Read Online The Blue Woods by Nicole Maggi - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Nicole Maggi
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twenty-four hours to decide, huh?
Nope. Iâm accepting right here and now.
Snowcapped roofs dotted the world below me. Calâs figure moved in and out of view like a shadow, backlit in cerulean light. You need to be sure. You need to understand what youâre giving up. Your life is going to change drastically. Youâll have to lie to your friends. The Benandanti expect you to give up everything in service to them.
Oh, I know, Cal said. Yale was actually just a backup in case I didnât get Called. But I knew I would. Itâs fate.
Fate, destinyâthose words kept chasing me, like a hunter I couldnât outrun. Seriously? I asked Cal. Wouldnât you rather be in the safety of Yaleâs walls than out here, risking your neck for a future youâll never have?
I can go to Yale anytime, Cal said. This is what I need to do right now.
His certainty made me want to slap him. He had no clue what he was getting into, how his spirit would falter after weeks of no sleep and not even one small victory over the Malandanti, how his heart would break the first time he saw one of his fellow Benandanti fall.
I flew higher, closing my mind to him again. This boy, he would regret this someday.
The air sharpened around me. I circled above rooftops, my feathers knife-edged against the cold night wind. Maybe he wouldnât regret this. Maybe he was sure that this was all he was meant to do in life, that there wasnât anything else out there as important as this. Maybe he really did know.
Maybe I wasnât worried for him. Maybe I was jealous.
Which way now?
I didnât answer; I just veered to the left toward my farm. The farmhouse was gilded with moonlight. The weather vane spun as I flew past, its old familiar creak sending a streak of longing through me. I wished I could go home again. I missed my room, the well-worn living room couch, and Lidiaâs kitchen. Another twinge of longing stabbed me, and I realized what I really wanted was to go backâback to the time when this house was a refuge, when I could trust everyone in it.
Beyond the house, the gloomy ruins of the barn stood shadowed against the night. Whoa, Cal said. What happened here?
This is my farm. The Malandanti burned down the barn. As a warning.
Crikey, Cal said. That sucks, Alessia. But weâll get them back, wonât we?
Well, we had gotten them backâby retaking the Waterfall. And then theyâd killed the Lynx. And then weâd destroyed the Guild. And then theyâd tortured Bree and captured Nerina and reclaimed the Waterfall again. It was a never-ending cycle of destruction. I wanted to believe, like Cal did, that we would get them back, that we would end this, but it was just so hard to keep hope alive anymore.
We passed the empty hen trailers at the edge of the pasture; when weâd claimed the house had mold, weâd moved the hens to the same farm where we were boarding the goats. Cal sprang over the stone wall that marked the edge of the farm, and the gateway to Nerinaâs old lair, before the Malandanti had discovered it. Branches broke as he barreled through the forest beyond. Weâre getting closer, I told him. I suppose you already know what this site is.
Actually, I donât. You guys keep that information really secret. I donât know what any of them do, just where they are.
Well, at least weâd kept one thing out of public knowledge. Like I was reciting a prayer, I listed the sites. Twin Willows is the site of the Waterfall. One drink of the water will give you a vision of the future. But you cannot choose what you will see. And you may not like what you do see. The Redwood site contains the power of healing. The Congo site has the power to control minds. The Tibetan site is the source of all our power, the power to separate our souls from our bodies. The site in Pakistan has the power to manipulate time and space. The magic of Angel Falls can suck out a life force.
Nope. Iâm accepting right here and now.
Snowcapped roofs dotted the world below me. Calâs figure moved in and out of view like a shadow, backlit in cerulean light. You need to be sure. You need to understand what youâre giving up. Your life is going to change drastically. Youâll have to lie to your friends. The Benandanti expect you to give up everything in service to them.
Oh, I know, Cal said. Yale was actually just a backup in case I didnât get Called. But I knew I would. Itâs fate.
Fate, destinyâthose words kept chasing me, like a hunter I couldnât outrun. Seriously? I asked Cal. Wouldnât you rather be in the safety of Yaleâs walls than out here, risking your neck for a future youâll never have?
I can go to Yale anytime, Cal said. This is what I need to do right now.
His certainty made me want to slap him. He had no clue what he was getting into, how his spirit would falter after weeks of no sleep and not even one small victory over the Malandanti, how his heart would break the first time he saw one of his fellow Benandanti fall.
I flew higher, closing my mind to him again. This boy, he would regret this someday.
The air sharpened around me. I circled above rooftops, my feathers knife-edged against the cold night wind. Maybe he wouldnât regret this. Maybe he was sure that this was all he was meant to do in life, that there wasnât anything else out there as important as this. Maybe he really did know.
Maybe I wasnât worried for him. Maybe I was jealous.
Which way now?
I didnât answer; I just veered to the left toward my farm. The farmhouse was gilded with moonlight. The weather vane spun as I flew past, its old familiar creak sending a streak of longing through me. I wished I could go home again. I missed my room, the well-worn living room couch, and Lidiaâs kitchen. Another twinge of longing stabbed me, and I realized what I really wanted was to go backâback to the time when this house was a refuge, when I could trust everyone in it.
Beyond the house, the gloomy ruins of the barn stood shadowed against the night. Whoa, Cal said. What happened here?
This is my farm. The Malandanti burned down the barn. As a warning.
Crikey, Cal said. That sucks, Alessia. But weâll get them back, wonât we?
Well, we had gotten them backâby retaking the Waterfall. And then theyâd killed the Lynx. And then weâd destroyed the Guild. And then theyâd tortured Bree and captured Nerina and reclaimed the Waterfall again. It was a never-ending cycle of destruction. I wanted to believe, like Cal did, that we would get them back, that we would end this, but it was just so hard to keep hope alive anymore.
We passed the empty hen trailers at the edge of the pasture; when weâd claimed the house had mold, weâd moved the hens to the same farm where we were boarding the goats. Cal sprang over the stone wall that marked the edge of the farm, and the gateway to Nerinaâs old lair, before the Malandanti had discovered it. Branches broke as he barreled through the forest beyond. Weâre getting closer, I told him. I suppose you already know what this site is.
Actually, I donât. You guys keep that information really secret. I donât know what any of them do, just where they are.
Well, at least weâd kept one thing out of public knowledge. Like I was reciting a prayer, I listed the sites. Twin Willows is the site of the Waterfall. One drink of the water will give you a vision of the future. But you cannot choose what you will see. And you may not like what you do see. The Redwood site contains the power of healing. The Congo site has the power to control minds. The Tibetan site is the source of all our power, the power to separate our souls from our bodies. The site in Pakistan has the power to manipulate time and space. The magic of Angel Falls can suck out a life force.
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