23. Cass
Cass
For the longest time, I was in darkness.
I couldn’t tell if it was days, weeks, hours, or minutes.
All I could remember was lightning, a glimpse of golden eyes, and then nothing.
But there was no panic, no worry. In fact, I almost felt warm in the dark, comforted in a way that I didn’t expect.
And then, when I finally started to feel consciousness pulling at the corners of my mind, I realized I was still warm.
It was still dark when my eyes fluttered open, save for a tiny sliver of warm amber light spilling across the ceiling.
My gaze flicked downward, and I saw it was coming from the door that stood very slightly ajar.
I was no longer outside, that was for certain.
But I couldn’t really place the room either. It was one I’d never been in before.
Something tightened around my waist and I glanced down, noticing a large green arm draped across me. With some effort, I turned my head to the side, my gaze came to rest on a familiar face, dark hair, and golden patterns swirling under his skin.
“L-Linden…” I managed to croak out, my throat drier than I expected.
His eyes opened immediately, going wide with relief. “Sparks,” he breathed, his arm tightening around me. “Thank the gods. You’re awake.”
My voice came out hoarse when I tried to speak again. “What happened? Where are we?”
“The infirmary back at the academy,” Linden said, reaching over to grab a glass of water from the nightstand. He helped me sit up slightly, his large hand supporting my back with surprising gentleness. “You’ve been unconscious for two days.”
Two days. The number didn’t quite compute in my foggy brain. I took the water gratefully, drinking it down in long gulps. My body felt like it had been wrung out and left to dry, every muscle aching in a way that suggested I’d pushed myself way too hard.
“The grove,” I said suddenly, the memories crashing back. The machines. The lightning. The destruction. “Linden, the grove—”
“Is safe,” he said quietly, and there was something in his voice that made me look at him more carefully.
He looked exhausted, like he hadn’t slept in those two days I’d been out.
“You stopped them. The machines were destroyed, and the fire department put out the fires before they could spread too far into the protected area.”
Relief flooded through me, so intense that I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes. “The trees?”
“Some were lost,” Linden admitted, and I could see the pain that admission cost him. “But most of the grove is intact because of what you did. You saved it, Sparks. You saved my home.”
I wanted to ask more, wanted to know everything that had happened while I was out, but my throat was still too dry and my brain felt like it was wading through molasses. Instead, I just nodded and took another sip of water.
“There’s someone who wants to see you,” Linden said after a moment. “Professor Paulson. She’s been checking on you regularly. And there’s an Elder Council representative arriving today. They want to talk to you about what happened.”
My stomach twisted. An Elder Council representative. That didn’t sound good. “Am I in trouble?”
Linden’s expression faltered for a moment. He was trying to cover something up. “I don’t know yet,” he said. “You destroyed someone else’s property. But you were also doing it because you thought they were hurting me. And they were. But things are… complicated…”
Before I could respond, there was a soft knock on the door.
It opened wider, and Professor Paulson stepped inside, her sharp eyes immediately finding me.
There was something different about her expression.
She was less stern than usual. In fact, if I wasn’t so groggy, I might even think she was smiling at me.
“Mr. Reed,” she said, moving to the foot of the bed. “I’m glad to see you’ve finally rejoined the land of the living. How are you feeling?”
“Like I got hit by a truck,” I admitted. “What exactly happened? Linden said I was out for two days…”
“You channeled an enormous amount of magical energy in a very short period of time,” Professor Paulson explained, pulling up a chair beside the bed.
“Your body essentially went into shock trying to process it all. The healers in the infirmary were quite impressed, actually. They said what you did was remarkable. Using weather magic with that level of precision and power simultaneously is nearly unheard of.”
I nodded slowly, trying to piece together the fragments of memory. The machines. The lightning. That feeling of my magic taking over completely, like I’d become a conduit for something far larger than myself.
“The property damage, however, is the issue we need to discuss,” she continued, and her tone became more serious.
“The company that was clear-cutting the grove, Rose Development, is owned by an old witch family. And they have filed complaints with the Elder Council. They’re claiming magical assault and destruction of property.
But Linden has explained the circumstances and his connection to the grove. ”
I glanced at Linden, who was still holding my hand beneath the blanket. His expression was conflicted, like he wanted to tell me something but wasn’t sure how.
“What does that mean?” I asked carefully. “Am I going to be expelled? Arrested?”
“We don’t know yet,” Professor Paulson said.
“Once the Elder Council arrives, we’ll know more.
But I want you to know that several members of the faculty, myself included, have submitted statements on your behalf.
What you did was dangerous and reckless, yes.
But you also acted to protect the sacred home of someone you love.
The Council tends to take those motivations into consideration. ”
The words hung in the air between us. Someone you love. She knew. Of course she knew. Probably everyone knew by now, especially if Linden hadn’t left my side for two days.
“There’s more,” Linden said quietly, squeezing my hand. “The grove… well… Rose Development seems to think they own it. We’ve been looking into it and…”
He went quiet, unable to finish his sentence.
“There’s a potential,” Professor Paulson continued. “That they’re right.”
“What?” I said, pushing myself up. “How can they just own the grove? Doesn’t Linden need it to survive? They can’t just kill a dryad to get some lumber—”
“A dryad will survive even if his grove is destroyed,” Professor Paulson said, stopping me before I could go into a frenzy.
“Linden won’t need it to live. But he will become nearly powerless until he begins to nurture a new grove somewhere else.
But growing trees takes time. It’ll be decades until he returns to his full power. ”
My mind reeled at that. Decades. Linden would be powerless for decades while he tried to rebuild what had been taken from him. All because some development company had apparently bought the land and had every legal right to destroy it.
“That’s not fair,” I said, my voice rising despite how exhausted I was. “There has to be something we can do. Some kind of legal recourse or—”
“We’re exploring all options,” Professor Paulson assured me. “But for now, the most pressing matter is the Elder Council’s decision regarding your actions. They’ll want to speak with you directly once you’re well enough. I’d suggest you rest and prepare yourself mentally for that conversation.”
She stood, smoothing down her skirt. “I’ll inform them you’re awake. They should be here within the hour.” She paused at the door, glancing back at me. “For what it’s worth, Mr. Reed, I think what you did was brave. Foolish, perhaps, but brave.”
After she left, I was alone with Linden again. He was quiet, his thumb tracing slow circles on the back of my hand. I could feel the tension radiating off him, the way his magic was flickering beneath his skin like it couldn’t quite settle.
“Hey,” I said softly, tugging on his hand until he looked at me. “Look at me.”
He did, those golden eyes meeting mine, and I could see all the fear and uncertainty he’d been carrying for the past two days written across his face.
“We’re going to figure this out,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “Together. There’s got to be something we can do.”
“I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me,” he said, and there was something almost broken in his voice. “You were just trying to protect me and now—”
“Now nothing,” I interrupted. “I’d do it again. In a heartbeat. I’d call down lightning a thousand times over if it meant keeping you safe.”
He leaned down and kissed me, soft and desperate, like he was trying to convince himself that this was real. That we were real. That what we had wouldn’t be torn apart by bureaucracy and legal technicalities.
“I love you,” he whispered against my lips.
“I love you too,” I replied. “And we’re going to get through this.”
I wasn’t entirely sure I believed that. But I was going to hold onto it anyway, for both our sakes. I needed Linden to believe it too. There was no point in falling apart yet. Not when there was a fight on the way.
The hour passed in a blur of anxious waiting. Linden insisted on staying beside me, his large frame taking up most of the bed as he held me close. I could feel his heartbeat against my back, steady and grounding, and I tried to match my breathing to his. It helped, a little.
When the knock came at the door, I tensed immediately. Linden’s arm tightened around me, a silent reassurance that he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Come in,” I called, my voice still hoarse.
The door opened and two figures stepped inside. The first, was a man with wild, red hair pulled back into a ponytail, his bright, green eyes almost unsettling. The second, was a shorter man with dark hair and brown eyes.
“Mr. Reed,” the red-haired man said, approaching the bed with a smile on his face. “I am Elder Briar Hall, but you can just call me Wild. This is Elias Thorne, my… colleague. We are the representatives from the Elder Council who have come to speak to you about the incident with Rose Development.”
“You mean come to arrest me?”
Elder Briar Hall laughed at that, far louder than I expected.
“We’re not coming to take you away, Mr. Reed.
I can assure you of that. I have already secured your safety in that matter.
Even without your testimony, I was able to convince the rest of the Elder Council that you acted with a sound mind in that situation. ”
“So… I’m not in trouble?” I asked, hope filling my chest. “Linden’s grove is safe?”
“Yes,” he said. “And no.”
I slumped back against my pillows. “That’s a stupid answer.”
“Cass,” Linden hissed, using my real name. “He’s an Elder Council member!”
“It’s fine,” Elder Briar Hall said, waving it off. “What I mean is that you are not in trouble. But the grove is also not safe yet.”
“What do you mean the grove isn’t safe yet?” I asked, pushing myself up on my elbows despite how much it hurt. My body was still sore from head to toe.
Elder Briar Hall exchanged a glance with Elias, who remained quiet, observing. There was something about the smaller man’s reserved demeanor that made me think he was the type to let others do the talking first.
“It appears that Rose Development owns the land legally,” Wild explained, settling into the chair Professor Paulson had vacated.
“They purchased it at a government auction three years ago. Linden’s parents never paid property taxes on it.
They lived off the land and didn’t have any conventional income.
Nor did they have a mailing address or any sort of formal documentation for the local human government to find them.
So when the taxes went unpaid, and the property was seized, it went up for auction. ”
It took a second for that to sink in. “Property taxes?” I said, disbelief filling my voice. “You’re telling me that a dryad family that has lived on the same land for centuries has to pay property taxes to humans?”
“I’m afraid so—”
“Fuck that!” I barked. “Humans can shove their fucking stupid laws right up their—”
“As much as I agree with your sentiment,” Elias interrupted, his voice lower than I expected.
“The Elder Council wrote laws over a century ago to help the paranormal world integrate into human society seamlessly. That means we are beholden to their laws as well as our own. And Rose Development is a witch-owned company who bought the property in question fairly and legally according to all records we’ve been able to find. ”
“Are you fucking kidding—”
“Mr. Reed,” Elder Briar Hall said, cutting me off.
“We aren’t giving up on this. We’re still going to fight.
The fact still remains that Linden has lived in the grove and cared for it all these years.
Since he has made meaningful contributions to the property, there’s a possibility that we could claw it back for them.
Not to mention, the heartwood of his family is there.
We have room to argue our case in front of the Elder Council. ”
I gave Linden’s hand a squeeze. Maybe there really was hope.
“But it’s going to take some effort,” Elder Briar Hall continued, and I could hear the edge in his voice.
“The Elder Council usually doesn’t move quickly on matters like this.
In most cases, these proceedings would take weeks or months.
But Jackson Rose only agreed to drop the charges against you if we saw the case immediately.
He’s confident he’ll win, and he wants to clear-cut as soon as possible.
There’s a subdivision going in that apparently has several large investors. ”
“We’re gonna fight,” I said, glancing over at Linden, who’d barely spoken a word the entire time. “We’ll fight and we’ll win, Linden. I promise.”
He lifted his gaze, light flickering in those golden eyes, and nodded. “Okay,” he said. He turned to the other two. “When do we start working on this?”
“Immediately,” Elder Briar Hall said. “Our hearing with the Council is in three days.”