“Okay, well,”—she shook his arm—“do that glowy thing you do?”
Kol spread out his fingers, unglowing. “I don’t think what I have to offer it is enough. It needs more.” He looked up to her, blue eyes full of distress. “It needs its normal life.”
His words struck her, and she swallowed, arms shaking. “But you said…you said it doesn’t always know what it wants because it’s a tree. Remember that? Maybe it would be okay here if we…if we told it what it needs and…and if we just tried?” Her voice cracked, heavy with fear and dragged down even further by metaphor.
Kol was quiet. He licked his lips thoughtfully, and her heart fluttered, but not because she missed their taste. “I can bring it something from its home?” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Almost everything in the grove is dormant right now, but there are dried seejia buds in the cabin. They’re powerful and definitely a last-ditch effort—once they wear off, the tree will really be sapped—but if I grind them into a powder and add them to the water…it just might work.”
“Kol, that sounds great! Let’s go get them.”
He took her by the arms and guided her away from the tree, closer to the corner of the room. “Ah, no,Ihave to go. You’re not supposed to be in the grove.”
“But what if you need my help?”
He raised a brow, and the condescension made her grunt.
“Who’s going to call your mom if something happens?”
A smile ticked at the corner of his mouth. “Don’t you want to stay with your family?”
Piper glanced wearily at the floor where Holden, Luke, and Noah were sprawled out as if they’d collapsed in the midst of a wrestling match. “This is more important, and I want—” She caught herself, unsure if she should say after his reaction the night before when he’d hesitated so much to her snuggly proposal. “I don’t want you to be alone.”
“We might not be back before dark.”
“I’ll pack flashlights!” Piper was off, running through the house as silently as possible and collecting what gear she thought they might need. Her brain was in a panic, stopping only to glance at the tree, its sad state worse each time. If it died, would he ever forgive her? Would she ever forgive herself? Would those pixies come back and drag her to hell? They definitely wouldn’t give her rock back, that was for sure.
Those fears sat heavy in her stomach as she did the worst job ever at getting ready. She’d pulled on socks that didn’t match and kept having to return to her room for something else forgotten or misplaced. She was so completely frazzled as she attempted to stay quiet, that she tripped headfirst into a bin of laundry, lucky it was so full.
Kol met her at the bottom of the stairs just as the sun was rising. He was composed, dressed, and with a full bag slung over his shoulder. It hit her suddenly that all of his things could be packed inside, and if he left without her, there would be nothing left of him behind but the tree, and if it died…
Her hands twitched, wanting to hook her arms around him, but instead, she went for her keys.
“You won’t need those.”
“Then how are we getting there?”
Piper had never ridden a horse before, and she was fairly certain no one had ever ridden an elk, but a fehszar? The creature’s height was terrifying, each lumbering step jostling her forward and then tipping her back, but then Kol was right there behind her, and she decided that if she had to ride on anything, she wanted to do it with him. “This is a lot slower than my hatchback,” she said over her shoulder as they plodded along through the forest. “The truck’s even faster, and its shocks are shot.”
The fehszar chuffed.
“It’s not about speed, it’s about accessibility. I don’t know how you got into the grove last time, maybe something tricked you, or you got lucky, or—”
“—I followed a bird.”
“Okay, see? That was a one-time thing, and you shouldn’t have been able to find it at all, but the fehszar was born there, so she naturally knows the way.”
They’d left behind the marked trails long ago, so Piper certainly hoped the animal knew where it was going. She did bring a compass with her but had completely forgotten her phone, filled with location-finding and foraging apps. Her mind wandered to the bag she’d packed and what she had managed to remember to bring. “Oh, shit, I completely forgot about food.”
“Don’t worry, I brought plenty.” Kol passed her a granola bar over her shoulder.
Piper took it and ripped away the wrapper, hunger gnawing at her insides and another ache chomping on her heart. It almost balled itself up into anger because how dare he—howdarehe continue to be so thoughtful when things were going so poorly—but then that melted away too as she chewed. He was right that she’d gotten lucky finding the grove because it ultimately led to him.
Piper leaned back into Kol’s warmth, the fehszar beneath them bumping along. She thought maybe she should ask first, but she didn’t want a replay of the night before, of that awkward moment when she wasn’t sure if she was wanted or not. It had occurred to her when she cuddled into him that it was always her initiating. Did he think this was all just part of their deal? Was he only trying to keep her happy so the tree would remain alive?
Her mind began to spiral, but then she took a deep breath of the cold, winter air and tipped her head back to stare at the branches waving in the breeze above. Piper hadn’t expected to get another chance to tromp deep into the woods and just exist until after the holidays. Maybe it was a little selfish, running off, a vague note left on the kitchen counter for her family and nothing else, not even a breakfast casserole to warm up in the oven, but maybe that’s what she needed.
Kol remained quiet at her back, but his hands slipped around her waist. It was nice to have someone to share the peace with for once, especially someone who wrapped their arms around her.
Beyond the trees, the sky was heavy and grey. The wind picked up, and the bare trunks creaked. Piper pulled her coat tighter, but it didn’t do much against the sudden, harsh breeze. They continued on, and in the greyness of the forest, time seemed to stand still, the sun lost beyond the clouds. The fehszar brought them to a frozen river, but Piper couldn’t name it. Kol told her that enchanted groves often changed the surrounding area, creating and destroying and displacing things strangely. She could feel that strangeness deep in her gut when the fehszar found a dam to cross. It twisted up inside her and made her want to run, but then they were on the river’s other side, and Piper’s whole chest lit up.
