Rain drenched me as I crept through a water-laden forest floor, skirt pasted to my legs. I drew it higher, where it clung to my thighs, leaving my knees open to the chilly air. Raindrops plunked around my ankles. Twigs, bits of moss, and blades of grass skimmed past my calves, like fairy wings. I slipped forward a few more steps, silent and invisible.
A melody of voices brightened over the storm, a blur of singsong and desperation and panic. Frightened saplings cried over the deeper bass of the older timbers.
They attack.
We are ready.
Send them to us.
The ill-fated have returned.
Flashes of fire, and a voice, drew my gaze beyond the trees. Through branches and trunks, the back eaves of my cottage peeked out of the hazy mist. A witch—no, a demigod—appeared on my back porch. Their allure tugged me closer. I gritted my teeth in annoyance, sending away the urge to close the distance.
Demigods in my cottage? My sanctuary?
Not.
Happening.
Thunder crackled overhead as I slipped through the downpour, swinging around the back to denser copses. Saplings had attempted to slide closer together, braiding branches and limbs. Four trees had fallen, but were caught by the intricate webs of other trees near them. Several tilted, precariously close to crashing. They leaned on each other.
I touched them as I passed.
I’m here.
I save you.
You save me.
With Arborra in mind, I said, Prepare yourselves. The time for us to work together has come.
Arborra replied, blunting the chatter of the saplings.
We are ready.
I rounded a particularly thick cluster of trees to find more demigods or mortals. The front porch came into view when a flash of lightning illuminated empty ground.
“Where are Goat and Other Goat?” I whispered.
A tree replied, We save yours.
The urge to ask how nearly distracted me, but I set it aside when more bodies spilled out of my house. They filled the porch now, ten strong. Amongst them moved a familiar, feminine figure. The female demigod with salt-and-pepper hair. Her amulet, Herimolodikus, a collection of smaller amulets on a necklace, glowed on her chest. The dark tones faded to lilac, the edges a deep pomegranate.
My fingers gripped Viveet.
Mortals must be with the demigod. Too far away to make out whether their eye color was golden or not made it hard to tell. None of them drew me closer with inexplicable allure, and hers was the only visible amulet, which meant nothing. Demigods hid amulets all the time, but I had a feeling she was the leader.
Most mortals in Alaysia had had a sickly, gaunt appearance, which made it easy to tell them apart from demigods. These showed no such difference, having strong shoulders, and powerful scowls. Above all, they appeared well-fed and skilled, with a plethora of weapons around their belts.
Mortals, certainly, but cared-for mortals. Trained, even. No obvious fear of the woman, either. Without a doubt, this demigod had sent the mudslide to wipe out Michelle’s house and a stream to take out Priscilla’s school. The lay of the land wouldn’t have allowed such things to happen naturally.
They looked for someone, and I had a feeling that someone was me.
The female demigod spoke in Alaysian. The rain subdued her words, blurring the sound. Hand gesticulations swept around, encompassing my cottage and the area. She pointed straight ahead—almost to me—then made a whooshing sound, like a flood about to come.
They’re going to flood the area. I pressed a hand to the trees. Burrow your roots as deep as you can.
A crack broke overhead as the forest moved into action. Trees shifted. Branches swayed. The earth trembled, shifting below my feet as roots burrowed down. The top of the water rippled and swayed. The demigod female stalled at the new commotion, glanced over a broad shoulder. All the mortal eyes swung around to observe the changing forest.
Deeper melodies arose from the harried cries of the saplings, who couldn’t burrow to firmer ground.
What do you require? Arborra asked.
The amulet that the leader is wearing is our goal. The purple gems on her neck is the source of her power. To stop them, we need that magic.
We understand.
I’ll handle her if you work together to distract the rest. I can’t battle that many. Can you help me by dealing with them?
Yes. We are ready.
I braced myself, cobbling together a final plan of attack. The female demigod spun to fully face the forest, a dismissive hand waving. The register of her voice dropped—I couldn’t hear her words anymore. Time passed rapidly. The mortals began to move away from my porch, sloshing into the water.
I pushed away from the tree and crouched, Viveet in hand.
I protect you, I promised the buzzing forestland. My heart hit a dull thud in my chest, anticipating the fight ahead.
We protect yours, the trees echoed.
The first mortal didn’t see me coming.
I tackled him from behind and shoved him below the water. When he surfaced with a gasp, I wrapped my arm around his neck and fisted his shirt in my other hand. He stilled, nose barely out of the water, when he felt Viveet’s blade tucked below his jawline.
The time he took to gasp in a breath gave me the chance to silence him with a spell. Roots twisted out of the ground, gripped his chest, lashed his wrists, then bound his hands together.
“Hold still.”
He disappeared.
My body jolted. Viveet dropped into the water as we both fell. My knee slammed to the ground. Water slapped my face as I attempted to hold my unexpected weight. My other knee hit a tree root, sending a shock of pain into my hip. I suppressed a curse as I resurfaced. Viveet’s bright glow dimmed when I scrambled out of the water, knees stinging.
No sign of the mortal through the glimmering fall of rain.
“How did you do that?”
Muddied and thoroughly unnerved, I advanced to the east, where the demigod had disappeared only moments before. The mortals had fanned out around my cottage, fading into the trees. I waited a few breaths before following the demigod to let the mortals disperse, lest they come to her aid and surround me.
Every now and then, cracks, bonks, and thunks sounded through the forest. Saplings screamed with each sound. Shocks hit my heart with a little crash of pain.
The mortals didn’t attempt to be quiet, which only confused me more. Did they want to be found? I circled around the back of my cottage, lost in the dreary landscape. Fog skimmed over the top of the gathering water as I hurried to find the demigod.
A glimpse of unnatural white in the trees drew my gaze. I cast a curse and the sound of violent retching filled the air. A deep voice called out from somewhere else, and more vomiting responded. I kept going. Shuffles in the trees followed before the ghastly sounds stopped.
Interesting.
Had that mortal also been taken away?
Take me to the leader, I said.
Magic yanked me away in less than a blink. One moment I stared at the side of the cottage, the next I stared at the woman. She didn’t see me—the invisibility magic remained. The speed at which it happened reminded me of Ignis. Perhaps I could use the forest more than I thought.
Thank you.
A shiver of anticipation thrilled my blood, given from the magic.
We protect you.
The female demigod stood on higher ground several paces away from a stream that gushed water like an open artery. Once a quaint brook that trickled at the height of my calf, it now cut through a culvert in a river. Tilting trees branched over it, as if reaching for each other.
As I stood there, the water rose.
The demigod smiled.
Arborra, get rid of the mortals. As soon as you fight back, they’ll leave, I think. Doesn’t matter, I just want them gone.
As you wish.
Gushing waves now spilled out of the forest to funnel down this culvert, as if the demigod drew the water to her. White waves crashed over a petite ridge nearby, slamming their way down the hill. The dirt on the other side of the culvert expanded, swelling twice as high in seconds.
The changing landscape nudged the culvert downhill, diverting it . . .
. . . right to me.
The forest moved me to a different spot, but the water still barreled toward my cottage. Frantic attempts to counter its flow with goddess magic proved pointless. No incantations in my repertoire could fight such a force.
Saplings cried out, upended. Roots snaked through the air like wild whips, lashing to branches of the toppling trees before they crashed. Boulders appeared out of the ground and bubbled higher as the demigod raised the earth into deep ridges.
Vines wrapped around my waist and yanked me away from a crashing tree. As I scrambled back to my feet, the earth continued to churn higher. Walls formed. The flooding water slammed into the hard-packed, magic-built partition and bounced off. It slid around the hard corner and pounded closer to home.
Heart in my throat, I resisted the urge to turn my attention and throw goddess magic at my house. The force of such water-fury would obliterate the place in moments—any magic I used to save it would be wasted.
Instead, I turned back to what I could save.
Only the reality that this could be my last chance to get this amulet held me to the spot.
The demigod whipped around, assessing the rocks, the dirt, the changing landscape with pleasure. Trees electrified around me like a skirt. The climbing dirt and altered landscape brought screams. Yelps. Horrified cries. They confused my mind, running through it in chaos and fear. Each tree that died felt like a rent in my heart. A physical pain.
I swallowed back the misery to get a better grip on reality. If I didn’t let the saplings go, the entire forest could die.
Arborra, I commanded, tell your saplings to silence.
One at a time, the shrieks faded. They ebbed into quiet, until I held my own mind again. Finally free to think, I sheathed Viveet, commanded the Volare to stay safe in its case on my back, and transported to a branch above the demigod. When I tugged on a vine, it released.
Magic allowed me to turn my thoughts to the forest, a sharing of plans. Merging ideas. Like the Volare, the branch responded to my mental commands. It lowered, bringing me closer to the demigod. I clung to the vine for balance as my bare feet slid down the branch, slippery from saturated moss.
The branch tipped, tipped.
Stopped.
Hold onto me with a vine, I commanded. Another vine slipped around my waist and tightened with a firm grip.
Lower me as silently as possible.
With one hand on the vine, I silently rode the branch down, a careful gaze on the top of the demigod female’s head. Though invisible, demigods had extra-powerful hearing. One errant noise and she might magic away.
She had both hands propped on her waist, studying the vista. The steady rush of wild waters as she directed them through her chiseled funnel must have been controlled by magic. Her attention didn’t falter.
Once I hovered three paces above the demigod, the branch halted on my silent command.
The crash of the water filled the air, wiping out sound. At this rate, depending on how she structured the land by the cottage, the forest in this area would be completely ravaged.
I summoned a pair of magic-reinforced manacles from where Talmund kept them in a storage room in the Wall. They arrived to my pocket without a sound. The magically-reinforced manacles wouldn’t break under demigod strength. She’d still be able to magic away, but I could at least bind her first.
A trapped breath buoyed me as I released the branch to drop through the air. My feet landed right where I planned.
On her back.
She toppled with a cry of pain and we crashed into the water together. The jostle threw me to the side, but the vine prevented me from crashing into the lake. I grabbed her arm, snapped the first manacle on her wrist, and yanked. The metal clanked shut as she jerked out of the water, sputtering.
I grabbed her hair and yanked back.
“Branch!” I called.
The closest tree bent all the way over, extending a long branch my way. I grabbed it, yanked farther, and slammed the manacle shut around a juncture between two limbs.
Hold firm, I said.
We protect you, replied the low-toned voice of the tree.
The demigod gasped; I ducked. Her wild, hopeful punch would have slammed into my ribs, throwing me into the nearest tree trunk. Instead, the forest peeled me away with shocking speed. The female’s hand drove forward, skimmed my breastbone, and slammed into the branch. Wood splintered and cracked. She shouted, wrenching back. Blood trickled over her pale knuckles.
“Where are you, amulet-breaker?” she hissed. “It must be you. I’ve never heard of a witch so involved in everything.”
Her animosity would have been flattering in different circumstances. I hovered just out of reach while she struggled against her manacle. This temporary entrapment would expire soon. She’d figure out how to get out of the manacle—or she’d just go back to Alaysia with the tree.
Gratefully invisible, I scrambled out of reach of her flailing arm. The slosh of water around my ankles whipped her head around to stare right at me. She couldn’t see me, but I felt her livid fire. She threw a wide kick. I dodged, stepped behind her, and grabbed the amulet. With a yank, the chain cracked and gave way.
She gasped, reaching for her neck.
“Now!” I cried.
The tree branch straightened. The demigod screamed, yanked into the air with the branch. Her wild shout faded in sound as the tree swept her higher into the canopy.
A guttural yell, and the hard whack of something firm ramming my side, shoved me into the water. It sloshed over my head, enveloping me. My lungs were paralyzed and my head swam. A hand fisted in my hair held me down. I struggled, flailing against unusual strength to no avail.
The blow scattered my mind. I attempted to conjure a spell, but the magic didn’t slide together. Transportation magic wouldn’t work while someone touched me—unless I wanted to transport them. The power and concentration such a feat required was outside my abilities with my instincts screaming.
Fear clouded my mind. I tried to ease it away, but it was impossible to stay calm when the chilly grip of the water encircled my body. The stolen amulet brushed against my wrist, like a shock. An electric force. A reminder.
With a jolt, I forced my mind to work. A spell transported the amulet to Baxter—I couldn’t hold onto it. All would be wasted. My chest began to burn. Accomplishing one thing gave me a mental stance again.
I calmed.
The mortal shifted his weight, allowing me to orient his body in the water. I slammed a foot out, approximating where his knee should be.
A crack, then a bellow, came next.
He hobbled, but didn’t release. The urgency to breathe forced me to let go of a gasp of air. The mortal held tighter, fingers clamped around my neck now. Water filled my ears, trickled into my mouth.
Arborra!
The mortal disappeared.
I surfaced with a gasp. Rain, thunder, and the distinct sound of a fist hitting flesh filled my ears. I scrambled to my feet, whirled around. Through sheets of rain, I could just make out a broad-shouldered figure standing over the mortal. A flash of red hair followed behind the first figure, and the mortal slumped over. He slid beneath the water, neck canted at an unusual angle.
“Papa!” I called, sputtering.
Papa slogged over, grabbed my arm, and pulled me to my feet as I coughed.
“We have to go!” he shouted.
Water drenched his hair. Regina stood just behind him, panting. Her white shirt clung to her shoulders beneath a dark vest.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Transport now, B!”
A strange sensation overcame me then. Trembling in my feet, my ankles, my knees. The water vibrated around us. Thunder sounded. No, not thunder . . . a sound like stampeding horses. I spun to the east and gasped. Trees dove from side to side as a titanic, dark force barreled this way.
The silence of the trees broke. In unison, they roared in pain, terror, death-cries. I froze, unable to think. Slicing pain, utter loss gripped me. All I could comprehend was the raging mudslide that raced out of the trees. It wiped out all life as it broke Letum Wood in half.
What, Arborra said in hoarse gasp, magic is this?
A wave of debris nearly knocked my legs out from under me. With the trees screaming, dying, gasping, shouting in my head, I couldn’t use magic. I couldn’t even summon the mind power to command it to take me away.
All I saw was destruction.
Loss.
My nightmares from Alaysia come to life.
Move, I told my body. Move!
Nothing happened.
Papa shouted. He attempted to slosh toward me through the water, but it swelled around his waist and carried him farther away. He dove, arms outstretched. Voices petaled through my mind in falling refrains.
It destroys.
We cannot fight.
We fall.
Mud slammed into my side. I stumbled, grasping for branches, vines, anything. As I fell, a pair of arms wrapped around me from behind. The smell of the forest surrounded me.
Merrick.
I gasped, let go.