This wasn’t my home.
And I couldn’t afford to get weighed down by the memories and mistakes haunting the life I’d once lived here.
“The Hollow Grove is one of the few places he allowed me to actually practice my power,” I said. “We started visiting it regularly after what happened on my eighteenth birthday. It became a kind of…sanctuary.”
Aleks walked to the edge of the porch, his arms crossing over his chest and gaze narrowing on something in the distant woods. After a couple minutes of tense silence, he said, “Whether we go to that grove now or not, I don’t think we should linger here. There must be a reason Orin left in a hurry and didn’t come back, right?”
“Another thing that would beniceto know,” Zayn said, “is what that reason might have been.” He threw a pointed look in my direction.
I frowned. I knew what he was suggesting—that I could use my magic to divine the past events that had taken place in Orin’s home.
Reluctantly, I got to my feet and went inside. I didn’t know where to start, so I simply made a few laps around the kitchen, dragging my fingertips across the scuffed and scratched countertops, waiting for the telltale pressure in my head that meant the past was trying to make itself known to me.
But no matter how hard I tried to visualize what had happened, I kept seeing nothing but an empty canvas of grey fog.
Maybe some lingering, messy spell of Orin’s was interfering with my ability to divine. Or maybe I wasn’t seeing anything because I was afraid, and I didn’t trulywantto see anything.
Whatever the reason, I never managed to get a clear picture of whatever had happened.
I did manage to uncover emotions, though: a fresh, poignant wave of panic mangled with despair. I did my best to put that feeling into words for the others.
“Seems like we have more than enough proof thatsomethingisn’t right here,” Aleks said, “and we should leave while we can.”
Within the next few minutes, it was decided: We needed to move. And there was no point in going back to Noctaris empty-handed, so we would just have to find our way into the Hollow Grove without Orin’s guidance.
I was confident about the general direction to travel, at least. We made our way toward it, sweeping wide around the grounds of Rose Point, staying outside the perimeter affected by the curse that had trapped my mother and so many others on that fateful night seven years ago.
Even with everything else I had to focus on, the ache to make sense of that night pulsed like an old wound. My heart raced as we walked along the curse’s edge. As I fought through the guilt, the fear, the urge to pass beyond that edge and see my mother again, whether in my physical body or as a projected spirit.
Aleksander’s hand brushed against the small of my back. “One thing at a time,” he reminded me.
Reluctantly, I nodded.
We came to an area blanketed with withering blue and white flowers. Just beyond it, the Hollow Wood’s wall of tall trees loomed. A narrow path led into those trees. There were footprints that made me think it had recently been troddenupon, yet there was a tangle of briars and vines stretching across that same path, making the route impenetrable. It almost looked intentional—like a spell woven to block our way.
“This looks familiar, but…it’s more overgrown than it should be,” I said, frowning. “I remember this area being clear, but these thorns and vines look like they’ve been growing without interference for years.”
“If there’s magic at work, the growth here could be accelerated, right?” Zayn suggested.
“It certainly wouldn’t be the strangest thing we’ve seen,” Aleks said.
I nodded. “I think this is the right path,” I said. “We just need to get through this tangled mess.”
Thalia led the way, using her staff to twist and rip aside the vines and briars. Aleks summoned a floating orb of light, trying to guide our movements as the day grew increasingly darker underneath a thickening canopy of overarching trees. I moved methodically between them both, unsheathing Grimnor. Despite it being weaker here than in Noctaris, merely tapping the blade against the foliage caused it to recoil, and occasionally to shrivel up entirely.
The deeper we pressed, though, the less this trick seemed to work. The air was growing thicker with every step. Resisting us, wrapping around and settling like a too-tight embrace around our bodies…
Almost like it was trying to trap us.
But the thought of turning around and fighting our way back to the world outside seemed even more uncomfortable. So we pressed on, eventually reaching a clearing that looked strangely manicured compared to everything else around it.
At the back of this clearing, several trees bent and twisted together in a way that resembled an arched doorway.
“Is it just me, or is that terribly suspicious looking?” asked Zayn.
“Does it look familiar?” Thalia asked me.
A throbbing pain struck between my eyes as I tried to reply.
