Isaiah took the tiny birdhouse from Henry’s outstretched hand and felt inside. He touched a smooth, round surface, and he pulled the object out. It was a silver coin slightly larger than a quarter, and the words “Not all who wander are lost” were engraved on it. His palm seemed to warm as the coin sat in it, like it was giving off energy. Isaiah blinked, and the warmth was gone. He wondered if he had imagined it.
Isaiah stared at the coin, unable to explain the effect the words were having on him. His chest tightened as he read the words a second time. It was like the coin had been placed there exactly for him.
His thoughts were interrupted when Henry asked, “Is it a coin?”
Isaiah showed it to the boy, who read the inscription then said, “Cool.”
“Well, I guess we’re all set here. We can mark this one off our list. Good job, Hen.”
Ben Hadley and his son high-fived, and Isaiah grinned. The outing had been funner than he’d expected, and the words on the coin had lifted his spirits.
Sofia had never explicitly told him the details of the new jewelry line she’d launched after he arrived, but he’d searched for her website out of curiosity one day at the library and had seen the popular collection titled WanderLost. It was so similar to the quote on the coin he’d just found that he didn’t feel it could be a coincidence.
Maybe his being in Emerald Hollow wasn’t just random. Maybe he had a purpose.If only I can get Sofia to see it that way too.
“You’ve got a knack for navigation,” Ben observed as they made their way out of the woods toward the Emerald House. Isaiah had helped the father and son reorient themselves on a few occasions as they’d sought out the birdhouse. “Might be connected to your skills with that mapping software.”
“Might be,” Isaiah said, experiencing a lightness that had been gone since Sofia had broken away from their kiss. As the Emerald House came into sight, he found himself smiling, thinking that maybe his situation wasn’t impossible after all.
Chapter Forty-One
HOLLY
Lumi rode in the sleigh with Holly from Helsinki, and as soon as the North Pole was in sight, they both knew something was amiss.
“The buttercups!” Holly exclaimed.
Lumi pursed her lips.
The North Pole, which was normally covered in snow year-round, was bursting with brilliant yellow buttercups. The fields stretched as far as the eye could see, the land a swath of bright yellow.
“Have you ever seen this so early before?” Holly asked as the sleigh landed at the reindeer stables.
“We always get buttercups bursting through the snow in the spring, but to this extent, and this early… I have seen it before, but it’s been a long time.”
Holly was about to say something when she noticed Clementine, the elf mayor, approaching the sleigh through the light-covered walkway. “Clementine, is everything okay?”
The mayor inclined her head and raised an eyebrow as if to point out the obvious. “We’re having a bit of a super bloom here.”
Holly’s mind flashed to Emerald Hollow. Ash had described the tulips as a super bloom too. She’d told him that she thought her magic might have something to do with the early and extreme blooming of the flowers in Emerald Hollow, but she’d never imagined that it might be happening at the North Pole as well.
“We’re having one in Emerald Hollow too.”
“Do you think it’s a side effect of your living there mostly full time now?” Clementine asked, her posture rigid. “Is it an overabundance of magic?”
“I thought that might be the case for Emerald Hollow, but why would that change things here?”
Simultaneously, Holly and Clementine turned to Lumi Kringle. The oldest elf let out a little sigh and looked around. They could see some of the Keyblar elves tending to the reindeer near the stables.
“Not here,” she said under her breath, and they turned to walk toward Merriment Square.
A few minutes later,Lumi, Clementine, and Holly were all settled in Holly’s home. The large fire was roaring despite the springlike weather, but the temperature was always comfortable in the North Pole. The fireplace was more for ambiance than for heat, as tied to the North Pole magic as anything else.
“Okay, Lumi, what are you thinking? You said you’d seen this before?”
Lumi nodded and took a sip of her spiced cider before setting it down to look at them both. “Remember how I told you that snow tunneling got out of hand in the past and that was the reason the elder elves shut it down for the younger generation?”
Holly nodded. Clementine looked confused, her golden eyes thoughtful, but she didn’t say anything.
