22. Linden
Linden
Iwoke before dawn, comforted by the warmth of Cass sprawled across my chest. I reached down, my fingers trailing through his hair.
He stirred slightly at my touch, a soft sound escaping his lips.
I smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of his head and just breathed him in.
I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have him.
The northern lights had faded completely now, leaving only the faint pre-dawn glow filtering through the canopy above.
In a few hours, we’d have to head back to campus, back to the real world where we couldn’t just exist in this bubble of our own making.
But for now, in this moment, I allowed myself to pretend that time didn’t exist. That we could stay here forever.
Cass shifted, his arm tightening around my waist as he drifted deeper into sleep.
I could feel the slow rise and fall of his breathing, the steady thud of his heart beneath my palm.
He looked peaceful like this, all his usual defensiveness stripped away.
There were no sharp edges, no sarcastic remarks ready to launch.
Just Cass in his most serene state, trusting me completely.
I thought about what had happened last night.
About him telling me he loved me. The trust in his eyes, the vulnerability.
It had shifted something fundamental inside me.
Before, I’d been terrified of what would happen after graduation, of how we could possibly make this work.
But now, with his confession still ringing in my ears and the memory of him inside me fresh in my mind, I felt something that resembled hope.
The graduate assistant position wasn’t just an opportunity anymore. It was a lifeline. A way to stay close to him while he finished his degree. A way to build something real with him instead of watching it crumble when I graduated.
But there were still obstacles. His parents, for one. The fact that we were both still figuring this out as we went. There were a thousand ways this could fall apart.
I tried not to think about that.
Instead, I focused on the weight of him against me, the way his magic hummed beneath his skin even in sleep. It was a soft, gentle hum now, like a cat purring. Content. Satisfied. Loved.
My own magic responded, golden light flickering beneath my skin in response. I wondered if that would always happen. If every moment with Cass would feel like this, like my entire being was singing in harmony with his.
The sky was growing lighter now, that pre-dawn blue deepening toward actual daylight. I knew I should probably start thinking about packing up, about heading back before anyone noticed we were gone. But I didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to break the spell of this moment.
Cass made a small noise in his sleep, something that might have been my name. I couldn’t be sure. Because, at that moment, something monstrous roared to life in the distance.
For one brief moment I thought it might just be a car or a tractor a long way off. Someone in the nearby town having vehicle issues. But then, as my skin started to tingle, and I felt the grove start to cry out in pain, I knew something was terribly wrong.
I bolted upright, my magic flaring instinctively in response to that primal cry of distress. Cass jerked awake beside me, his eyes going wide as he felt it too, that wrongness vibrating through the earth beneath us.
“What the hell was that?” he demanded, already scrambling to his feet.
“I don’t know,” I said, though I was already reaching out with my magic, trying to sense what was happening at the grove’s edge. The trees were panicking, their root systems thrashing beneath the soil like wounded animals. “Something’s attacking the grove.”
We threw on our clothes haphazardly, abandoning any pretense of packing up. The roaring came again, louder this time, and I heard the unmistakable sound of something massive crashing through the forest. Heavy machinery. The kind that didn’t belong anywhere near my sacred home.
“Fuck,” Cass breathed, his eyes going dark as his own magic crackled to life. “Is that—”
“A bulldozer,” I said, my voice coming out flat and cold in a way I rarely heard from myself. “They’re clear-cutting the grove.”
My feet were already moving before my brain caught up.
I could feel it now, the vibrations of the machine cutting through the protective barrier that had been maintained for centuries.
The trees were screaming, their life force being severed like tendons.
This wasn’t just an attack on land. This was an assault on my home. On myself.
Cass was right behind me as I pushed through the underbrush toward the edge of the grove.
The transition from my sanctuary to the outside world was jarring.
It was suddenly much colder, the grove’s protective warmth behind us.
And down the edge of the grove, I saw it.
A massive clear-cutting operation. Heavy equipment tearing through the forest like it was nothing.
Like it wasn’t sacred ground. Like it didn’t matter.
I had no idea they were there.
“No,” I whispered, the word torn from somewhere deep inside me. “No, no, no—”
One of the trees, an ancient oak that had stood for over three hundred years, toppled with a sickening crack. I felt it like a physical blow, like someone had reached into my chest and torn out a piece of my heart. My knees buckled.
“Linden!” Cass caught me before I could fall, his arms wrapping around me. “Linden, what do we do?”
I couldn’t answer. I was too busy trying to hold the grove together, trying to reinforce the barrier that was crumbling like wet paper. My magic was bleeding out of me in desperate, frantic waves, but it wasn’t enough. There were too many machines. Too much destruction happening too fast.
Another tree fell. And another.
“We have to stop them,” I said, my voice shaking with rage and grief that threatened to overwhelm me. “If they kill the heartwood…”
Cass was already moving. I watched as his hands came up, as his magic began to crackle and surge around him, his weather magic responding to the danger like it had been waiting for this moment all along.
“Do it,” I gasped, still gripping his arm. “Do whatever you need to do. Just stop them.”
The sky above us darkened in seconds. Clouds rolled in from nowhere, thick and roiling, and I watched as Cass’s eyes went completely black, not just the pupils, but the entire eye. His magic was taking over, channeling through him with a ferocity that made my own power recoil in awe.
Lightning split the sky.
It wasn’t a warning strike. It was a direct hit on the nearest bulldozer, and the machine erupted in sparks and flames.
The operator screamed, jumping from the cab as the whole thing went up like a tinderbox.
But Cass wasn’t done. Another bolt, and another, each one finding its target with surgical precision.
The kind of precision that Professor Blackwood had been teaching him during his spare time.
The kind of precision he’d been perfecting for weeks.
A second machine exploded. Then a third. The operators were scrambling now, abandoning their equipment and running. The air smelled like ozone and burning metal, and I could hear them shouting, see them pointing at the sky like they thought it was the end of the world.
Maybe it was. Maybe this was what happened when you tried to destroy something sacred. When you tried to kill the very heart of the earth itself.
Cass’s hands were shaking as the last machine sparked and died, its operator long gone.
The storm was still raging overhead, but it was beginning to dissipate now, having served its purpose.
And it seemed like my Sparks had finally found a way to channel all that wild, chaotic power into something absolutely terrifying.
“Linden…” Cass collapsed to his knees, the adrenaline crash hitting him all at once. I went down with him, pulling him into my arms as he started to shake. His magic was still crackling across his skin, still responding to the aftermath of what he’d just done. “Are you okay?”
I brushed the hair from his forehead. “I’m all right,” I nodded. “You saved the grove. You saved—”
But Cass went limp in my arms, his eyes fluttering closed.
He was out cold, his heart still racing in his chest. I held him close to me, trying to keep him warm as I surveyed the devastation.
Several of the machines were currently on fire, black smoke filling the air.
In the distance I could hear sirens, probably fire trucks heading this way.
The far west side of the grove had been destroyed, torn up and cut right down to the bare earth.
It was a gruesome sight. Some of the trees there were planted back in my great-grandparent’s time.
They were older than the nearby town, had seen the rise of the industrial revolution, and several wars since.
And now, they were dead, cold and lifeless on the ground just waiting to be turned into garbage for people to slap on their knick-knack shelves.
I was furious, more so than I thought possible. How could someone do this? What right did they have to come into my home and destroy it? This land belonged to me and my family. Why had this happened at all?
But then, just as the anger began to boil, I felt something familiar. Magic. Close by. The same signature I’d felt all those weeks ago at the gas station, then again in the grove. It was moving towards us from the wreckage, coming over the rise.
I looked up and I saw him standing there in the sunrise, his black suit a harsh contrast to the white snow and the flames rising up behind him. The moment I laid eyes on him, I knew he wasn’t a creature like me. He was a witch. And he looked pissed.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” the man barked as he headed our way. “Calling up a storm like that? Destroying all my equipment? You’re going to pay for that, you know!”
I tightened my grip on Cass, my body shielding his unconscious form as the man approached.
My magic flared instinctively in response to the threat, golden light dancing across my skin as a warning.
I didn’t know who this asshole was, but I knew he was responsible for what had just happened to my grove.
“Your equipment?” I said, my voice low and dangerous in a way I’d never heard from myself before. “You were destroying my home. My family’s sacred land.”
The man stopped a few feet away, his dark eyes narrowing as he took in the scene. Behind him, I could see a few more figures emerging from the smoke and ash. They all wore the same black suits, all moved with the purposeful stride of people who believed they had the right to be here.
“Your home?” He laughed, a harsh, brittle sound that made my skin crawl. “This land was zoned for commercial development six months ago. We have every legal right to be here.”
“You don’t have the right to destroy my home,” I spat, carefully adjusting my hold on Cass to make sure he stayed safe against my chest. His breathing was still steady, thank the gods.
Just exhausted. His magic had burned through him like a wildfire.
“This grove has stood for centuries. It belongs to my family.”
“No it doesn’t,” the man said, pulling out his phone.
“My company purchased it three years ago. And your little weather witch friend just committed property destruction and assault. I have witnesses. The fire department is already on their way, and in a moment, the Elder Council will be too. I’d suggest you think very carefully about your next move. ”
My stomach twisted. What the fuck was he talking about? My parents owned this land and passed it down to me. We had every right to attack his equipment.
“Who are you?” I demanded, trying to buy time while my mind raced. This man had to be lying.
“Jackson Rose,” the man said, his smile turning predatory. “I represent Rose Development. And you, green beast, are about to learn what happens when you fuck with the wrong witch.”
The sirens were getting closer now. I could hear them wailing through the forest, getting louder with each passing second. I looked down at Cass’s peaceful, exhausted face, then back at the destruction surrounding us. The burned-out machines. The fallen trees. The evidence of what we’d done.
But I stood my ground. I knew I was right. This was my home. If anyone was in the wrong, it was this asshole.
I wasn’t going anywhere.