Death Weavers Read Free Page B

I like the way he carries himself.”
    â€œYou like him!” Cole realized.
    Yeardly tried to look innocent. “I’m just interested. How about the other one? Jace?”
    â€œI get it,” Dalton said. “We’re the approachable guys. They’re the cool ones.”
    â€œYou’re all great,” Yeardly assured him. She couldn’t hide a little grin. “But they’re a little extra great. Who was that girl with you at the start? Sally? Jace seemed to have eyes for her.”
    â€œShe’s nobody,” Cole said. “Jace does like her, but he’d be mad if anybody knew.”
    Yeardly clapped her hands and grinned with delight. “That’s my kind of secret! Do you like her too?”
    â€œNot like a girlfriend,” Cole said.
    â€œNo,” Yeardly said. “But I saw something when you talked about Jenna.”
    Cole became very interested in a flowering bush off to one side. “Maybe. She’s mostly a friend.”
    â€œMostly because you’re not sure it’s mutual yet,” Yeardly said with a giggle, clapping again. “This is a cause I can get behind. Trying to find and rescue the unrealized love of your life.”
    â€œI don’t know if I’d say—” Cole began.
    â€œShush!” Yeardly held a finger toward his lips. “Don’t spoil it. Listen, if you guys don’t wander off too far, I’ll do what I can to help you.”
    â€œBut you don’t know anything,” Cole reminded her.
    Yeardly winked. “Not yet. Hard to say what a curious echo might do if she puts her mind to it.”
    â€œWe’d appreciate any help,” Dalton said.
    Yeardly smiled. “Of course you would. Especially if I make no demands in return. Tell you what, when the time is right, I may ask to be introduced to Aaron. Think you could manage that?”
    â€œSure,” Cole said. “Knowing him is no big deal.”
    Her eyes flashed with interest. “Maybe not to you. Good luck!”
    Yeardly disappeared.
    Cole looked at Dalton. His friend sighed.
    â€œThis is a weird place,” Dalton said.
    â€œNot a bad start.”
    â€œWe should probably split up.”
    Cole started down the untraveled path to the right, and Dalton proceeded to the left. Soon shrubs, trees, and irregularities in the terrain screened Dalton from view. Reaching more intersections, Cole took a meandering route beside streams and hedges, then entered a corridor of trellises that arched overhead to create a curved ceiling of flowering vines.
    A laughing boy raced through one blossoming wall of the corridor, ran along it for a stretch, then lunged through the other side just as a second boy came into view. Though younger than the first, the second boy dashed after him, plunging through the trellis wall.
    Approaching the section where the boys had vanished, Cole found no space through which they could have fit. They had passed through solid wood laced with vegetation. More echoes.
    Beyond the corridor, Cole followed a circuitous path of gray pebbles around several mounds where dense, thorny shrubs with dark green leaves flourished. Several little paths branched off, ending abruptly at benches. Near one bench, a dignified man in a fancy coat stood very straight. He had a bony nose and thick, wavy, white hair. He was semitransparent, allowing Cole to view the garden directly behind him almost as clearly as the background to either side.
    Gathering his courage, Cole turned down the path that led to the man’s bench and stared up at him. He was quite tall. Though the echo had glanced at Cole as he approached, he now acted oblivious to his presence.
    â€œAre you an echo?” Cole asked.
    The man glanced down with no hint of a smile. “We both know the answer to that question, which makes it hardly worth asking. Run along.”
    â€œI was just trying to start a conversation,” Cole explained.
    â€œYour overture was