Chapter 45 — Suolaa Maaperään

  The forest didn't flow right.

  It was the best way Natalie could come up with to describe her feelings. As they walked, the trees weren't in the places they should have been, the ferns and moss growing unnaturally. Wind tickled her cheeks, but it didn't come from where it should have. The bird chirps weren't echoing from the birds themselves, but bouncing away in a strange pattern. The whole region was still beautiful and familiar, reminding her more than ever of her home only a few miles away, but she could tell when it was wrong—and this whole arrangement was wrong.

  Yet… when Natalie dipped into her magic and let her mind fly out into the trees, she felt raw energy thick in the air. A huge spell thrummed in the sky—a low murmur passed from trunk to trunk, held aloft by thousands upon thousands of branches into the cold night air. Magic itself permeated this land, twisting and shaping it into something new and exciting and unrecognizable.

  Every step took them deeper into the tall dark woods, where the most pure expressions of magic dwelt.

  "Do you feel that?" whispered Riley. Her face was pale and ghostly, eyes lifted to the heavens with fear.

  "Huh?" asked Kelsey, glancing around.

  Natalie could instantly tell from the looks on their faces—they had no idea what force now enveloped them. The policeman Malich similarly held a confused expression, but Lani wore one rapturous and full of wonder. While Riley might be afraid and Natalie excited, Lani was awestruck.

  "Magic," she replied quietly for her friends' sakes. "There's a lot of magic all around us. So much that we can feel it. Normally you gotta try to do that."

  "Whoah…" murmured Mitch. "What's it doing?"

  "It's trying to keep us out," said Riley.

  Natalie nodded, answering the questioning looks of her friends. "Cinza's place has tons of spells to keep it safe."

  "Can't they tell you're a friend though?" asked Tyler.

  "I don't think so."

  "It's okay," said Lani. "We used to live there before. We know the way in."

  They kept walking, their path lit by Lani's little spirits. Natalie could have produced more light with some fire, but they didn't want to be seen from too far away—and she felt like there had been too much fire in this forest already. The hazy blue light only added to the effect, sending excited chills down Natalie's spine. A friendly owl hooted as she passed, like it were welcoming her home. She was finally back in the world of magic and nature she'd been longing for.

  Why did I ever think living in the city could be good? This is where I belong.

  You had never known the difference. Now you do.

  So I couldn't know it was better here 'til I saw how worse it was there?

  Yes. Now, we are truly home.

  Natalie leaned down on Gwen and closed her eyes, burying her face in the thick soft fur of Gwen's back. The wolf practically purred as she did, loping along easily behind the group. The interplay of Gwen's thick muscles made Natalie feel like she were moving over a set of rolling hills, but she didn't mind. After such a long, intense, emotional day, she was ready for a break.

  We did good today, right? We saved Malich, we probably saved a lot of people in the camp, and we didn't get exposed or anything. Dad probably didn't see us. None of my friends got hurt.

  We did well. But the fight is not yet won. Do not let your guard down.

  Yeah… I never will again.

  She meant it, too—even though her face might be buried in Gwen's back, grey fur pressed against every inch of her face, Natalie was still actively reaching out with her magic. In every direction, she could feel the way the forest was alive and buzzing. It wasn't just the typical animals, either… something else, something tied to the magic, was at play.

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  ...The trees are powering the spell, she realized.

  The forest keeps them safe in more ways than one.

  But how can trees cast a spell? They aren't awakened, right? How does that work?

  We must ask when we find Cinza. Something is at play we must understand.

  Yeah… if this is some new kind of magic, we don't want to get surprised by—

  A sharp burst of energy coiled up directly in front of their group, like a viper coiling to strike. Natalie's eyes flew open. She sat up straight and raised her voice as loud as she could.

  "Stop!"

  Riley froze, Lani an instant later. Malich ran right into the pair of them, and Natalie's friends tripped over each other in their haste to stop moving. Natalie rode past the whole group, inching forward into the trees little by little

  "Linnethea?" asked Lani quietly.

  Natalie hesitated, patting Gwen to stop moving. There was something just ahead of them, but what, she couldn't be sure. She wasn't about to risk Gwen or Percy to find out, and obviously none of her friends either.

  But we can't keep going forward…

  "This is the way, right?" she asked over her shoulder.

  Lani nodded. "I'm sure. Makoto was really thorough."

  We need a scout. But we can't use any of us, not somewhere this dangerous.

  What makes the best scouts when your resources are limited?

  Disposable things, stuff we don't care about losing. Like… summonable things.

  "Lani, can you send a spirit forward in front of me?"

  Lani looked confused, but he did as she asked. The little spirit floated forward, its blue veil drifting back as if caught in the wind. As its ghostly form crossed the threshold into the deeper forest, Natalie noticed a pale silver-grey mark on a line of trees it was approaching.

  The spirit passed through them.

  A gout of fire erupted between the trees, engulfing the little blue spirit in an inferno of whirling blue and white flames. Boulders launched themselves out of the darkness, striking the same spot with resounding thuds. Natalie's bones quivered from the impacts on the forest floor. As the fire cleared, the forest looked exactly as it always had, and only the sudden appearance of a pile of rocks below the fearful little hovering spirit gave any indication something had happened.

  "Jesus Christ," murmured Malich, taking a step back.

  "How did you know?" asked Riley.

  "It felt different than everywhere else. The forest wanted us to turn back." Natalie pointed at the grey marks on the trees, diamond shapes melded perfectly into the bark of the trunks. "It's the Greywood for sure."

  "But we can't get in this way," said Lani.

  "It's my fault," said Riley quietly.

  Lani took her hand. "It's okay."

  She shook her head, before looking back to Natalie, voice chilling once more. "They have changed their defenses and redoubled them. We will not be able to get in. Past the forest labyrinth is as far as we can take you."

  Natalie's spirits fell. Even if she felt overjoyed to be in her forest again, with Gwen and her friends, she couldn't just leave them out here. As enthusiastic as they might be, Natalie knew they wouldn't really stand camping out in the forest for so long, particularly Tyler and Mitch. They needed real places to stay, and the Greywood seemed a perfect compromise… and it still would be.

  "We gotta go back," said Natalie.

  Gwen turned and padded back past the confused group, with Lani and Riley in particular looking distinctly uncomfortable.

  "Back to where everybody's fighting?" asked Mitch, when nobody else spoke up. "Are you crazy, Jenny?"

  "Na—Linnethea," hissed Kelsey, barely correcting herself in time.

  Natalie nodded. "We still gotta get to the Greywood. I saw Ruby back at the camp, and if Ruby's there, Cinza's probably there too. Plus we heard Jackie and Makoto on the radio. It's the best option."

  "Lead the way," said Riley, though she still looked uncertain, which left Natalie feeling a little unsure herself.

  It is the best choice. Riley and Lani have something else they are concerned about. Keep it in mind, but do not let it dissuade us.

  Yeah. Better than getting stuck out here where we might run into more of Dad's guys or another trap like that one.

  So they turned, and went back through the woods in the way they'd come. They passed Natalie's castle once more, they passed the spot where Natalie had saved Malich, and soon enough, the camp came into view.

  If anything, it looked even more chaotic and active than it had during the battle.

  Soldiers swarmed through the area. Helicopters were still swinging by overhead, huge spotlights tracking through the woods. People, awakened or otherwise, were slowly returning, picking up the shattered remains of their makeshift homes and shops. A few surviving tents near a larger clearing had been taken over by the military's medics, and the injured were hobbling in and out. As Natalie's group began to approach, a few were rushed out on stretchers into a waiting helicopter.

  As it lifted into the sky, obscuring the moon, Natalie's mind flashed back to the night in May, where she'd watched Nikki and Morton Pollock board a similar helicopter bound for Olympia. She'd been riding Gwen just as she was now… and Morton hadn't survived his flight. She wondered if these people would.

  We did what we could.

  I know. I just…

  We did what we could.