Into The Wildewood Part 24

"And don't pick one because it'll go with a certain outfit. You've got to get one that feels right, and you'll know it when you find it. Keelie did." He held his hand out for the tekt.i.te, and then lifted the leaf-shaped meteor fragment up to the light, examining it like a jeweler does a diamond.

A blue carafe, with a silver dragon etched on the top, sat upon the table between them. Keelie thought the dragon looked like Finch, especially the smoke coming out of its nostrils. She'd had to drink three cups of Sir Davey's super-strong coffee before her headache had dissipated. But her recovery time had drastically improved. The first time she'd used tree magic, it had taken her a couple of days to get over it, and this time it had been less than twelve hours.

"I think I found the one." Laurie held up a stone, then dropped it, disappointed. "No, I don't feel anything."

"Keep looking."

Keelie gazed out the small window and watched the trees blowing in the wind. There were dark clouds hanging in the horizon, reminding her of Elianard's eyes earlier. There was something menacing in the air. If there was a storm, she'd have to go out in it. She had to find Einhorn. She stared at the carafe and then poured herself another cup of coffee, thinking that she'd have to stay awake for the quest ahead.

Laurie shouted. "Whoa, I'm feeling the vibe from this one." She held up a white stone that reflected little rainbows in the light.

"Ah, a good choice, Laurie." Sir Davey smiled. "It's a moonstone. It'll protect you, but mostly it brings happiness to its wearer. And it helps the wearer accept changes in her life."

"Cool. After the stuff I've seen and heard today," Laurie's gaze held Keelie's, "I need some moonstone in my life."

"I'm going to wrap your tekt.i.te in silver wire so that you can wear it." Sir Davey unrolled thin strips of silver from the spool. "It's time to do some Earth magic."

He formed a silver wire net around the tekt.i.te and rolled one edge over to form a loop, then handed it to Laurie, who threaded a leather cord through it and tied it around Keelie's neck.

The tekt.i.te pendant felt heavy next to the Queen Aspen heart, but Keelie didn't have to draw on it as she did the rose quartz. She felt enveloped in an invisible shield.

At eleven, Sir Davey put down his tools. "I'm exhausted. We'll clean up tomorrow. But remember, la.s.ses, wear your protective stones wherever you go."

"We will." Keelie gave Sir Davey a kiss on his cheek, as did Laurie, who now wore the moonstone dangling from a pink silk cord.

By midnight everyone settled down to sleep, except for Keelie, who was determined to stay awake. Sir Davey had gone to bunk with the two remaining Merry Men next door.

Laurie lay in Davey's humongous bed, looking little and alone in the middle of it. She watched Keelie brush her hair. "You know, I should be freaking out about you being an elf and having magic. I should be running back to California. But you know, I've always felt that life wasn't always what we could see. I mean, I wanted fairies to be real. I wanted magic to be real, and it is."

Keelie turned from the mirror to face her friend. "Magic is real, but it's not all fairy-tale stuff like Cinderella. I mean, Elia threatened to harm a child at the Maypole, and at the High Mountain Faire, she blinded a hawk named Ariel."

Laurie yawned and shook her head. "That Elia is a wicked b.i.t.c.h. You can save the trees and your dad, Keelie. You have to find a way. I'll help you." She yawned again.

"Good night, Laurie."

No answer. Laurie was out already.

Keelie's eyelids were heavy, too. She was so tired. She thought about Einhorn, Oamlik the oak, and Dad. They all needed her. She sat at the foot of the bed and rubbed her eyes. She couldn't stay awake. As her eyes finally closed, Keelie heard the sounds of a harp echoing in her mind.

A picture of Elianard's face formed. He was twirling a cord with a thorn-wrapped acorn pendant at the end of it. The cord twirled round and round, and Elianard's patronizing voice asked over and over, "Where's the unicorn?"

A harp played, background music to his repet.i.tive droning. Keelie couldn't wake up; she couldn't escape Elianard. She ran, but his disembodied head appeared in front of her. In one vista, she found herself on a mountaintop, and Elianard stood beside her and waved his hand.

"The unicorn uses his magic to conceal himself from me, and now the human scientists will find him before I can complete my work. I think you know where the wily beast is hiding."

An image formed of one of the EPA agents. They were in the campground on the other side of the power plant. Somewhere nearby was the unicorn. She had to get to him. She remembered the satellite images of the area from Sir Davey's computer. The forest area around the power plant had once been sentient, but now it was dead-because its guardian was dying.

"You're killing the unicorn." Keelie wanted to get away from Elianard, but she couldn't. His image loomed over her as if he were on an IMAX movie screen.

"I'm not killing him; I'm only borrowing his magic. The humans are to blame, with their poisons." Elianard's forehead furrowed. "I do not have to explain myself to an insignificant Round Ear. Tell me what I want to know."

"No." Keelie tried to cling to the vision of the unicorn, but it faded and vanished.

"Perhaps there is something else that can persuade you."

Suddenly they were in a candlelit chamber. The flickering flames cast tall shadows on the log walls. A small cot was in one corner of the otherwise empty room. Dad was on it, clammy and gray, and he looked very sick. Keelie ran to his side. "Dad, can you hear me? It's me, Keelie." She tried to touch him, but her hand pa.s.sed through him. This was just a dream, she told herself.

She turned to look at Elianard. He stood before her, looking real enough to touch. Around them were the faces of tree phantoms. Their mouths moved silently, trying to speak to her, but she heard nothing.

"Tell me where Einhorn is, or your father's death is on your head." Elianard spoke as if her choice troubled him. The green of his eyes was rimmed with black, a darkness she'd seen before-the mark of dark magic. "If you help me, the sickness will go away, and you'll have saved the Dread Forest as well. What's one sad unicorn? It's a blessing to put him out of his pain."

She looked down at her father. This was more than a dream. Somewhere, Dad was lying sick, and she had no way of knowing where this cabin was in all the vast forest around them. She had to choose. Einhorn, or Dad. The forest might grow again, but she had only one father. Of course, maybe he wouldn't forgive her if she let the unicorn die.

The harp music increased in tempo, and the thorn-entwined acorn spun round and round in time to the music.

"Tell me, Keliel." Elianard walked forward and Keelie stepped back. It wasn't until her right foot hit air that she realized they were back on the mountaintop and she had stepped off onto nothingness. She fell, soaring through the air. This must be how Ariel felt when she flew. She hit the ground- -and woke up. Something really heavy landed on her chest, and her breath whooshed out. Knot sat on her stomach and stared at her. His eyes glowed silver with reflected moonlight.

She gasped for air. "Crazy cat. I nearly jumped out of my skin."

Something was pounding the trailer with hard blows. It was rocking back and forth. An earthquake!

Outside, there were shouts from the Merry Men's tent. Keelie heard Sir Davey's voice in the mayhem.

She shook Laurie's shoulder. Her friend mumbled, "What?" Then Laurie sat straight up. "Earthquake!" Her California instincts kicked in and she rolled onto the floor and crawled to the doorway.

"It's not an earthquake. I think the trees are attacking the tents. Come on, we have to get out of here. We have to help the others."

She remembered Elianard's threat. Keelie knew that it had been no mere dream. Her father was in dire danger, but right now she was, too. She jumped out of the RV, Laurie right behind her, and leaned into the wind that blew in strong, hard gusts. It took her a second to make sense of what she was seeing. Screams and angry yells filled the night. Dark shapes moved all over the campground. To one side, a car fire burned, but no one seemed to take notice. The air was filled with the smell of turned earth, mixed with the stink of burning rubber.

The looming shapes were trees. A giant crunch of metal made them turn. A branch lay in a crease on top of Sir Davey's RV. Keelie cried out as she realized it was still attached to the tree, which was lifting the ma.s.sive branch to crunch it down once more.

Laurie looked up. "Watch out!" she screamed, leaping to one side. Keelie staggered back as a branch came down hard between them.

She grabbed the Queen Aspen's heart and opened her thoughts, but her mind boiled with the murderous rage of the forest around her. Keelie quickly released the talisman to break the bond. There was no reasoning with these trees. They'd gone crazy. "Run!" she shouted.

Laurie sprinted, but a tree sprang up in front of her and she quickly veered toward Keelie. Suddenly, a broad-shouldered figure blocked their path. "Get behind me, girls." It was Little John, wearing nothing but a kilt and boots, his quarterstaff in his hands.

He confronted the tree with his weapon, which was formidable for a human but looked pitiful against the huge oak that faced him. Behind the tree, no clouds marred the perfect black sky.

Finch's strident voice carried across the campground battlefield. "Davey!"

Davey. Where was he? Keelie glanced toward the camp-ground's edge, where the Faire administrator stood looking more like a fiery dragon than ever, her red hair twisting in the wind and her arms out as if she would throttle the tree that dared come near her.

Finch put her hands to her mouth and yelled again. "Gather everyone and bring them to Admin."

Sir Davey appeared, dashing between lifting tree roots with a black bundle in his arms. Keelie called out to him, and he turned and ran toward them. Little John was engaged in battle, whooping a war cry as he clacked his quarterstaff against the branches that threatened him. Keelie was suddenly glad Little John never shed his Rennie persona.

Davey's face was covered in dirt.

"Jared and Niriel are taking the horses and people down to town on the main road," he said breathlessly. "We have to get to Admin. It has a stone foundation, so I can protect the building easily with Earth magic."

They started to run toward the road, where they could see the bobbing lights of people running with flashlights. A propane tank exploded, illuminating the site with ghastly yellow light. Keelie saw that Little John had joined them. He held a piece of his splintered quarterstaff, now more like a baseball bat.

A wooden cage suddenly appeared around her, and a bar hit her waist. She felt herself being lifted, as if she'd gotten onto a crazy carnival ride. Laurie screamed nearby. The tree had followed them. They were being lifted into the night.

twenty-six.

Keelie saw Sir Davey and the others far below. They had run ahead, and were almost at the path that led to safety. The branches were tight around her but she didn't struggle, afraid that she would fall.

With a lurch, the tree turned. Now they were being carried in the opposite direction. Keelie remembered the feeling of flying in her dream, and of falling. She grabbed the branch around her with both hands.

Maybe she could connect with this one tree. They were headed back to the forest. The light of the burning cars showed that the Swiss Miss Chalet was undamaged.

"Laurie, shut up," she yelled, trying to be heard above the screams, the shriek of smashing metal, and the crashing of wood.

Laurie's shocked face stared at her from her tree branch prison. "Shut up?" she bellowed. "I'm being kidnapped by a tree."

"I'm going to try something," Keelie yelled back. "Get ready to run."

She closed her eyes, trying to sense the tree's energy, but the only thing she could feel was its anger. Extreme anger and pain. A bhata bhata crawled onto her shoulder and touched her eyes, and she could see through the magic. These trees were dying. The blue luminous liquid covered their trunks and oozed from open sores in their bark. They were trying to save themselves, but dark magic had twisted their pain into anger, and now they wanted revenge against humans. crawled onto her shoulder and touched her eyes, and she could see through the magic. These trees were dying. The blue luminous liquid covered their trunks and oozed from open sores in their bark. They were trying to save themselves, but dark magic had twisted their pain into anger, and now they wanted revenge against humans.

Keelie summoned Tavak, but he didn't respond. She closed her eyes and opened her mind so that she could communicate through the trees' pain. All she saw was a sticky black mist enshrouding each and every tree. She listened, and this time the unmistakable lilt of a harp's music played in the distance. Elia.

Keelie closed her eyes and summoned the bhata bhata, but none answered except for the one hanging onto her shoulder.

She called upon the evergreens in a valley several miles away. I am the Tree Shepherdess Keliel, and I need your help. I am the Tree Shepherdess Keliel, and I need your help.

The lovely scent of Christmas trees surrounded her. Dark green energy filled her mind as a conifer named Evas answered her plea.

Tree Shepherdess, we will do what we can, but the only one who can stop the trees is Lord Einhorn.

Evas, I need the energy of the evergreens.

It is yours. We will do what we can to help our brothers.

She followed Evas' thoughts, and slid into the mind of the oak carrying them. His name was Ovrom. Keelie touched the pendants on her chest and felt, intertwined with the green magic, a dark, warm channel of Earth magic. The tekt.i.te. She pushed its earthy vibrancy into Ovrom, and felt his pain subside. The blue venumiel dried and flaked away. I must help Lord Einhorn. You must stop attacking the humans, or I cannot help you, too.

The tree stopped moving and the branches lowered until she and Laurie could touch the ground. They wriggled free of their spiky wooden cages.

You have healed me, Tree Shepherd's Daughter, Ovrom answered. But I am compelled. Her music makes us hurt more. But I am compelled. Her music makes us hurt more.

Keelie knew he meant Elia.

I will do what I can to stop her, but I have to find Lord Einhorn. Keelie was already exhausted, and she sensed the Dread building. If the humans became too afraid to move, and the trees began their attack once more, they would have no hope of survival. Keelie's lungs burned and head throbbed. Keelie was already exhausted, and she sensed the Dread building. If the humans became too afraid to move, and the trees began their attack once more, they would have no hope of survival. Keelie's lungs burned and head throbbed.

She touched the tekt.i.te around her neck, the rose quartz in her other hand. Calm, soothing energy flowed through her as if she'd been dipped in cool water, easing her pain.

The bhata bhata clung to her hair. clung to her hair.

"Keelie, we can't stay here. We'll die. We have to go."

"No, Laurie, that's just the Dread. I need you. We have to go on and find the unicorn, and I can't do it alone."

Laurie shrieked with fear and frustration. "I don't want to die!"

Around her, tall forms moved in the night. Keelie saw green streamers rising from her friend's head. Chlorophyll poisoning. Keelie was okay, but Laurie wouldn't last much longer.

Someone shouted out above the wind's howling din, "Come on! Sir Davey said to get everyone to the Admin building."

Laurie let go of Keelie and started to run toward the voice.

"Come back," Keelie cried. "I need your help." She ran after her friend and tackled her. They rolled on the gra.s.s and watched as an oak smashed a pickup truck in two.

Laurie screamed and wriggled on the ground. Keelie knew the Dread had her in its grasp. The sound of creaking wood and smashing metal was deafening, and as she struggled to hold Laurie she saw others running toward the edge of the campground, where the path to the Admin building snaked beside the woods.

Laurie kicked out and connected with Keelie's leg. Keelie cried out and dropped the rose quartz. Immediately, she felt the paralyzing fear of the Dread.

She wanted to curl up and scream, but forced herself to scramble to her knees and run her hands over the ground, trying to find her rock. She couldn't breathe. She felt her fingers close around the rose quartz, but Laurie was on her feet and running.

Keelie cursed the trees and ran after her again. She'd never find Einhorn if she had to keep grabbing Laurie. A tree root swung over her head, and she ducked to the side, then channeled her inner track star and caught up with her friend, grabbing her long blonde hair and yanking her back.

Laurie rounded on her, eyes wide and panicked, and her fist connected with Keelie's jaw. The rose quartz went flying again. Bright lights exploded as Keelie's head rocked back, but with one hand she kept her hold on Laurie's hair and wrestled her to the ground. She sat on Laurie's back, dodging her kicking feet.

She needed the rose quartz. She felt for it with her mind, remembering the calming effect it had on the Dread. A trickle of its energy remained in her hand, and she extended it toward the spot where she'd dropped it. Amazed, she felt it respond. She drew on that thread until the Dread backed away, and then she wrapped the cool pink energy around her friend.

Laurie's heavy breathing subsided and she turned onto her back, spitting out dirt and gra.s.s. "What the heck was that?"

"The Dread."

Laurie shuddered. "Now what? It's not over, is it?" The trees had followed the fleeing humans across the Faire ground, but the tekt.i.te had protected Keelie and Laurie. And with the rose quartz, they had overcome the Dread.

Keelie closed her eyes, pressing her hand over the tekt.i.te. She stood up and helped Laurie to her feet. The trail of the rose quartz seemed clear, and she found it in the gra.s.s a few yards away. It glowed pink when she picked it up.

"We have to get to the Admin building." Laurie was looking around nervously, as if the trees might be back. From the crashing on the other side of the campground, the Faire would never be the same again.

Keelie grabbed Laurie's arm. "We're not going to the Admin building. We're going to save the unicorn, and I need your help. Come on."

The bhata bhata scampered back up onto her shoulder and Keelie suddenly had a clear mental picture of the unicorn in the circle of dead trees near the power plant. Then an image of the EPA agents formed, and she saw that their search had expanded up the mountainside to the power plant, where the unicorn was too weak to move. scampered back up onto her shoulder and Keelie suddenly had a clear mental picture of the unicorn in the circle of dead trees near the power plant. Then an image of the EPA agents formed, and she saw that their search had expanded up the mountainside to the power plant, where the unicorn was too weak to move.

The problem would be getting up there in time. She couldn't walk through the woods, which were dangerous now, full of pain-wracked trees and dark magic. Besides, it would take too long. But the path she'd hiked with Knot when she was fired from Steak-on-a-Stake was the old logging road.

"We can drive Dad's camper up the abandoned logging road. Dad's driven up and down roads that looked like water-park slides. We can do it, too. Or, you can. I don't know how to drive."