like a hooded form, with slits for eyes. A strange bracelet was clamped on one wrist, with strange text written on it.
"How do you say it?" Tara stared at the characters. Suddenly she heard footsteps.
Pulling out her cell phone, she took a picture of the characters and ducked behind the tapestry. She didn't dare try and see who it was. Instead she reviewed the photo and it came out clearly.
"Déaþscúa."
The footsteps stopped for a moment. Tara didn't even dare to breathe. She listened as whoever it was stepped forward and-
"Gr!" someone snapped. Tara spotted some purple sparks floating lazily in the air.
Whoever it was tried to touch the new addition, she surmised. As the person left abruptly, slamming the door behind them, Tara crept back out and ran to her room.

Logging on to her laptop, she attempted to do a search on the characters she found. Instead, a message popped up on her Internet browser.
"No connection?" she exclaimed.
"Yeah, it sucks," Bella suddenly appeared at her shoulder, trying to tap her phone. Tara quickly deleted her search, but Bella wasn't looking anyway. "The Internet, along with cell phone towers, are out. The only good news is that I think Ryder will have to spend more time with me."
"Ew," Tara grimaced.
Bella raised her eyebrows. "Well excuse me," she snapped. "I couldn't expect you to possibly understand what it's like to have a boy like me instead of you!"
Tara gasped. "Bella, I'm sorry-"
Her stepsister ran off, blonde hair flying. Tara knew that Bella had also liked Cameron, and for a little while they had competed for his attention, until Tara won. Bella had been more snippy about it, but Tara had been so caught up in her own life that she hadn't noticed.
Bella was already jealous she had a better relationship with Seb. Then Tara went and "stole" the boy she liked.

Bella was sobbing dryly. Her eyes were filled with tears as she hid in a little closet near the stairs.
Tara had always gotten everything handed to her. Her writing, her skill, beauty, friendship, boys…
Meanwhile, she had to work hard to look half-decent in the morning, wear the latest trends, and couldn't even compete with her intelligence. Bella stared down at her phone.
A picture of their family, with her mom, smiled back. Seb and her had been closer then. They still fought, but it wasn't as big of a deal as before. Fiona was all right, but she wasn't her mom.
Her mom looked a lot like Bella did. She was the one who taught her to shop, to flirt, to differentiate all the styles and barter better than a street dealer. It wasn't that Bella was shallow…well, she was a bit shallow, but her interests were in style and fashion. Her mom understood that, and encouraged that.
"You can be what you want to be," Bella repeated. That was from one of her fondest memories, when the family had gone out on an outing, together. They had split up to do different things and met up for lunch. Just as a mugger came and tried to steal her purse, Bella had grabbed her bag, then stamped her high-heel shoe into his thin trainers.
As he screamed in pain, her dad and a couple other men collared the fellow and waved down a nearby police officer. Soon the mugger was handcuffed and waiting for transport. Seb had run off at the policeman's command to watch for the car, so she was alone at the table with her mother. Her high heel had broken off, and she was afraid she'd disappointed her mum by ruining the shoes she'd bought her.
"And that's why high heels should be a deadly weapon!" Her mom had tucked her arms around Bella, and smiled. "I'm proud of you, darling. It just goes to show, high-quality merchandise is not just made." She'd winked, then whispered. "You can be what you want to be, Bella. But a girl needs a couple of things in life, class, and quick thinking. And you have both."
Seb than interrupted their mother-daughter moment to inform them the mugger was going to the hospital to get Bella's heel removed from his foot. All four of them laughed, and the waiter gave them a discount and had taken that picture on her phone.
Now she was more confused than ever.
There was a soft tapping on the door.
"Come in," Bella had thought it was Jake or Ludo, or possibly Seb, but instead, it was-
"Hey," Ryder sat beside her. "I brought tissues."
Bella was a little perturbed, but she let him put his arm around her.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" his voice was gentle.
Bella shook her head. "It's just, I miss my mum, that's all."
Ryder seemed to understand. He handed her a water bottle.
"Take a drink," he advised. "It'll make you feel better."
The girl laughed a little then swiped away a few more tears. "I probably look a mess."
As she took a long draught, Ryder shone a small penlight into her face. "You look fine. Everyone looks like a mess when they cry. I've had a few myself."
Bella was confused. Boys usually didn't open up like that. Especially to her, but this felt…it felt good. Like they were being completing honest with each other.
"I always have to work hard to get what I want." Bella's voice was ragged. "To stay in style and look good. School doesn't come that easy to me, so I don't like to try. I make sure I pass, but that's all they expect of a ditzy blonde."
As she looked around for somewhere to put her used tissues, Ryder pulled out a rubbish bin from the corner.
"Well, I think you're smart," he said seriously. "It takes brains and stamina to remember and coordinate all those colours. Not to mention shopping endurance." Ryder seemed to be thinking hard. "But is there something else?"
Bella choked up. "Tara," she squeaked. "She can wear anything and look good. Her skin is flawless, she actually enjoys learning, and…well…I've barely made a friend here. There's a few other girls, they're lovely, but I feel like I can't be honest with them like I am with you." The last part was almost a shy whisper.
Ryder smiled. "Well if you're being honest with me, I should be honest with you."
His voice dropped a little. "I know what it's like to lose a parent. Then gain a new one."
Bella turned to him. "Your mum?"
"Nah," Ryder shook his head. "My dad. I was younger, maybe seven. They got divorced, and my mom remarried. We never had a lot of money, then our house burned down…"
Bella laughed nervously. Ryder turned. "What? What is it?"
The girl got a hold of her hysterical laughter and told him how someone had set fire to the room she was supposed to occupy the day they moved in.
"Just the room?" Ryder's brow furrowed. "You were lucky then."
For a second, their eyes met, but Ryder and Bella looked away awkwardly.
"Sorry about your house," Bella murmured. "Did you get insurance?"
Ryder laughed again. "Oh yeah. But all my stuff, my older brother's, my four sisters', my parents-"
"Your family has six kids?" Bella was astonished. "Oh wait, how many of them are step siblings?"
Ryder smiled. "None. Anyway, the builders didn't do a good job. It flooded a few years later, and that was the end of that."
For once, Bella was truly curious about someone else's plight. "Then where are they now? And why are you travelling with Miranda?"
Ryder eyed her carefully. "Well, my siblings are all in university or college in faraway places, because there it's free," he explained. "My parents are on a cruise right now. I was supposed to go along, but there was a mix up, and I volunteered to go backpacking with Miranda. She's a good friend."
Bella cocked her head. "What's she like?"
Ryder snickered. "She can be…sharp. Focused, like a pointer. Sometimes she's scary, but Miranda really cares for people. She decided I could tag along on her backpacking tour across Europe."
The way Ryder spoke about Miranda…
"Are you…do you like…?" she chose her words carefully. Fortunately, the boy understood.
"No, no, not that way," he assured her. "We're practically siblings now. She even tells me to eat my veggies, whenever she possible can. Though when she's hungry, she'll eat anything in sight, while I'm the one who has to tell her which ones are edible. You know she almost ate a pot of daisies?"
Bella laughed, a real laugh, this time. Her eyes were puffy, and she was feeling a little tired, but it felt as if a weight had lifted from her chest.
"Anyway, Bell," Ryder lifted her to her feet. "Thanks for the tour earlier. How about we take a walk around the property until you feel up to facing everyone again?"
Bella regained some of her composure. "By myself?"
"Of course not," Ryder replied loftily. He gave a deep, exaggerated bow. "I'd never leave a lady in distress."
Bella giggled again, then took the arm that was offered to her.
She was feeling much better now.