The Wishing Tree - Book Two [Completed]

Rituals - Part 3

There is a crunching sound. I open my eyes to the dim light of the cave. Mason is moving the boulder away from the cave entrance, and a shaft of muted light is piercing the darkness. I jump up and try to help, but he waves me away with an impatient hand. I go back over to my side of the cave and watch him struggle. The boulder is huge. The night before the wind was strong enough to partially lift the rock, making its movement a little easier than it is this morning.

"You know, I'm not totally useless," I say.

He shakes his head and ignores me. With one final push, he moves it far enough over that we can both squeeze through the side. There's a light film across his brow when he turns back to me.

"I never said you were useless. But, I didn't need your help."

He walks over to his side of the cave and picks up a small container that holds his bow and arrows. He looks each one over carefully and replaces them in the same order.

"How'd you get those?" I ask.

I would have killed anyone and anything to get some sort of weapon over the last few months. I relied on my speed and my wits to escape more dangerous situations than I could count. There's something so normal about seeing the bow and arrows. They are a sliver of light in the darkness. It's not just animals and death here: civilizations, people, other places must exist. 

I was too afraid to roam further than my little corner of the realm. I hadn't known whether I'd be wandering into something worse and more dangerous. I clung to the hope that Maizie's brief visits brought me and the hints that a plan was forming.

"I hid them when I left last time," Mason says, putting the quiver of arrows on his back. It melts away, unseen.

"In case you came back?" I ask. I want to peer around his back to see how the arrows disappear, but I know from yesterday that I won't see any trace of them.

He shrugs. "We always come back, right?"

"But, you remember," I say, leading him into a conversation.

He signs heavily and moves towards the mouth of the cave. "We need to get a move on. We have to get to The Wishing Tree today to dig up the instructions. We're already a little behind because it took me so long to find you."

"So, you were looking for me?" I ask.

"Hannah."

"I can't ask any questions?" I ask in disbelief.

"I'd actually prefer you didn't talk at all."

"Good luck with that." I stand up and stride towards the mouth of the cave, prepared to follow him, even though I'm starting to really, really dislike him.

"I think I'll need more than luck. Some duct tape, a muzzle, a really dirty sock. Any combination of those would work. Let me know if you see anything that might stand in for those things in this realm."

"You know this place better than me. If you can't come up with some way to keep me quiet, I think you're going to be stuck hearing my voice."

He gives me an intense stare and seems to be contemplating one last retort, but instead, he just walks out of the cave into the overcast morning, leaving me to follow.

####

"So, then my Siren mother said that I was pretty useless and she didn't understand why she ever wanted me in the first place."

I was systematically going through all of my memories as we walked towards The Wishing Tree. Most of them were from the Third Realm and pretty unpleasant. My Third Realm parents had been harsh, often unfair and always seemed to be longing for something I wasn't able to give them. We just didn't connect. I never really understood the purpose of parents until I dropped into the Second Realm and was slotted into a new family. Now those parents, well, I missed them quite a lot, and there was no way I was talking about that with Mason.