Chapter 33 Chloe
CHLOE
She woke to sunlight and the smell of honey. For a long moment, Chloe just lay there, letting her senses catalog the world around her. Soft sheets. Warm quilt. A pillow that smelled like cedar. Corin's bed. Corin's room.
She let herself sink back into the safety of her surroundings but her body still felt hollowed out, like someone had scooped everything vital from her bones and left only the shell behind.
But she was alive. And judging by the golden light streaming through the window, she'd been asleep for a while.
"There she is."
The voice came from the chair by the window. Familiar, but wrong somehow. She hadn’t heard it without a static signal in years.
Chloe turned her head and found her sister sitting three feet away.
Wendy looked exactly like she always did in their video calls. Dark curls tumbling over her shoulders. Warm brown eyes that seemed to see through walls. The silver crescent moon pendant that matched Chloe's own, hanging at her throat.
Except now she was here. Real. Solid.
"You came." Chloe's voice came out scratchy, barely a whisper.
"I got on a plane the second my visions cleared." Wendy leaned forward, her hands clasped between her knees. "You scared me, little sister. Really scared me."
"How long have I been out?"
"Three days."
Three days. Chloe let that sink in, her mind sluggishly processing the information.
"Corin?"
"Downstairs. Freya finally convinced him to eat something about an hour ago. He's been glued to this room since they brought you back." Wendy's lips quirked. "That bear of yours doesn't do anything halfway, does he?"
"No. He doesn't." Chloe pushed herself up against the pillows, her arms trembling with the effort. "Wendy. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"About my magic. About what I could do." The words came out sharper than she intended. "You've been giving me cryptic hints for years. 'Listen to the land, Chloe. Trust your instincts, Chloe.' But you never told me I could actually use it. That I could fight back."
Wendy was quiet for a moment, her expression shifting to something complicated. Guilt, maybe. Or regret.
"You're right. I wasn't direct. But there was a reason for that."
"Then explain it to me. Because I almost died, and I keep thinking that if I'd known sooner, if I'd understood what I was capable of, maybe I could have stopped Jasper before he hurt this town. Or myself."
"Maybe." Wendy met her eyes steadily. "Or maybe you would have locked it away forever."
"What?"
"Druid magic isn't like other magic, Chloe.
You can't learn it from a book or practice it in a workshop.
It has to be awakened from within. Felt, not taught.
And the only way it awakens is through genuine connection.
" Wendy spread her hands. "When you were younger, you were so afraid of being different.
Every time you sensed something in the land, you pushed it down. Ignored it. Ran from it."
Chloe flinched. It was true. She'd spent years trying to be normal, trying to pretend she didn't feel the pulse of the earth beneath her feet.
"If I'd sat you down and explained what you were, what you could do, what would you have done?"
"I don't know."
"Yes, you do." Wendy's voice was gentle but firm. "You would have been terrified. You would have seen it as one more thing that made you strange, one more reason people would reject you. And you would have built walls so high that the magic could never have reached you."
"You don't know that."
"I do. Because I saw it." Wendy tapped her temple.
"Futures aren't fixed, but patterns are.
Every version of you that I tried to push, to force, to teach before you were ready, she closed herself off completely.
Lost the connection forever. The only path where you came into your power was the one where you discovered it yourself. "
Chloe stared at her sister, the words settling into place. She wanted to tell Wendy she was wrong, but deep down, she knew that her sister was right. She was always right.
"You were guiding me."
"Nudging. Hinting. Hoping." Wendy's smile was sad. "And praying that when the moment came, you'd be ready."
"But you didn't see Jasper coming."
"No." The word came out heavy. "His magic interfered with my sight.
Blocked me from seeing anything connected to him.
By the time I realized something was wrong, you were already in the middle of it.
" She reached out and took Chloe's hand, squeezing tight.
"I should have come sooner. Should have found another way. I'm sorry."
"You couldn't have known."
"I should have." Wendy's eyes glistened. "You're my little sister. Protecting you is my job."
"I think I did okay protecting myself." Chloe squeezed back. "With help."
"You did more than okay." Wendy laughed, wiping her eyes. "You faced down a dark druid with nothing but instinct and stubbornness. Mom would have been proud."
Chloe blinked hard at the nention of their mother, pushing down the swell of emotion.
"What happens now? With my magic, I mean."
"Now you learn. Properly, with someone who can guide you." Wendy's expression turned thoughtful. "There are others like us, Chloe. Not many, but enough. I can introduce you to some teachers, people who understand druid blood and how to work with it now that you can feel what it is saying to you."
"I'm not leaving Hollow Oak." The words came out immediate, certain. Wendy raised an eyebrow.
"I wasn't suggesting you should."
"Good. Because this is my home now." Chloe looked around the room, Corin's room, and felt the truth of it settle into her bones. "I'm done running. I'm done letting fear make my decisions. I want to stay here. Build something real."
"With your bear?"
"With my bear." She smiled, tired but genuine. "He's kind of hard to get rid of."
"He carried you back from that clearing himself. Wouldn't let anyone else touch you." Wendy's voice was warm with approval. "When a bear claims someone, they mean it."
"He hasn't claimed me yet. Not officially."
"Do you want him to?"
A week ago, Chloe might have hesitated. Might have listed all the reasons it was too fast, too soon, too much. Now, she just nodded.
"Yes. I want all of it. The bond, the mark, the forever.
" She met her sister's eyes. "I know it sounds crazy.
We've only known each other a few months on this level.
But when I was lying on that frozen ground, dying, the only thing I could think about was him.
How I hadn't told him I loved him yet. How I might never get the chance. "
"Did you? Tell him?"
"Not yet." Chloe glanced toward the door. "But I'm going to. As soon as I can stay upright long enough to have a real conversation."
"I think he's had enough waiting." Wendy stood, smoothing her skirt. "I'll send him up. Give you two some privacy."
"Wendy."
Her sister paused at the door.
"Thank you. For coming. For explaining. For..." Chloe struggled for the right words. "For believing I could figure it out, even when I didn't believe it myself."
"That's what sisters are for." Wendy smiled. "Now stop making me cry and go claim your bear."
She slipped out, and a moment later, Chloe heard footsteps on the stairs. Quick. Eager. The door opened, and Corin filled the frame.
He looked terrible. Dark circles under his eyes, his jaw rough with days of stubble, his clothes rumpled like he'd been sleeping in them. But his eyes, those hazelnut eyes that had looked at her with such desperate love in the clearing, they were bright with relief.
"You're awake."
"I'm awake."
He crossed the room in three strides and held her against his chest, careful and fierce all at once. She buried her face in his neck, breathing him in.
"I thought I lost you," he murmured into her hair. "Three days, Chloe. Three days of watching you sleep and not knowing if you'd wake up."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Just don't do it again." He pulled back, his hands cupping her face, his thumbs brushing away tears she hadn't realized she was crying. "I love you, and I can't do this without you."
"I love you too." The words came easily now. Naturally. "I love you, and I'm not going anywhere. I'm choosing you, Corin. You and Hollow Oak. This is where I belong."
He kissed her, soft and sweet and full of promise. He pressed his forehead to hers, his breath warm against her lips.
"When you're stronger," he said quietly, "I want to make this permanent. The bond. The mark. All of it."
"Is that a proposal?"
"It's a promise." His eyes searched hers. "If you'll have me."
She smiled, exhaustion and joy tangled together in her chest.
"I'll have you. Forever."
He kissed her again, and she let herself sink into it. Into him. Into the future they were going to build together.
She'd spent her whole life looking for a place to belong and she'd finally found it.