Ena looked up at Greya. Tears were in her sister’s eyes as she collapsed on top of Heran, sobbing. Her cries echoed around the Sacred Grove, and all Ena could think was:what just happened? What is happening? I don’t understand.
One second, Ena had been starting the spell, and then Ty was gone and apparently Heran had come and used her Gift, and then her heart had stopped and there hadn’t been time to get thehawthorn and then she did the compressions like Heran taught her and…
Please, my child.
Heran’s final words to her echoed through her head, and now Greya was crying and Ena felt frozen in place. She forgot how to move and couldn’t remember how to go on. Should she go on? What should shedo? Shouldn’t she be crying like Greya? Shouldn’t she be doingsomething?
She felt a warm hand on her shoulder. Turning to look, her eyes met Ty’s. They were light green with a dark ring around them—beautiful as always—and they anchored her to reality.
“Ena, we need to finish the spell. We need to finish it now before anyone else comes. I’m so sorry, Ena,” he was saying, his voice filled with anguish, but she had trouble understanding his words.
“Ena—do you hear me?” he asked gently.
She could hear him, so she tried to speak.
“Yes,” she said, finally mustering a word, but her voice sounded monotone and unfeeling. Was that her voice? Why was it coming out so strangely?
“Now is our chance. Do you think you can finish the spell?” he asked softly, but there was an urgency in his voice. “I don’t know who else might be coming. I don’t know if anyone else heard us. It’s now or we need to leave, for your safety,” Ty said.
Ena looked around the Sacred Grove. Cris, Mel, and Turner had come closer, their faces screwed up in pity. They stood, holding the ceremonial objects in their hands.
Ena’s brain felt sluggish, like she was swimming through thick syrup. But slowly, she began to comprehend.
Finish the spell, yes. They had to finish the spell.
“Yes, yeah, I can. I need to finish the spell,” she said, standing up and wiping wetness from her eyes. Had she been crying? She didn’t remember crying. “But someone—” She looked down ather sister, who was distraught before her. “Someone needs to help Greya,” she said, her voice cracking as she spoke.
“I’ll sit with her,” Turner said, coming immediately to Greya’s side.
Greya looked up at her then, her eyes red-rimmed.
“Greya,” Ena began. “I’m going to finish the spell, okay? I’m going to finish this, and then we can…and then we can figure out what’s next, okay?”
At first, it seemed as if her sister didn’t hear her, lost in her grief as she was, probably feeling just as overwhelmed as Ena, but then she gave a single jerky nod, like even that much movement was too much for her. She closed her eyes and leaned against Turner, who put his arm around her, holding her up and stroking her arm soothingly.
They needed to get Perse, Ena thought vaguely. Perse would help. But he was passed out from the sleeping potion, she remembered, so that would have to wait. Turner was all they had.
Ena turned away from her sister to find Ty next to her.
“Ena, look at me,” he said, reaching out with his strong, warm hands and wiping away a tear with his thumb. “You are strong, and you can do this. Focus on me, on the spell, and nothing else right now. Do you hear me?”
“Yes,” Ena said, feeling grounded by his words. He was right. If they were going to be successful, if they were going to end this, she needed to focus on the spell and let all other concerns dissipate. “Yes, I hear you, Ty.”
She moved to the center of the Sacred Grove once more, her body and mind feeling numb.
Cris looked at her with a shocked and concerned expression, but Mel just looked sympathetic. Had they seen this coming? The thought struck Ena like a knife to the heart, and she didn’t know if she should feel anger or pity if that were the case.
“Ena,” Cris began. “I—”
“I’m fine,” Ena said, centering herself, and letting it all go. Every single thing. “Let’s just do this.”
She reached down into her Knowing once more, losing herself to the familiar feeling of the woods around her, and she let it sweep her away. The branches swaying the breeze, the constant, steady rush of the River Wry, the densely packed earth beneath her feet, the fire that crackled and smoked nearby. There was balance to it all—purpose—but there was chaos, too, and it felt good to lose herself to it right now.
The water beat into the rocks, crushing endlessly, violently. The wind swirled and twirled in patterns unforeseen, each gust causing chaotic movements in the branches, making the weak ones snap. In the clouds above, Ena Knew there was energy building, nearly bursting as the water condensed, getting heavier and heavier as they approached the inevitable deluge. She felt the disequilibrium of the beetles in the nearby ash tree, eating and gnawing and devouring as they multiplied uncontrollably, disrupting the population of trees that only wanted to live.
There was chaos all around her, and it was this force, this part of her Knowing, that she reached for.
Nodding at Ty to once more enter their sacred circle, she watched as his beautiful, strong features came into focus as he knelt before her.
