Chapter Twelve
CHAPTER TWELVE
Stepping through with all three of the humans and the dog in tow was much more taxing than Iona had realized. Of course this was only the second time she’d brought anyone along with her, so she had little experience to base the assumption on.
Thanks to Liam’s warning, the newcomers seemed to handle the sensation better, and managed to retain the contents of their stomachs, although Annie had gone pale and Zev braced themselves on a nearby stump. Liam looked much better than last time, however, and even managed a slight grin. Perhaps he would grow to enjoy stepping through with her.
For the third time that day, Iona stood among the logging equipment. Though the iron metal husks sat void of life, they were still eerie.
In the autumn, the sun set so early that by the time they arrived, light was beginning to drain from the forest around them. At least the loggers had not returned.
“They moved it all in this morning, but they didn’t get much done after that,” she said, and felt her cheeks go flush with the reminder of what they’d done, and the… aftermath. “I would watch where you step, in the brush.”
“It worked then, I take it?” Liam gave her a private smirk .
Iona watched as the newcomers took in the scene, their faces painted with the same sadness and anger that Liam had worn. It softened her to them, if only slightly.
“How long has this been going on?” Annie asked. Her voice was gentle, but with a steely edge that belied her anger. Her hands balled into fists at her side.
“I am not sure. I only noticed a few days ago, when they began to move toward the heart of the valley.” Iona shrugged, embarrassed by how long it had taken to notice. “I’d like to stop them from moving in any further.”
Liam placed a hand on her arm, a comforting touch, but one that heated her skin. Her chest fluttered, in a way she had only ever experienced with him.
“We’ll find a way to protect them, don’t worry.” He spoke with such sincerity Iona couldn’t help but believe him.
Their attention was drawn by a call from across the clearing. Zev approached the machinery, and was inspecting the cogs and treads that Iona was unfamiliar with. They pulled a phone from their pocket and used it’s flashlight to illuminate the machine’s inner workings.
“What are you thinking, Zev? I know that look, and it means you’re about to get us into trouble,” Liam groaned, though it seemed he didn’t mean it. He was grinning now, the look made especially endearing by the fog accumulated on his glasses. Iona wondered if he could still see through them.
“I do have an idea,” Zev called, “and you’re gonna wanna hear this one.”
Liam pulled Iona by the hand to go see what Zev was looking at.
Annie heard the raised voices and hurried over to join them, clutching a stack of paper in her hand. “What’s going on?” she asked, alarmed.
“Zev has an idea,” Liam told her.
“Oh, no.”
The two of them burst into laughter, and Iona stared blankly between them, unfamiliar with the joke and a little sour about it. She was relieved when Zev spoke.
“I think we should monkeywrench it. ”
Iona looked again to the other two, hoping they had some idea what Zev was talking about. Perhaps it was human slang she was unfamiliar with. They looked just as confused.
“You know—the book. Edward Abbey? The Monkey Wrench Gang?” They waited a moment, but realized none of them had a clue what the reference was—Iona certainly the least of them.
“We read it in my environmental lit class, back at UW, okay? Four unlikely allies team up against the forces of deforestation by sabotaging the equipment.” Their words accelerated as they spoke, excitement mounting. “All this machinery out here would be real easy to put out of commission for a while, with a bit of well-placed sabotage.”
Annie stared back at Zev, eyes wide.
“You’re a crazy bastard, Zev. But that’s a damn good plan.” Liam looked up at the machinery, his eyes glinting with excitement now, too.
Annie looked less sure. “Didn’t you say you ran into them the other day?” she asked. “They saw you, Liam. And look, I found this in the cab of one of the rigs. It’s got your name on it, the property all marked up.”
Iona peered over Annie’s shoulder at the page she held. It was a map, like the one Liam had of the valley. As promised, Liam’s name and address were scrawled in the approximate location of where the house was.
Iona frowned. “She’s right. You heard those men, if they think for a moment that you’ve interfered out here…”
“You can’t put yourself in danger like that. And these guys sound pretty ruthless—who knows what they’ll do if they think you’re at fault.” Annie hesitated a moment, her face contorting. “They could even sabotage the house, while you’re trying to sell it.”
Iona had almost forgotten that Liam was leaving. She pushed back the unwelcome reminder and returned her attention to the problem at hand.
They needed to do something that would set the loggers back. Something drastic. Sabotaging the machinery would work, but it would need to be done another way, one that couldn’t be traced back to Liam .
“What about roots?” she asked, the half-formed thought slipping out before she had the chance to stop herself.
“Roots?” Liam asked, then his mind started to work. “Oh…”
“What are you talking about?” Zev demanded when Liam failed to elaborate.
“Would tree roots be enough to ruin the equipment? If they were strong and got into the right places?” Iona asked. She crouched down over the muddy forest floor, where the tread wound around the mechanical base. She sunk her fingers into the cold, damp soil, feeling for the latent energy of the roots below.
The trees had been shorn at the trunk, but most of the tree roots remained untouched, brimming with energy and waiting to be tapped into. Warmth spread down through her fingertips, calling the roots skyward, and they pushed through the muddy soil to heed her command. Twisting and writhing, they inched up the side of the machine, strengthening as they went, and locked the great metal beast in place.
The others had fallen silent around her, and when she turned she found them all staring at her, mouths agape and eyes wide.
She stood, swaying on her feet—it was a great deal of energy to expend after bringing them all here. Liam reached an arm out and she caught it, steadying herself with his grasp.
“It’s too much for myself alone, but perhaps if we had help from others…” Iona said. She let Liam go and wrapped her arms around herself, the warmth having been sapped from her body. It was a strange sensation, to be cold as if she were human. She was unaccustomed to it.
“Could we convince them to help?” Liam asked her.
“I believe so.” She nodded. “But… it might take some convincing. It’s a great deal of energy, and will leave us drained for some time afterwards.”
Zev was still staring at her, as if realizing for the first time that Iona truly was not human. “There are more of you?” they asked, with an expression of pure awe. “And you can all do that?”
“Yes, though I am particularly gifted with wood and roots.” She let a little pride show through her tired smile. It was refreshing to be the object of fascination after keeping herself hidden for so long.
“How can we convince them?” Annie asked .
“Well, there is something which my kin value from your world. You might make an offering, of sorts. Then you may provide instruction to us, assuming you know how best we should target our attack?” Iona asked with another look at Zev.
“Uh, yeah. I think I know how to put them outta commission. What should we bring with us?”
“Beer,” Iona replied.
“Sorry—beer?” Zev asked, incredulous.
“We all have our indulgences. Do we not?” She smiled at them again, before a violent shiver ran through her.
“Are you alright? Should we walk back? You’re not supposed to be cold, I assume,” Liam asked, his face scrunched up in concern.
“No, it is a consequence of overexerting myself. I can take you back home, but I fear that may be the last of my energy for the day.” Iona pulled her thin sweater even tighter, the rain soaking through the fibers.
Liam tugged at the zipper of his jacket, shrugging it off and laying it over Iona’s shoulders. She made to protest, but he silenced her with a shake of his head.
“I don’t have beer with me at the house, but there’s a gas station up the way, I’ll go grab something. Come back with us, and we’ll get you some dry clothes. Some of my mom’s things will probably work for you, and will help warm you up.”
A warm change of clothes by the fire sounded nice. Sure, she could shift out of her human shape and shed sensations all together, but there was something pleasant about feeling warm. Her incorporeal form felt like nothing at all.
Steeling herself, she joined hands with the others and brought them home, as promised.
***
When they arrived back at the house, Liam watched the color fade from Iona’s complexion, the magic taxing her more than she’d let on. Still shivering, arms wrapped tight against the cold, she looked so frail.
He frowned, but hurried forward to open the door and usher them all inside. “I think some hot tea and a dry change of clothes is in order,” he announced .
The house was still warm, thanks to the fire in the stove that had burned to embers. It would need more wood, but Liam had more pressing concerns for the moment. He ignored the others and lead Iona into his parents’ bedroom, the one he’d been sleeping in. Boxes filled with his parents’ old clothes were strewn about the room, and he pulled a few of his mother’s from the stacks and set them on the bed.
“These are all going to donation, so feel free to keep whatever you want. I don’t know if they’ll suit your tastes, but they are dry, so help yourself. I’ll, uh, be outside.”
Iona thanked him, then he left awkwardly and shut the door behind him.
Back in the living room, he was met with the expectant stares of both Annie and Zev, who sat around the kitchen table.
“What the hell, man? Something you meant to tell us? Like, the whole thing?” Zev started in a righteous whisper.
Liam sighed heavily, taking one of the two empty seats and crossing his arms across his chest. “How exactly would I have told you, then? ‘Hi thanks for coming, by the way I met a magical tree lady and she wants my help taking down an illegal logging operation?’ That would have gone over well, don’t you agree?” Liam couldn’t help the slight irritation in his tone. He felt he was being quite reasonable. “Besides, it wasn’t my secret to tell. Not really.”
Annie didn’t look quite so upset, but she did look mildly hurt, which in Liam’s book was worse. “Well, the thing about Iona aside, we could have helped with the logging,” she said.
Liam ran a hand through his already messy hair, unsure of how to respond. He hadn’t realized that his friends might be an asset. He’d grown so used to doing things on his own.
“You’re right,” he began after a moment, “I don’t know why I didn’t bring it up on Friday. I was glad to have help with the packing, and it kinda slipped my mind. Honestly, I wasn’t sure about how much help I’d be until a day or two ago. Rebecca told me to leave it alone…”
“Which,” Zev started with a roll of the eyes, “I’m sure only made you want to help more.”
“Yeah, well, of course I was going to help. I just hadn’t figured out how yet. Thanks for that, by the way. ”
“Don’t mention it, I always knew my lit degree would come in handy. Unlike some people’s—” Zev nudged Annie with a playful elbow. She’d fallen quiet, and when she didn’t play back, Zev frowned. “What’s going on in that brain of yours, Annie?”
“Oh—” she started, roused from thought. “Well, I was just thinking that those guys probably just drop the timber off somewhere for processing. They have all the equipment, so the odds are good they’re a legit company doing some poaching on side. I bet they work with a processing plant somewhere in the state, or a distributor to sell the finished product. Maybe I could do some sleuthing.”
Zev nodded and leaned back on their chair so the front two legs were off the ground. “Yeah, totally. If we could track down the company, maybe it’s another opportunity to screw ‘em over. Harvesting illegally can’t be good for PR.”
“I have contacts at the Seattle Times… maybe not in the right department but they probably know some people. I’ll make some calls on Monday, Liam.” Annie took out her phone and began typing furiously.
Liam only sighed.
“Monday’s too late, I think. For me anyway. I have to get back to work.” As he spoke, he felt the time slip through his fingers like sand. “Sarah basically told me it’s back to work or I won’t have a job to go back to. She’s real worried about losing this contract, and my being gone puts us in danger of falling behind.”
“You’re going back then?” Zev asked. “Even with all this going on out here?”
“Not like I have much of a choice, really. Unless you’re gonna cover my part of the rent while I play defender of the woods?”
Zev, as they always did when the topic of Liam’s work came up, rolled their eyes. All the humor Liam had tried to inject into the conversation evaporated. “That job’s no good for you, anyways. And Sarah is a bitch.”
The job had been a point of contention between them for a while, Zev not understanding what the job meant to Liam. His irritation surged again but he bit it back, instead tracing grooves in the dining table. It was older than he was, made from wood from somewhere on the property. The place where he and Rebecca had once carved their initials was still visible. They’d been scolded for it, but nobody had ever buffed out the marks left behind.
“The pay is good, Zev. And besides, I’m learning a lot out there, water testing. It’s only a matter of time before I can do the real work, you know?”
Zev didn’t argue, but their face twisted into a frown. Their next words were so quiet, so uncharacteristically soft that Liam almost missed them. “You could make a real difference out here.”
Before the tired argument could continue, the door to the bedroom opened, and Iona stepped out.
She had chosen a chunky knit sweater, dark brown, with stripes of earth-toned patterns layered across the chest. The sweater was oversized, falling just below her hips, and she’d rolled the sleeves up to keep them out of the way. Liam recognized it as one his mother had knit many years ago. It complemented Iona’s hair, and Liam felt his chest swell at the sight of her wearing it. Below it, she wore a dark, full-length skirt in a floral pattern.
With her tiny horns spiraling up and back, the moss and fibers tucked into her braids, she might have looked out of place in the normal clothes—but instead they only made her look more captivating.
“You look…” he started, but then lost the words, trailing off. Some of the warmth had returned to her face, but she still looked weak.
“Beautiful,” Annie finished for him, and was rewarded with a glowing smile from Iona, who clutched nervously at the skirt.
“Thank you, it is very generous of you. Your mother has excellent taste. Liam, I wondered if I might join you, to go and get beer.”
Yes, now the color had definitely returned to her cheeks.
“Of course,” he told her.
She smiled timidly again, then turned back to the door to don her leather boots.
While her back was turned, Zev gave Liam a look, and waggled their eyebrows at him. Just in case he’d missed the meaning of that look, Zev pointed at the back of Iona’s head, then drew a heart in the air with two fingers .
“Good news! Zev volunteered to cook dinner, while we’re out,” Liam said with an eye-roll, then grabbed his coat and ushered Iona out the door before Zev could protest.