Query Synopsis:

When the Moirae (The Fates) botch twelve-year-old Lexi’s death by drowning and she’s revived by mistake, it creates a tear in the Tapestry of Life. Alive as Fate never intended, she unknowingly becomes a Borrower, stealing the energy of others to remain alive. As things sicken and die, she struggles to understand she is the cause, and when the Fates’ loom attempts to weave another death to repair the damage Lexi’s non-death caused, her little brother becomes the target.

Chapter One

Not many people look down at a dead goldfish and wonder if that’s how they looked the day they died. Then again, I suppose not many people drown and then come back to life, either.

Only four days after The Accident, I ended up crammed around a toilet with Mom, Dad and my little brother to attend Gingersnap’s funeral. Derek had found his fish floating topside in the bowl just after breakfast, so we decided on a quick morning send off before the bus showed up for school.

Derek leaned against me and I gave him a squeeze. For him, I wished we didn’t have to be here or do this. Behind me, Mom shifted in the tight space. I didn’t need to turn to know her gaze was on me, even though she should have been paying attention to Derek.

Sniffing loudly, my brother sprinkled fish food into the bowl. Multi-colored flakes swirled around Gingersnap’s corpse like street glitter after a Fourth of July parade. There was no way I looked like that the day I died. First of all, it wasn’t like anyone at the public pool had thrown fish food over my body or Maya would have told me about it later. Second, there’s a big difference between a dead goldfish and a twelve-year-old girl, even if her hair was sort of the same rusty orange as its fish scales. And third, Gingersnap had a pretty shocked look on his face, kind of like he hadn’t seen the end coming. Well, maybe we had that in common. I hadn’t seen death coming, either.