Mola Errata List -

Item 4: In the southern swamp, the creature with twelve eyes has only eleven. The twelfth was a lie told by the weaver’s wife. To restore the lie, use a needle of thorn from the black acacia.

She stared at Item 1. The tear that should have fallen on Veruda. The one someone had re-stitched to fall into the sea. Mola Errata List

Aris’s gaze fell to the final entry, written in a shaky, desperate scrawl: Item 4: In the southern swamp, the creature

The official Mola Errata List was a single, vellum page glued to the back of the frame, written in the spidery hand of the artist’s apprentice. Every restoration project had errata—corrections, mistakes, second thoughts. But this list was different. She stared at Item 1

Aris picked up her smallest scalpel. She could cut the knot. Un-weave the weaver. Stop the flood by preventing the tapestry from ever being made.

Her phone buzzed. A news alert: Unprecedented tidal surge submerges coastal Veruda. Thousands missing.