Chapter Seventeen #3
“Yes. And don’t give up so easily,” she chided. “This may take a while. Be patient with yourself.” She was a lot kinder today. Perhaps by almost strangling her, I had earned some respect. I closed my eyes again and straightened my shoulders.
“Open yourself up to the spirits within these woods,” Sylvia continued.
Her voice was even, soothing, almost prayer-like in its reverence.
“These trees have withstood countless wild storms. They’ve hungered in the harsh winters and felt the warmth of thousands of sunrises on their branches.
They are patient. They abide. They defiantly grow despite their stark conditions.
Feel the power within them. Their age. Their wisdom. See what they have seen. Let them in.”
We stood there for what felt like hours, but it may have only been minutes. After a while, I lost track of time. Time no longer mattered anyway. The trees didn’t track time. They simply existed and abided. And I abided with them. Yet, I still felt no magic.
Before, when I pushed you too far, you accessed your magic through anger.
Guilt flashed through me at the memory. Was that Sylvia’s voice? I didn’t think she had spoken out loud.
Feel your anger now. Remember who was taken from you.
Images played through my mind. My parents laughing and then dying.
Remember who betrayed you.
How was Sylvia speaking to me like this? But the memory of Todd’s desire-filled, panicked eyes the day I caught him cheating bore into me, and my anger rose.
Remember who you lost.
Charles’s empty chair flashed in my mind.
Now take that pain and anger and do something with it.
A tingling started in my fingers and toes and spread through my body, and I breathed deeply of the wrath surrounding me and flowing within me.
My eyes were closed, but I could see lights flowing up and down the tree trunks like sap.
They spread upward into all the branches and then beyond into the stormy sky above.
Below, the lights travelled outwards from the roots to join the trees all around us.
The Tree Spirits appeared before me, guarding the Root Path that stretched beyond them in glimmering glory. Thousands of translucent, shimmering figures took shape, their limbs like slender branches, their skin formed from moss, lichen, and bark.
Good. Good. Now bend the Tree Spirits to your will. You are master here. You own the Earth and all things in it.
That didn’t seem right, but I was the student. I didn’t know how magic worked.
I felt something touch my hand and I recoiled in revulsion, but it held fast. I knew, somehow, that it was Todd, and wrath, swift and furious, rose within me. He had no right to touch me.
He squeezed my hand, and the darkness in my chest heard my call and answered, spreading out from my heart’s centre in the form of black roots that wormed their way under my skin.
I flicked my wrist and Todd flew backwards, hitting a tree. Was he dead? I wasn’t sure I cared.
Stand down, the spirits chanted. Not one of us.
But I would not stand down. I was done submitting. This world was mine.
I was a Veil Walker who could open portals and travel the Root Paths, first of my kind in eons. The Tree Spirits would submit to me. I deserved to have something go right in my life. I deserved happiness. I deserved control. My wrath mounted as pain lanced through my chest.
I stood before the Tree Spirits, my breath ragged, my fists clenched at my sides. Wind lashed my hair, and the ground beneath me trembled. I planted my feet firmly, sweat trailing down my temples, as I raised my hands and demanded entry to the Root Path.
The trees groaned around me, their branches creaking in protest. Roots twisted and writhed beneath the surface, refusing my command, pulling against my power like wild animals. The air grew thick, choked with the scents of crushed leaves and decay.
A sudden gust of wind knocked me to my knees, the earth buckling around me in defiance.
Vines whipped out and then recoiled. The magic in my blood surged.
Gritting my teeth, I dug my fingers into the damp soil, grounding myself.
Nature’s fury swirled around me, thrashing its roots beneath my feet, while the wind threw sticks and rocks around me like daggers.
My pulse hammered in my ears, but I embraced the chaos, letting nature’s wrath feed my own.
I felt Owen take my hand, and I grasped it tightly, using him as an anchor as I bent the will of the wild to my own. The Tree Spirits parted—the Root Path was mine at last—and my wrath subsided, seemingly content with the victory.
Good. Now see the path to the east, across the water, over Quebec, and past the Maritimes? It leads to the Atlantic.
I did see it. It stretched before me brighter than the other lights. Like a bridge crossing the ocean, it led to a mighty yew tree in Scotland. The yew was ancient with roots so deep it felt like they stretched into the core of the Earth itself.
“Take our hands and whatever you do, do not let go,” I heard Sylvia say to our companions, but I was far away and barely listening. Owen already held my right hand, and Sylvia took my left.
“Open your eyes, Kira,” Sylvia said, triumph filling her voice. “You did it. We’re on the Root Path.”