My breath caught. “Wow.” I didn’t know how I felt about the forest being that...sentient.Here I’d just wanted to see it alive and healthy. I didn’t consider how alive it could really be if healthy.
“I’m curious now,” John offered. “If we take it into the forest, what would happen?”
Krew looked at me as he said, “There’s only one way to find out.”
CHAPTER46
Naturally, we had to do this in the dead of night. But Keir and Krew insisted this was the best time as no one else would be in the forest, so we’d all taken the secret stairwell down.
“Think it’ll heal the forest?” Owen whispered to me as we neared the meadow, making me jump.
I smacked his good arm for scaring me. “No. I don’t think it’ll be that easy. Nothing with this forest ever is.” I paused. “Though maybe I should stop talking about it like that out loud. It seems to know far more than I ever gave it credit for.”
As if it had heard me, a cool breeze slowly trailed across our faces.
I stilled, my eyes going to Owen’s.
He gave me an exaggerated nod. “That was... normal. Entirely normal.”
Krew laughed. “I told Jorah from the beginning that her healing this forest had more to do with her will and less to do with her blood.”
“Hmm,” John said from behind us. “Pure motives yet again.”
He had a point. I’d never wanted anything from the forest other than to help it. To see it healthy. Much like I’d wanted for Wylan, really. Until recently, I hadn’t cared who ruled Wylan as long as it wasn’t Theon.
I naturally led us to the lake. I didn’t know why. I just felt like it was the center of the forest, though it really wasn’t. It was just the center of my experiences with the forest.
“Now what? We chuck it in the lake?” Keir asked as he held the sheathed sword out.
“No!” River exclaimed. “That would be careless. Anyone could just happen across it. Particularly now that the lake is clear.”
“We could bury it in some sort of locked box,” Krew offered. “It would keep it safe and hidden both.”
While listening to them debate and taking in the moon reflecting off the lake, I caught out of the corner of my eye some leaves blowing in the breeze. But instead of just blowing one direction, the leaves blew in a circular motion right along the ground.
A cold shiver traveled down my back and arms. I looked up at the moon and back again, the full moon casting just enough light for me to see it. “I have to be losing my mind.”
“I think in all actuality, you lost it a long time ago, honey,” Owen provided.
Without another word, I walked over to the spot, standing there.
Owen was by my side. “I’ll be damned.”
“Tell me I’m seeing things?”
A hand found the small of my back at the same time Krew answered, “No, you are not.” To Keir he added, “Can you hand that to Jorah for a moment? The forest seems to be communicating to her what we should do.” He gave his head a shake. “Which feels odd, I know, but it also feels right to listen. Just go with it.”
Keir gave me a smile as he passed it over. “You and this forest.”
I again tipped my head back to the moon. “This is absolute madness.”
River reached over to touch my shoulder. “You have always had a connection with this forest, dear. You have worked countless hours to heal it. To put the fires out. The forest trusts you. It is your turn to trust it back.”
With a deep breath, I dropped to my knees, feeling the cool dirt under my dress. I laid the sword, still sheathed, onto the dirt where the leaves continued to swirl.
I almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. The odd sensation I had of somehow knowing that the sword should be out here. Even though the idea hadn’t been from me at all.
But as soon as the sword was on the dirt, it sunk quickly under, the forest seeming to swallow the sword whole.
