Never have I seen so much love than in this moment. I’m so filled with happiness I could burst into a shower of glitter and rainbows! Nothing could be better than this.
My parents walk hand in hand as we head to the car. Dad brings us to a big Jeep 4x4 thing that you have to jump to get into. I get comfy in the back seat with a big bag of pickled onionMonster Munch. Even as my dad drives he holds my mums hand. I take this moment to enjoy looking at the both of them. This is such a normal family moment. Kids starring at the back of their parents heads from the backseat of a car, but for me this is a dream come true. I never thought I would have a view like this. A goofy grin spreads across my face and my dad catches it in the rear view mirror and smiles back.
“So!” His says. “You ready to meet the rest of your family?”
My stomach twists with nerves and I swallow. “Umm, yeah! Of course!” I say in my cheeriest voice.
Mum looks round at me and smiles reassuringly. Luckily dad doesn’t notice my unease as he answers even more excitedly.
“They can’t wait to meet you! It was hard stopping them from coming with me to pick you both up! I managed to convince them to stay behind to continue setting up the ranch. It's in much better shape than it should be after 18 years!” He laughs. “Honestly it looks like there's been caretakers looking after the place.” His tone is slightly bewildered. “Cupboards full of food, toiletries, clothes. The smaller cabins could do with some work but the main house is just fine. No one has been living there though. No smell of anyone anyway. Like it's been waiting for us this whole time!”
His excitement is contagious and I lean forward in my seat as he tells us more.
“A couple of the cabins survived quite well so there’s enough liveable space for everyone. It’s a whole lot better than what we’re all used to that’s for sure.” He laughs half-heartedly. “I just never thought I’d see home again. Let alone with my two girls.” His voice cracks at the last.
I see my mum squeeze my dad’s hand and the car goes quiet. It’s hard to know what to say. They’ve been prisoners for 18 years in those glass display boxes. Hades’s trophies. Treatedlike objects. Now they’re free and I’m going to make sure it stays that way. After what they’ve been through, they deserve the best.
It’s a really long drive up into the mountains. The ranch is far from the beaten track. The higher we go the stronger I feel. The entire mountain range has an unbridled power and energy thrumming through it that resonates through my body. Welcoming me in. Welcoming me home. Animals are in abundance and even the ones I can’t see, I can feel. Hundreds, no thousands of lives bustling about the forest. The energy feels pure and wild. Having access to this amount of power makes me feel unstoppable. Who knows how far I can push the limits of my powers when I’m here? I’ve never felt anything like it. It’s immense, surreal… Epic.
As we move up the mountain, the road, if you can call it that, gets even more treacherous. The snow gets several feet thick and the jeep really starts to struggle. Trees and bushes have grown over the path and it gets more and more narrow. The afternoon comes and we are down to a slow trudge through the bush. The jeep barely making it through. Finally my dad stops and pulls up the handbrake.
“On foot from here I think.” He announces. Taking off his seat belt.
“You’re just going to leave the car here?” I ask. “How did you get it down the mountain in the first place?”
“I didn’t. Bought it off an old friend in the nearest town this morning.” He chuckles. “It’ll be fine. No-one will come up this far in the middle of summer let alone before spring. I’ll add sorting the track down the mountain to my list of things to do. Just needs a bit of clearing is all so the jeep can get up and down easier.”
“Well to make your list of things to do a little smaller…” I look to my mum and she grins.
She gestures her hand to the overgrown track. “The best way to practice is to do it.”
I grin as I rub my hands together and focus my energy and intentions on what I want the forest to do. Closing my eyes, I tap into the vibrations of the earth around me. Finding the roots of every tree lining the track. I encourage them to move to either side and as they do, they use their roots to smooth out the ground in front of us. Opening my eyes, I concentrate further on what I’m doing. I sense an Eagle nest getting jostled in the branches of one of the moving trees and curl the branch to keep it from falling. Further up there’s a Gopher burrow just on the right edge of the track, so I push the trees on the left further back to make room to go around it. That way they won’t be disturbed.
I pause and look at my parents who are watching on with pride. Dad puts the jeep in gear and now it effortlessly moves through the forest in the wake of the shuffling trees and plants. I send waves of gratitude to them as we drive past them. We move several miles the same way and not once do I feel drained or tired. The vast power of Yellowstone replenishes what effort I use immediately.
Through the moving trees I begin to make out a clearing. As we get closer and the last of the trees bow to the side we drive out into a great, wide open plain. It’s covered in a blanket of snow that’s untouched and sparkling orange in the evening sunset. It stretches down to a frozen lake that reaches the horizon.
I get out the jeep and walk in an awe filled daze into the open. I don’t feel the biting cold and the deep, powdery snow barely sinks beneath my feet as I walk atop it. I look around at the untameable beauty that surrounds me and spot about 600 yards away, just in front of the tree line, a fox digging hastily in the snow. No doubt after a little rodent sized meal. But, a nearby howl from a wolf or coyote has it darting back into the cover ofthe trees. It’s such a peaceful place but the fox makes it clear what a harsh wilderness this is. To be ready to vanish at the slightest hint of nearby danger.
I hear my parents walk up behind me. My dad wadding through the snow and my mum gracefully walking atop it.
“It’s stunning isn’t it.” She says.
“I think this is my favourite place in the world.” I breathe out.
My dad puts his arms around mum and me. “This is home. The ranch is just through those trees over there.” He points over my shoulder.
My stomach flips at the thought of meeting the pack. What if they don’t like me? I only need to live with them for the rest of my life right? No biggie.
We walk across the field into the trees ahead and a huge house made of wood comes into view. There’s stone steps leading up to big double doors that are intricately carved. A balcony stretches around the second floor and the huge roof also has windows for what must be a third floor. A tall stone chimney stands at one side with a slightly smaller one around the back.
As we walk further in front of the house, I see other smaller log cabins nestled amongst the trees. They look quaint and cosy. Some are larger than others and a few smaller ones further back in the trees have burn marks and broken or cracked windows. But the majority of them look fine. The whole area looks over grown and there are the faintest signs of gravel paths joining the buildings together.
“It's incredible how intact everything is! Thank Hestia!” Mum gasps in awe to the goddess of the hearth and home.
She trots up the steps leading to the house and shouts. “Come out! I know your all in there!”
My dad chuckles and as we catch up to my mum people come running out the house, arms outstretched, laughing. Mymum welcomes them into her arms and I see tears of joy running down her face.
