But Hesper remained silent, plopping Warty back onto my shoulder. He nuzzled into my neck, giving a pitiful, empty squeak.
“I know. Me too.” I patted him.
“Come, we have a long journey ahead,” she said, placing a strong hand on my Warty-less shoulder. But I couldn’t go with her just yet.
From here on top of this hill, the town looked so simple. Just a small village filled with cottages and shoppes like any other town might be. But this wasn’t any other town. This was home. Chimneys were smoking, warming houses rousing from their slumber. A baker’s cart ambled about, hitting the same upturned cobblestone. A cottage stood on the outskirts of it all, once tended by a girl and her hedgehog, painted and repainted to match the seasons crumbling in and out of time.
A tear streaked down my cheek, and Hesper inched closer.
“I’m all right,” I said.
“I know,” she whispered.
I closed my eyes, willing the magic to bloom. This patch of grass needed some color, and perhaps it would hurt less to leave if I left something behind worth looking at. But themagic locked itself away, deep inside of me. I pulled at it and pleaded for it to budge just a little.
I dug deeper, imagining my body like the upturned earth of my garden. I let myself remember the things I would miss the most—something I’d been avoiding these last two weeks. The pain that came with those memories was debilitating at the time, so I’d shoved them away. Right now, though, I wanted to remember. So I did.
Sylvie’s honey-sweet hugs, Rosie’s gentle-giant hands that have loved me so well, Patti and her spider friend, Quincy and his kind eyes, Moss in the morning, and every single person in this town. Love and pain coursed through me at once. That locked box that held Moss’s magic clicked open, and it rushed through me. I didn’t even have to reach.
I willed whatever seeds lay below this tiny bit of grass to bloom and to keep blooming, even into the darkest winter night and through the driest summer days. To bloom, to live, and to bring a bit of light. Always.
I felt the flowers before I saw them, their radiant buds tickling my ankles.
“Clara,” Hesper’s voice urged. “Clara, open your eyes.”
I obeyed.
I’d only meant to grow a few flowers, just enough to add happiness to the spot where I stood. Instead, the entire hill was covered in lupines. Deep purples, ruby reds, and sunshine yellows as far as the eye could see. Moss would forever be surrounded by a rainbow, growing just for them.
Awestruck and a little terrified, I grabbed Hesper’s hand. She let me.
Hesper gently tilted my chin up toward her. A thrill ranthrough me at her touch. “I will bring you back here, Clara. If that’s what you want at the end of this.”
“Of course, it’s what I want.”
“Then I will bring you back home. I promise you. This is not the last time you will see Moss. Do you understand me?”
I nodded.
“We have to go now.” She had an apologetic look in her eye, her finger still hooked underneath my chin, and I knew she was right. We were on a harsh two-week timeline and needed to get in as many miles as we could.
I turned toward the forest, ignoring the searing pain in my heart as I turned my back on Moss. Hesper’s touch lingered for a moment, but then she let go.
I ignored the coldness that was left in her absence.
Magic is as fickle as Clara Buttercup’s resolve to not lick her crush.
—opening line attempt 69
The first several miles were no issue, enjoyable even, despite the turmoil seeping into my bones the farther we strayed from home. Moss Wood stayed cool, even in the dead of summer, and the paths were easy to tread. But after the sixth hour of hauling my ever-heavier pack around, my pace began to slow, and my nerves began to fray.
“Is that pack weighing you down, princess?” Hesper called out from ahead of me. She walked unnaturally fast, seemingly unfazed by the hours of physical activity.
“No,” I grumbled and hoisted the pack higher in hopes it might alleviate some of the weight. Warty chirped in disagreement, shaking his head side to side as if to say,You stubborn ass.
“Watch it, or I’ll throw out the mountain of crackers you packed when you thought I wasn’t looking.”
He went silent.
