Slowly, Maggie’s color and breathing improved. Elspeth held her, rocking her on and off. She kept stopping, like she’d realized rocking someone who’d recently had a head wound wasn’t the best idea, then continuing like she couldn’t help herself. Charlotte slipped an arm around her, hoping to comfort Elspeth as they waited since she couldn’t do anything more.
Maggie’s lashes fluttered.
Elspeth gripped her hand. “Maggie?”
“Elspeth?”
Maggie’s eyes were deep and blue. She sat up slowly, brow furrowing, and clutched her head.
“How you feeling?” Elspeth asked anxiously.
“Like I got run over. But I’m... How’m I... What are you doing here?”
Elspeth hugged her tight. Like a disgruntled cat, her sister tried to squirm free.
“Elspeth—what...?”
Elspeth’s voice was muffled in Maggie’s shoulder. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
“You’ve been missing for some time,” Charlotte said.
Since Elspeth was too busy squeezing the air out of her sister to explain, Charlotte explained in her stead. As she did so, she examined Maggie’s head, face, throat, and pulse, and periodically had Maggie curl her fingers or flex her feet.
“What we don’t know,” she said when she’d finished, “is what happened to you in the first place. Let’s try standing you up.”
Calyx helped her get Maggie to her feet. Maggie swayed; Calyx steadied her. Charlotte would’ve offered her cane, had it not gone flying when Calyx had slung itself toward Ira upon reaching the work camp. She didn’t know where it had ended up, but she missed it already. Just now, however, Maggie needed Calyx’s support more than she did.
“How do you feel?”
“Dizzy.” Maggie squeezed her eyes shut but abruptly opened them. “Oh—that made it worse.”
Charlotte helped her sit back down.
“I was almost home,” Maggie said slowly. “Made it all the way to the first tree. After nightfall, it was. Thought I’d sleep by the stump. Always felt safe here. But I found a work camp—big one, fires burning and all, trees cleared away that’d been here when I passed through with Bess on our way to Seacliff.”
She rubbed her forehead, frowning.
“There was this big machine. Don’t know what it’s called. Sitting right there by the stump, though, and I could see they meant to uproot it. So I thought... while I’m here, why don’t I bollox their plans a bit?”
Elspeth snorted. Her eyes were red, but she was calmer now that Maggie no longer seemed in danger of imminent death.
“You? What’d you do, huh? You always were the good one.”
Maggie smiled crookedly. “Think you got a monopoly on making trouble, do you? I found a fire poker and stuck it in the thing’s gears. Had it pretty well in there, too. But the foreman caught me at it, tried to get the poker away from me, and when he couldn’t, he walloped me instead. That’s the last I remember.”
Elspeth pulled her in for another rib-crushing hug. “I hope the forest wallopedhim.”
Charlotte touched Elspeth’s arm. “Gently, dearest.”
“I think it did,” Ira said. “Maybe that’s why the first camp was destroyed before they’d started uprooting the stump. Because your sister tried to stop them, and they hurt her for it. The wood has long had difficulty recognizing those who mean it no harm—but when a human tries to help it like that, it knows. And she had the acorn. It would’ve recognized that.”
Maud bid him goodbye and flew off with her ravens. Calyx helped Charlotte, Arthur, and Maggie onto its back; regrowing with the first tree had renewed its energy. Freya jumped up beside them, ignoring the plant creature when it tried to shudder her off. Elspeth mounted her horse; the children were back on Maurice.
“Where to?” Ira asked.
“Port Lorne’s closest,” Elspeth said. “God knows we could use a breather after all that. I need to be getting Maggie home to Gran and Granddad anyhow.”
Ira nodded. “We’ll take you as far as that. Nearly as far. Calyx shouldn’t be seen like this.”
