The Wishing Tree - Book Two [Completed]

Decisions - Part 30

I crouch down beside him and cradle his head in my lap, relief flooding through me at the sight of his chest moving up and down. He's unconscious but alive. I look up above and see the net, torn through, just above me. It didn't work for him; it didn't save him.

Footsteps pound the ground behind me and I look over my shoulder to see Clara, Rocco and Riven dashing towards me. Riven, the faster, stronger one, reaches me first and scoops Mason up off the ground and out of my lap as though he weighs nothing.

"Run." Riven pushes off the ground, grunting under Mason's unconscious weight. He shifts him, as he runs, so he's over his shoulder. Clara is on Rocco's back and I'm struggling to catch up.

"Why are we running?" I yell as I race after them, catching Riven and matching his pace.

"We're in the Valley of Deadalus. We missed our mark; whatever it was, this couldn't have been it." He heaves Mason's unconscious body onto his other shoulder, slowing for a moment.

In the distance, there is a roar and trees are snapping. I want to look behind me, but if I stumble, I'm not sure I'll survive. I press forward, but I won't leave Riven and Mason unprotected.

Riven gestures to the trees ahead and shouts over the crashing noises. "Follow Rocco and Clara! Clara says the trees here can hide us."

Whatever is behind us is large enough to be tearing down the forest and although the woodland in front of us has ancient giants for trees, I'm not ready to put all my faith in a bunch of wood. I remember tumbling out the last tree I was in and I know that safety on this realm is never a guarantee.

I look longingly at Mason swinging over Riven's shoulder. My heart strings pluck out a sad tune, seeing Mason so helpless.

"I'm not leaving you two," I say.

We're within a few hundred feet of the trees and I see Clara and Rocco disappear, literally, into the trunk of the tree. It's almost as though the tree absorbs them. Heat bounces at my heels and I can hear breathing that isn't mine and when I look at Riven, I realize it's not his either. This is not good.

"Riven!" I scream, fighting the urge to leave him and Mason, fighting the urge to stop and turn around to face whatever is bearing down on us from behind.

"The trees. Run straight into them. Don't stop running!" Riven's speed picks up and he angles himself towards a different tree than Clara and Rocco, his feet kick up the sandy earth beneath him as he pushes himself even harder.

The tree is coming up towards my face at an incredible speed and I'm sure I'm going to smack into it. I'm going to die. Something catches my heel and I fall forward, sprawling across the ground, rolling to a stop just short of the tree.

I clamor to my feet and inches from my face is an animal that looks half dragon and half lion. My back is pressed up against the trunk of the tree and I push back, willing it to open, but unsure whether that'll just trap me somewhere else. The dragon-lion sniffs me and then takes a deep breath in, as though it's gauging my ability to be eaten or killed. Then, I feel something grasp the back of my dress and tug, hard and I'm inside the tree.

"What?!" I cry out, looking around me, but I don't see anything at first. Then, emerging out of the bark of the tree is a young girl. She blends so well into the tree, that it's the whites of her eyes I see first. She hesitates and then puts her palm on the inside of the trunk and nods for me to do the same. Silently, I follow her gesture and I can see, as though I am the tree.

Outside the trees is a pack of animals with the mane of a lion, but the body of a dragon. Their faces are squished in and I don't know how they eat anything with that snout. There must be ten or so of them. It might not be the whole pack, but they are clearly milling around, waiting for us to emerge. I open my eyes and look at the young girl, but she shakes her head and gestures towards her hand back to the bark.