Chapter 30 Chloe
CHLOE
Chloe stood on a stepladder in the cafe pinning a garland of dried flowers to the beam above the counter while Twyla directed traffic below. The Griddle & Grind had been transformed overnight into something out of a fairy tale, all soft pinks and deep reds and candles waiting to be lit.
"A little to the left," Twyla called. "No, my left. There. Perfect."
Freya handed up another garland, her copper hair tucked under a kerchief to keep it out of the way. "I still think we need more greenery near the window."
"We have plenty of greenery. What we need is more hearts." Twyla surveyed the room with a critical eye. "The tea starts in two hours. We're not ready."
"We're close," Chloe said, climbing down from the ladder. "And it looks beautiful."
It did. Despite everything, despite the fear and the doubt and the sleepless night at the inn, being here felt good. Normal. Like maybe she really could stay and fight and build a life in this strange little town.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out, expecting Corin. Instead, Wendy's name glowed on the screen.
"I need to take this," she said, stepping toward the back hallway.
She answered before the second ring. "Wendy?"
"Listen to me carefully." Her sister's voice was tight, urgent, stripped of its usual cryptic distance. "Something's coming. Something connected to you, to your blood. I've been trying to see it clearly, but there's interference. Someone's blocking me."
"Blocking you? How?"
"Dark magic. Old magic twisted wrong." Wendy's breath crackled through the speaker. "I can feel it reaching for you, Chloe. It's been reaching for weeks, but it's stronger now. Hungry."
"The well. Corin found someone tampering with it."
"It's more than tampering. Whoever's doing this, they want what's inside you. The connection you carry, they're going to try to use you as a channel."
Chloe's hand tightened on the phone. "Who? Who's doing this?"
"I can't see. They're hidden." Wendy's voice cracked with frustration.
"I wish I could tell you more. I wish I could do more than send warnings from a thousand miles away.
But you have to be careful. Don't let them get you alone.
Don't let them touch the land through you. It’s time you claim what is yours and stop being afraid, Chloe. "
"Wendy—"
"I have to go. I wish I could tell you more, but I can’t. You have to own what you are, what you can do all on your own. The interference is getting worse. Just... be safe. Please."
The line went dead.
Chloe stood in the dim hallway, her heart pounding. Wendy had never sounded like that before. Scared. Helpless. Her sister, who always had cryptic answers for everything, who spoke in riddles and metaphors, had been genuinely afraid.
The front door of the café banged open.
She hurried back to the main room and stopped dead.
Corin stood in the entrance, his chest heaving like he'd been running. There was a dark bruise forming on his cheekbone, dirt and frost clinging to his clothes, and his hazelnut eyes swept the room with wild intensity until they landed on her.
Relief. That was what flooded his face. Not anger. Not accusation. Just overwhelming, desperate relief.
"You're here." He crossed the room in long strides and pulled her against his chest, his arms wrapping around her so tight she could barely breathe. "Thank god you're here."
"Corin, what happened? You're hurt."
"Later." He pulled back, his hands on her shoulders, his eyes searching her face. "I know who's been doing this. It's Jasper. Jasper Mince."
"Jasper?" Twyla's voice was sharp with disbelief. "The delivery man?"
"He's not what he seems. He's a dark druid. A siphon. He's been draining power from the land, from the well, and he's been using Chloe as a conduit." Corin's grip tightened. "Your collapse wasn't the contamination hurting you. It was him. Testing how much he could take."
The words slotted into place with Wendy's warning, and Chloe's blood ran cold. "He's been reaching for me through the soil."
"Every time you touched it, you were feeding him. Opening a channel." Corin's jaw clenched. "I confronted him at the well this morning. He admitted everything, then disappeared. Teleported. I don't know where he went, but I think he's going to try something bigger."
"We need to go to the Council," Freya said, already grabbing her coat.
"Elias is handling that. But the well..." Corin looked toward the window, toward the direction of his orchard. "Something felt wrong when I left. The energy was building. If Jasper's planning to finish what he started—"
"Then Chloe's the target." Freya's green eyes were fierce. "I'm coming with you."
"We don't know what we're walking into."
"Exactly why you need backup." Freya moved to stand beside Chloe, her small frame radiating determination. "I'm not letting her face this alone."
Twyla was already at the phone. "I'll call the Council, get people mobilized. Go. Now."
The drive to Corin's property took forever and no time at all. Chloe sat in the passenger seat, her hands clenched in her lap, while Corin drove too fast over icy roads and Freya leaned forward from the back seat.
"Tell me everything," Chloe said. "What exactly did he say?"
Corin relayed the confrontation in clipped sentences. The dark druid confession. The siphoning. The old power bound in the well that Jasper had been stealing. The way he'd used the contamination to mask his real goal, used the town's fear to keep suspicion pointed elsewhere.
"He said your blood is rare," Corin finished. "Valuable. That you've been walking around with a fortune in your veins."
"And he wants to take it."
"I won't let him."
The truck skidded to a stop by the orchard. Through the bare trees, Chloe could see the clearing where the well stood.
It was glowing.
Dark energy pulsed from the ruined stones, tendrils of shadow reaching up toward the gray sky like grasping fingers. The air felt wrong, heavy and thick, pressing against her skin with malevolent intent.
"Stay behind me," Corin said, already moving.
Chloe followed, Freya at her side. Every step closer made the pressure worse. Her head throbbed. Her vision swam. The druid blood that had always been a quiet hum beneath her skin was screaming now, recoiling from the corruption ahead.
Jasper stood at the center, his hands pressed to the stones, his body silhouetted against the pulsing darkness. His eyes found Chloe across the distance, and he smiled.
"Perfect timing."
The well exploded with power.
It hit Chloe like a tidal wave, slamming into her chest, her blood, her bones. She felt the channel rip open, the connection Jasper had been building for weeks finally completing itself. Her druid blood surged up to meet it, responding to the call of corrupted earth magic without her consent.
She screamed. Her knees buckled. The frozen ground rose up to meet her, but she barely felt the impact. Everything was fire and darkness and a terrible draining sensation, like her very essence was being pulled out through her pores.
"Chloe!" Corin's voice, distant and desperate.
She could barely see, let alone answer. The world had narrowed to the burning in her veins and the dark presence forcing its way through her connection to the land.
"This is what you were made for," Jasper's voice echoed in her skull. "A perfect conduit. Pure druid blood, untrained, unguarded. You're going to help me purge every drop of power from this soil, and when it's done, I'll have enough magic to reshape this valley however I want."
She tried to fight. Tried to close the channel, to sever the connection, to do anything but lie there while he used her like a battery. But she didn't know how. Had never been taught how to control what she was, had spent her whole life running from it instead of learning to use it.
"Get away from her!"
Corin's roar split the air. She heard the crack of bones shifting, felt the ground shake as every pound of Corin’s grizzly headed toward the well.
Jasper didn't even look. Just raised one hand, dark energy crackling, and threw Corin aside like he weighed nothing.
"You can't stop this, bear. No one can." Jasper's voice was triumphant. "The channel's open. The power's flowing. In a few minutes, it'll all be over."
Chloe lay on the frozen ground, her body convulsing, her blood on fire. She could feel the land dying around her, feel the ancient magic being ripped from the earth and channeled through her screaming veins. And she couldn't do a single thing to stop it.