23. Farren
Farren
I t almost took us longer to cross the mountainous terrain of the Appalachians than it did to cross the bulk of the continental United States. My guess was the weight of a third person paired with the dense woods riddled with backpackers didn’t help at all. But the overall mood was much brighter as Roan didn’t like to let silence reign.
He chattered away about anything and everything that came to his mind. I didn’t know exactly what Locke did to release him, but I won’t deny that I was delighted he did. My heart had broken at the thought of leaving him behind with no promises that I would ever see him again.
As we neared the final circle, the topic of Roan’s rambling changed to what he thought we might find. He started naming off all the various legends that had made the news over the years.
“Yes, but how many of those actually involve this part of the U.S.?” I asked as I held up the map so he could see over my shoulder.
We were once again astride Locke’s back while we got an idea of what we could expect to see waiting for us. So far all his guesses were either about locations nowhere near the circle or events that weren’t relegated to our specific area.
“Fair enough, Fare. If you want to particular, there’s really only one place that comes to mind. Not that it was active for long. At one point there was a section of woods where a good-sized handful of people went missing. During that short time, the thing that tied the victims together was that at least a couple of them wore bright red coats and were alone. Though, the most I really could tell you about that whole thing was that one of the early people was the daughter of some rich prick. That’s all the campers and reporters wanted to talk about. A girl went for a hike one school break and was never seen again.”
A tremor went through me at his summarization of the event he thought we might be exploring. Got it. No wandering off alone while we were there. Beneath us, Locke grumbled in what I thought was meant to be reassuring.
The heavy topic had one slightly pleasant side effect though. It quieted Roan down for a few minutes. Not that I didn’t appreciate his attempts to lighten the mood after long hours of riding, but I was so accustomed to traveling in silence that his running commentary got exhausting after some time.
“So, I’ve been wondering for a little time now, any ideas about what’s with the star on the map?” he asked, and I didn’t even have to see Locke’s face to know we shared an eye roll at our companion’s need for chatter. “I mean, I kinda get that the circles marked places you need to visit to find the ingredients to break your curse. But that star seems oddly placed to me.”
“If I had to guess, the location means there’s a fourth place I must go. And since it was originally marked differently, it could even be where I have to be to do the breaking. As for why a star? I think it’s meant to be the basis of a pentagram. It would also explain the colors.”
“Like the compass points referenced in that teen witch movie from a couple of decades ago?” I had no idea what film he was talking about, but I was at least aware that some witches used something similar in their spells.
“In a way, yes. Some covens call to the directions and their respective elements in order to cast. The grimoires that have been passed down in my family don’t really call for them to be used. But when they had to cast something that needed a strong foundation they would use a pentagram,” I explained.
“Don’t think I missed that you dropped that you actually have grimoires because we will be coming back to that at a later time. But mind walking me through the elements used in your big spells? As I said, I’m more familiar with the compass and fire, water, air, and earth.”
“It’s really not that different. What I’ll probably have to do when we get to the last place is draw my pentagram and place something for all five major elements down. Earth, water, fire, air, and spirit. Spirit, since I just know that’ll be your next question, is considered to be the most important of the elements and the one that binds everything together.”
“So, cosmic super glue?” he asked.
“No, and yes.” I groaned. Why was this so hard to understand? “I guess if you really dumbed it all down, that's one way to look at it.”
“I wonder if that is why after you find what you’re searching for, each location takes on an animal? Could we, Locke and I, be two of your important things to call your elements to your magic star?” he mused as he rested his chin on my shoulder and stared at the woods ahead.
That turned into the longest period of silence we’d had while awake with Roan.
I used that quiet to really think about what he’d said. Could he be on to something with linking them to the pentagram? If that was the case, I guess I should be prepared to deal with whatever fire was waiting at the end of this winding mountain trail.