Chapter Twenty-five

“I’m sorry, but I thought that’s what we were doing!” I called to Alder as we sprinted through the forest together, dodging bushes and trees and jumping over tiny brooks. I was able to see in the darkness only because a few wisps had located Alder and were following him, as they usually did, lighting up the surroundings like the floating candles at Hogwarts. More seemed to be accumulating after the opening of the air gate, which I supposed made sense. If the other gates had been opened by the wisps causing the landslide or the rainstorm, then there still had to be more left over from the air gate. They were the manifestations of the spirit world after all. As long as the spirit world remained in the planes beyond our own, there would be wisps.

“You saw what happened with the air gate,” Alder said with ease as we ran—any normal person would be panting by now—“the wisps took on the mana of the element. As soon as the sun starts to rise, the wisps will—”

We came to a skidding stop just outside of Gran’s garden, my chest tightening and constricting with panic. With realization.

“They’ll turn into fire,” I breathed. “It’ll be the worst wildfire ever in the Appalachians.”

Alder took my arms, his gold eyes skimming my face. “The Firefly Festival. People will be coming from all over the Smokies. Forest fires will start to spread anywhere there is a wisp. If I don’t get back in time, you need to make sure everyone is safe.”

Porch lights blinked on, and Izzie’s voice called from the doorway. “Brye? Is that you?”

My heart thudded painfully, but I wouldn’t stand here and think that this could be the last time I saw him. It wouldn’t be like that. “Go.” I started to gently push him away, when he caught my hands.

“Briony…” Alder’s hands ghosted over my skin, moving up my neck to cup my cheeks. “The festival.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get everyone away.” I started to pull away from him, but he held on.

“No, not that. Would you go with me? To the festival?”

I blushed, my face so hot I could toast marshmallows on my cheeks. He was bringing this up now? I couldn’t stop my smile, though. “Just go make sure there still is one.”

His mouth hooking to one side in a handsome half smirk, he leaned down and kissed me lightly. It was painfully brief, but necessarily brief.

Then he turned and disappeared into the darkness of the forest, while I headed into the light of Gran’s porch.

Izzie stood leaning against the rails of the porch, her eyes wide. She pointed in the direction that Alder disappeared. “Um, did I just see him kiss you?”

“Maybe,” I said, bounding up the steps.

Her eyes wide, she stared in the direction that Alder had disappeared. “Okay, if this bride-stealing thing is legit, I still get to be your maid of honor, right? Remember, outdoor weddings are better in the spring. Can he wait till March?”

I hooked my arm in hers. “C’mon, Iz, I’ve got a lot to tell you.”

…

It took approximately too long to catch Izzie and Gran up to speed, but I had no other choice other than to explain what I could.

Given everything, though, I was surprised how well they were both taking it. Gran didn’t seem to need proof or confirmation of spirits and gods in her valley, or the fact that Mom was trapped in the prison of an elemental god. She focused on the important things: her daughter was alive.

“And you think this…Alder…can bring her back? Truly?” Gran asked, squeezing the bars of her crutches that leaned against the side of the couch. Her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. It was impressive that she was this calm—worried, desperate, but calm. My grandmother was a strong woman. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to discover that your child was finally coming home.

“Yes, he has to.” I knelt in front of her. “Gran, I’m sorry I lied to you.”

Gran leaned forward and hugged me. “Oh, sugar pea, I understand. But if there’s anyone who believes in fairies and sprites, it’s your gran.” She drew away and smoothed her wrinkled hands down my cheeks. “Because I knew I had one for a granddaughter.”

I grinned, clasping my hands over hers, silently promising to myself that I’d spend every spare moment I could catching up with this amazing woman I’d missed out on for sixteen years.

Meanwhile, Izzie paced the floor in Gran’s living room so much that I was surprised she didn’t burn a hole into the carpet. “It’s like, two o’clock in the morning. Everyone is going to be asleep. How the hell are we going to do this?”

“The town is small—we’d be able to get everyone up and out of there by sunrise, right?”

But even as I said it, I knew why Gran was already shaking her head. “People live all over this valley, Brye. Far apart from each other. It would take much longer than that to alert everyone.”

“Can’t we call them?” I asked, gesturing to the phone.

“The windstorm knocked out the phone lines,” Izzie grumbled.

Of course it did.

I paused, thinking hard. What would get everyone out of their beds? What could put the festival to a grinding halt?

I told Alder that I’d get everyone out of the valley before the fires, but now the task seemed impossible. Not in the middle of the night. Not with everyone so far apart with no phones.

“How am I going to do this?” I muttered, biting my thumbnail.

Izzie nudged my toe with hers and I looked up at her. “You mean we. How are we going to do this? Teammates, remember? Dairy Queen, amiright?” She gave me a big, obnoxious wink.

Teammates. Izzie was right. There was no way I could do this alone. It was why I had gone to them in the first place. I needed Gran and Izzie’s help to round up the folk from the town and get everyone as far away from Firefly Valley as possible.

But I wasn’t limited to just humans.

“Would an earthquake work?”

Izzie and Gran stared at me. Then Izzie gasped, catching on.

“Briony! You can’t be serious!”

“The earth god might help,” I said, getting to my feet and running into the back to grab Izzie’s car keys. If Ashka had been against the opening of the gates, then I had to imagine other spirits shared her position. Especially the guardians of them. “Not all of the spirits are like Raysh. And with the barriers down, the earth god might make big enough tremors to alert the entire valley. It’s worth a shot at least.”

“But how are you going to get into the spirit world?” Izzie asked as she snatched the keys from my grasp. “Your ticket there kinda peaced-out to go save your mom.”

I whirled around to face Gran. “How did Mom get to the spirit world?”

Gran blinked at me behind her large glasses. “Heather?”

“Yes—Mom went to the spirit world herself. I know she did. I saw her leave that night. How? Do you know?”

Gran drummed her fingers on her knees as she stared hard out the window. A few wisps darted about in the gardens, chasing after each other playfully, completely unaware of the damage they could do in just a few short hours.

“There was this place…” Gran started. “Your mother took you there often. It’s a nature trail. She used to tell me it was the most spiritual place in the valley. One time she told me where it was and I tried to find it so I could walk the trail, but I couldn’t. I called her that night, told her that she had given me the wrong directions. She insisted that it was right. She even tried to take me there once, but the two of us never found it. Then the next day she went out alone and she was able to find it.” Gran shrugged. “Eventually I gave up, but your mother was always able to walk it.”

It was only then that I remembered Alder saying there was a nature trail into the ethereal plane. Mom had found it. I grabbed a notepad and a pencil. “That has to be it. She followed it to the spirit world.”

“Is that even possible?” Izzie asked skeptically.

“It’s possible. Alder said once that humans have accidentally wandered into the ethereal plane—ones that were deeply connected to the valley.” I handed the notepad and pencil to Gran. “Gran, can you remember the directions?”

She didn’t write anything. I waited while her pencil was poised, until I couldn’t take it any longer.

“Do you not remember?” I asked, trying to keep the panicked edge out of my voice.

“Doing this…would be against your mother’s wishes. She wanted you safe, Briony. Not running into the ethereal plane and going up against a god.” Gran looked up at me; this time tears were trickling down her cheeks. “I love your mother. Around the moon and down the slopes of the valley. She’s my baby girl and I want her back, but you are hers. If anything were to happen to you…”

“This isn’t about me, Gran,” I said, gripping her hands. “It’s not even about our family. It’s about the rest of Firefly Valley and getting them out safely. This is their one chance. You have to let me do this.”

Gran bit her lip, then lowered her head and scribbled down the directions that she could remember. I kissed her temple. “I’ll be back, I promise.”

Izzie jangled the keys by the door. “C’mon then, I’m driving.”

That was the best thing about Izzie. I never had to ask her for anything.

“You sure about this, Iz?”

“As sure as I am that Idris Elba is my soul mate.”

I laughed and shook my head, relieved to know I wasn’t going there alone. Then I stopped right before I reached the door. “What if the path doesn’t show itself to you?”

“You said the barriers were coming down, that spirits will be able to cross over soon. It’ll be the same for humans. Plus, I’ve still got a little bit of Alder’s mana in me,” Izzie said. “I’ll be able to make it through. Now let’s go charm the antlers off this nature god.”

…

Ten minutes into the drive and I was already worried we were lost, but every direction that Mom had given to Gran was accurate. Each time I thought we’d taken a wrong turn down a country road and gone too far, another street sign would be around the bend.

I was also fiercely proud that Gran had remembered them all. It made me wonder how many times she’d really tried to find this place.

Maybe she’d even gone there looking for Mom after she’d left. Maybe she’d wanted to take her daughter’s place like Mom had for me.

That thought, the idea that Gran kept searching for her daughter and trying time and time again was almost more devastating than knowing in a matter of hours there could be forest fires the likes of which the Smokies had never seen.

Finally we got to the last turn, finding an old faded sign with ivy growing all over it. It read Firefly Grove.

Izzie maneuvered her CRV as close to the sign as possible, and we both jumped out, slamming the car doors in unison. I consulted Gran’s scrawl on the note. “It says the trail is supposed to be a mile up ahead. You ready to run?”

Izzie groaned. “There’s a reason I’m a swimmer.”

“Hey, you wanted to come.”

“Do you think this is even the right place?” Izzie asked, glancing around.

There were so many wisps around I couldn’t see how she’d think otherwise. They glowed softly, pulsing through the trees and bushes, each one a different faded color: violet, aqua, light green, blue, periwinkle.

“Definitely. Let’s go.”

Izzie grumbled under her breath but fell into step beside me. We ran as hard as we could and jogged for the rest of it. After about twelve minutes or so, Izzie’s Fitbit blinked at her. We skidded to a stop and raised our hands above our shoulders to let the air pass through our lungs better.

“That’s a mile,” Izzie wheezed. “I feel like I actually need to borrow your inhaler. How are you doing so well?”

Somehow I knew that, even without Alder’s mana coursing through me, I’d still be feeling just fine. Not even winded. The more mana I had, the mountains became more a part of me.

Pointing toward the cluster of wisps near a break in the trees, I said, “There. That’s the trail.”

“How are you so sure?” Izzie asked.

As our feet crunched over the grass and twigs, I side-eyed her. “Alder’s mana ran out, didn’t it? You liar.”

Izzie snapped her fingers. “Ohh, got it. All the fireflies. Right. Makes sense.”

Rolling my eyes, I stepped onto the path.

Immediately, the world seemed to tilt. It was the feeling I’d had when I first got out of Izzie’s car at Gran’s. It was the feeling of stepping into a place that was special.

Where spirits dwell.

Izzie sucked in a breath beside me, and I knew she felt it, too.

Glancing at each other, we took off running down the trail, into the spirit world.