The tower loomed over us, so familiar, yet so strange now that I’d been separated from it for weeks. We dropped our satchels at the bottom, and I stretched my shoulders back, readying myself for this next obstacle.
Loch took hold of my arms. “You okay?” he asked, brows furrowed as he searched my face.
I desperately wished I could drag him away from here, away from all of this. He said he’d follow me wherever I wanted to go, and I believed him. We could leave all of this behind. But in my heart I knew I had to do this. I had to get the answers only Gran could give.
I cleared my throat. “I’m fine. Just a little nervous about all of this.”
Loch threaded his hand through mine and squeezed. “You’re gonna do great. We’ll be right here waiting for you.”
Driscoll gestured up to the window above. “Should we, like, call upand see if her gran is in there? You know, give her a warning that we’re here.”
“It’s better if she thinks it’s just me. Gran isn’t very trusting of others.” She might not harm me, but she wouldn’t hesitate to hurt them, to hurt anyone who she viewed as a threat.
My throat felt like it was closing in on itself, and I struggled to get breaths out at the thought of seeing her again after everything I’d learned.
Loch’s brows furrowed. “Are you sure you’re alright? We can always come back later.”
“No,” I said sharply. “I’m ready.” I looked at Driscoll. “Go ahead. Grow the vine.”
Driscoll glared at me.
I held up my hands. “Beanstalk.”
He muttered something that sounded like “no respect” as he stuck out his hands toward the ground. Slowly, a thick ropey beanstalk sprouted from the dirt. It still fascinated me to see others’ magic manifest. I couldn’t wait for the day Loch got his shadow back and I could see him use his magic. Last night, he’d told me some very interesting things he might be able to do with it—and to me—once his powers returned.
Everyone stood back, and Driscoll’s brows furrowed in concentration, the beanstalk snaking up, writhing and twisting until it reached the top of my head. It continued growing taller, notches and crevices in the plant that allowed me to grab on. I lodged my foot in it, remembering the last time I’d done this on the beanstalk from the magic bean.
The one that had spelled Gran’s doom, in the end. If I’d never used that magic bean, Gran wouldn’t have been taken, wouldn’t have had to pay the price. I glanced back down at Loch, and he lifted his face, watching me. But then where would I be? Still stuck in that tower, dreaming of a world I didn’t even know, still trying to please Gran and win her over, not knowing the truth of my identity. No, I would never regret throwing that bean. It led him to me, and that was everything.
“You’re doing great,” Leoni shouted as I clutched onto the plant, and it swept me higher, all of their forms becoming smaller down below.
A part of me felt a little guilty that I still hadn’t managed to mastermy magic. We could’ve avoided all of this if I could just flap my wings and fly, but I needed more time to train, to learn.
The wind rocked the beanstalk, and I tightened my hold as I ascended, getting closer and closer to that window. My stomach twisted at what waited for me. Answers, yes, but also a piece of me I wasn’t sure I’d ever get back.
Gran betrayed me in so many ways. I wasn’t even sure what I’d say to her. Would I yell? Would I cry? Would I remain stoic and calm? Or would I just grab her and hug her because, despite it all, I’d missed her. Even knowing she ripped me from my parents, that she was likely the queen of the shadow court, that she’d lied to me my entire life.
The beanstalk swayed back and forth.
“My magic is getting weaker,” Driscoll yelled from down below. “Remember, splat like a bug.”
“I told you to stop saying that,” Leoni said. “It’s not the motivator you think it is.”
“It’s really not.” Loch’s voice came out dry.
The window ledge appeared right next to me, and I took a deep breath before leaping and grappling for it. My fingers dug in tight between the crevices in the stone, and I pulled myself up and inside the tower.
What would I do? Scream? Cry? Forgive? It turned out I’d be doing none of those things. Because Gran wasn’t here.
I climbedthrough the window of my former home, just as I’d left it. The vase I’d used to hit Loch over the head lay shattered on the floor, dirt spread out everywhere. Shelves empty. Dust layered the books and furniture, and cobwebs stretched across the high ceiling. To think all these years I’d lived here and never known this tower was built by Spirit Sky himself. A place he’d come to feel closer to the sky, the wind, the lightning. That this was the place where he’d stood atop the roof and plucked a bolt from the sky, then fashioned it into his very own weapon.
I wondered if Emory would find that bolt, if I’d ever see her again so she could tell me about it.
“Poppy!” Loch shouted from down below.
I turned and stuck my head out the window. Above, clouds moved over the sun, a dark shade descending upon the meadow and tower. “I’m okay. But my gran isn’t here.”
The silence that followed was deafening.
