Welcome! This page contains the first chapter of The Thread That Binds as a sample for your reading pleasure. Links to where you can acquire the book will be provided at the end if you decide you’d like to read more. There are no content warnings for this chapter. Enjoy!
CHAPTER ONE
TABBY
Stars twinkle overhead. There are no constellations a waking mind would recognize, but I know them as I know my own heart. They shift on a whim, shaped by thought and emotion—seasons of the spirit, rather than of nature.
I make my way through a thicket of tall grasses, glancing upwards every fifty feet or so. The path can change quickly, and one wrong step could whisk me far away from my destination. The easiest way to travel in the dreamscape is to stay still and conjure the place you want to visit with a memory or wish. But some places are hidden too deeply in the subconscious. You have to make the journey on foot.
Creatures shuffle through the grass around me unseen. They might be spirits, or they might be figments of my subconscious. I keep my mind clear in case it's the latter, not wanting an encounter to slow me from reaching the garden. I abandoned it years ago, so it isn't surprising to find the way so overgrown and unkempt.
After the grasses, a briar thicket. The canes range from hairlike tendrils to poles as thick as my wrist. The red thorns on them are long, sharp daggers, protection against unwanted visitors. I gaze through the looping briars for the secret tunnel and find it immediately. After all these years, some part of me still remembers.
I get down on my hands and knees, imagining myself smaller, younger. The last time I came here, I was thirteen, big for my age and already six feet tall. It had been difficult then. I imagine myself at nine, soft and round and looking for an escape. My spirit body shifts, and the briars grow larger. The thorns aren't quite as menacing now, but magical and inviting.
I start crawling. The ground beneath my hands is covered in leaf litter and dotted with glowing blue mushrooms. The sky overhead deepens first, then grows light as I crawl on; it was always daytime in the garden. I'd been afraid of the dark as a child. Nighttime had always come with shouting matches and breaking dishes.
By the end of the tunnel, it's nearly dawn. The round portal of sky before me, edged with thorns, is the color of a ripe peach. Pink rosebuds line the briar canes, gathering energy to bloom. My heart pounds. This is it. This is the edge of the garden I created all those years ago, the one I—
Tabby!
Oh, no. Not yet.
"Taaaabby!"
The dreamscape fades. I open my eyes, staring at the gauzy canopy above in confusion. I was just on my knees. How did I get on my back? I blink and roll over. Something is making an annoying chiming noise.
I pull aside the curtain and fumble for my phone on the nightstand to silence the alarm. It says it's been going off for a while, but that's not what woke me up.
"Ah, there you are," Rhiannon says from the doorway. "Sorry, but your alarm was going off for like, ten minutes."
"You can hear it out there?"
My voice is still groggy with sleep. Rhiannon smiles and leans against the doorframe, still wearing pajamas emself. My platonic partner is thin and lanky, with brown skin and green eyes. Eir long purple hair floats around em in frizzy wisps. Bedhead.
"I mean, I can hear it when I walk by your door, and normally I wouldn't wake you up until it's been going for like, twenty, but today's kind of important," Rhiannon says, "right?"
"Oh!" A different kind of alarm goes off inside me. Psychic test day at the Eternal Library is finally here. "Yes, right! Thank you, Rhee."
I jump out of bed and start searching the closet for an appropriate outfit. Today… something floral. I pick a white dress covered in pink roses. Comfortable, but professional enough with the right shoes. I want to look presentable and friendly.
"You're welcome," Rhiannon says, arms crossed. "I'ma go get breakfast going, kay?"
I smile with the dress halfway on, still over my head. Rhee is usually too lazy to make anything but cereal on work days, but today is special. Today, I'm taking a giant step towards getting my dream job.
The smell of batter and butter fills the apartment as I continue getting ready, making sure my face is washed and my hair brushed. It's easy for me to accidentally skip ordinary tasks when I'm nervous, but Rhiannon posted a checklist by the mirror. I nearly put hand soap on my toothbrush, but otherwise, it keeps me in order.
By the time I join em in the living area, the table has been set not only with pancakes and jam, but tea as well. Our fanciest teapot, the glass one with a compartment for gem infusions, is steeping fresh rosemary and sage. An amethyst crystal sits in a little glass bubble in the bottom of the teapot, close enough to infuse the tea with its energy without actually touching the liquid. Amethyst isn't toxic when dropped in water, but a lot of crystals are.
"All this for me?" I ask. Warmth spreads through my chest, smothering my nerves.
"I know you're gonna pass these tests and blow the competition outta the water," Rhiannon says, shaking a spatula at me, "but what kinda partner would I be if I didn't? Sit. Eat."
Rhiannon and I have been together for six years now, but it's still a surprise when someone wants to take care of me. Usually I'm the one doing the caretaking. I do my share in our relationship, but that's just it—it's shared. Equal. Thinking about that as I eat makes the pancakes and apricot preserves taste extra sweet.
Once e dumps the dishes in the sink, Rhiannon plops down at the table and starts shoveling food into eir mouth. E grabs a thick tome from the other end of the table and lays it open gently beside eir plate. Rhiannon would never crack a book's spine, but to me, there's something magical about an obviously well-loved book. I should probably take more care if I'm going to work at the Library. Rhiannon might forgive my rough handling, but I'm not sure they would.
I pour the steaming tea into our cups and hope all my preparations are going to pay off.
***
The Eternal Library is only a short train ride away. We picked our apartment so that Rhiannon—and I, with any luck—could be close to work. The station platform bustles with librarians, conservationists, researchers, and patrons, but Rhiannon marches confidently through the chaos towards campus, as e has for years now. I follow easily, Rhee's purple hair a beacon in the crowd. I wonder if anyone we pass is also hoping for an apprenticeship, if they feel as terrified and excited as I do. I wonder where they've come from, and why they're here, and if they might be better suited for the job than me.
When we step outside of the station, all of those wonders fall away. This side of campus hosts the oldest surviving buildings (The oldest above-ground buildings, I hear Rhee correct me in my mind): a trio of sandstone structures shaped like seashells. Abalone, whelk, snail. They glow in the morning golden light, round windows gleaming like portholes into another world.
But that's nothing compared to what's inside.
"You want me to come in the front with you, Tabs? Normally I use a side door," Rhiannon says as we approach.
I nod. I could use the company.
I've been in the Library many times, but today feels different. The smell of ink and paper hits me harder than usual with waves of relief and nostalgia. It feels like home. Or what home should be. The polished black granite floor glitters under our feet as we walk through the lobby and past the three enormous statues of the Founders.
Light pours into the atrium from the dome high overhead, making the statues appear to glow. Amethyst for Isylwyn, rose quartz for Daryn, and white quartz for Eirlys. Small pockets of geodes glitter in their otherwise smooth sides. One thousand years ago, they founded the art of Illumination: the creation of magical, immortal illustrated manuscripts. Books that will never crumble with age, and last until the end of time, should they be kept safe from fire and water. They then founded the Eternal Library to house all the world's written knowledge—something it still strives to do to this day.
I touch the statue of Eirlys as we pass. For luck. The stone is warm and makes my fingers tingle.
Rhiannon leads me through a maze of bookshelves, taking what must be the most efficient route even if it zigzags unpredictably. On any other day I'd mosey through the stacks, pick up anything that looked interesting and bring it to a cozy nook to read. Today there's no time for that. We leave the books to themselves.
Eventually, we reach a long hall full of meeting rooms. One of them has the doors propped open, with a sign that says "Bindery Psychic Testing." There are already people inside, and my nerves skyrocket. My arms and legs feel ghostly, my heart fluttering in my chest like a hummingbird.
Rhiannon peers at me over eir glasses. They're oversized and round, with clear red rims. Definitely the look of a Librarian.
"You're gonna do awesome, Tabs," e says.
"You don't know that," I say.
"Sure I do. I know you."
"But what if there's someone better than me?"
"Then I'll tie them up," Rhiannon says, "and put them on a train going out of town—"
"Rhee."
Rhiannon shrugs. "Just sayin'. Anyway, in that case, it doesn't mean you're not good enough, okay?"
I hesitate, but Rhiannon raises eir eyebrows and peers further over eir glasses in a funny way.
"Okay, okay," I say, a laugh escaping me.
We hug, and Rhiannon heads off towards the Archives. I head inside the doors.
END CHAPTER ONE.
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