Page 59 of Moonlit Fate

“Green thumb, huh?” I said. “Let’s hope it’s not just for her houseplants.” I gestured at the greenery in the room.

My thoughts drifted, unbidden, to my mother. There was a peculiar ache that came with remembering her laughter and her wisdom. She’d always been my anchor, and now, navigating these uncharted waters without her guidance… it was like I was adrift in an endless sea.

I heaved out a sigh. “We’ve got a lot ahead of us, and it already feels like we’re running in circles and accomplishing nothing. We need answers.”

“What do you suggest?” He stretched, his shirt lifting with the movement, revealing abs so defined that they looked to be carved out of marble.

My cheeks flushed with heat as I realized he was waiting for a response from me, but I had been so mesmerized by his exposed flesh that I hadn’t heard him. “I’m sorry, what was that? I, uh, I didn’t hear you.”

He burst out laughing, and I loved the sound of it.

“It’s fine, love,” he said with a grin. “You looking at me like you could eat me is good for my ego. But I was wondering if you thought we should try to find the shack again.”

I bobbed my head, a smile curling at the corners of my lips. “That is a fantastic idea. It would do us some good to get out and get some fresh air, anyway, so we might as well make it a twofer.”

“Twofer?”

“Two for one.”

Atticus led the way, striding through the underbrush that had nearly reclaimed the trail overnight. I followed close behind, my boots crunching on fallen leaves, each step propelling me forward in our quest for answers.

“Remember the twisted oak?” Atticus asked, pointing to the gnarled tree that looked like it had been wrung out by giant hands.

“Hard to forget. It’s got more twists than my father’s council meetings.”

We shared a brief chuckle. The sun peeked through the dense canopy, glinting off the dew in the greenery. I brushed a low-hanging branch out of the way, the rough bark grazing my palm. We were retracing our steps to the location of the mysterious shack, which, just days ago, had revealed secrets and riddles wrapped in dust and cobwebs.

“Yesterday, it appeared out of nowhere.” I scanned the terrain for landmarks we had passed before.

“Seems we stumbled on it right when we needed to,” he said, pausing to examine a cluster of mushrooms at the base of a tree. “Makes you wonder if it was waiting for us all along.”

“Waiting or watching.” I shivered despite myself, pushing away the thought that we were pawns in some grander game.

“Either way, it gave us a piece of the puzzle.” He offered me a reassuring smile. “We’ll find it again. And this time, we’ll take whatever it is holding back.”

“Let’s just hope it’s not holding back a grudge,” I muttered.

“Wait.” Atticus stopped and looked about. “I think we’re here.”

My pulse hammered in my ears, a silent crescendo that fell flat as I stumbled to a halt. Confusion prickled across my skin. There was nothing but the undisturbed expanse of nature before us. No walls, no roof, not even a plank of wood to betray the presence of the ramshackle building that had stood there yesterday. It was as if the earth had swallowed the shack whole, leaving behind only the whispers of leaves and my own shallow breathing.

“This is the place, right?” I turned slowly, seeking some landmark, some scar on the land that would screamyes, you are not mad, it was here.But the silence was maddening, offering no confirmation.

“Yes, it has to be,” he said.

“Could it have been an illusion? Some sort of magic meant to mislead us?” The idea of deception was repugnant. Magic had always been a fickle beast, one I’d been taught to both revere and fear. But to imagine it being used against us, against me, was a jagged pill to swallow.

“It felt real enough,” he said doubtfully. “And the books we took, they’re damn sure real.” He held up one of the books. “This makes no sense.”

An oppressive silence washed over us, punctuated only by the distant caw of a raven. I wrapped my arms around myself to ward off the sudden chill. The trees, once benign keepers of the woods, now concealed truths too profound for us mere mortals to comprehend.

I stepped back from the clearing where the shack had once stood, its absence a void that seemed to mock our confusion. “It was just here for what we needed and then vanished.”

An undercurrent of disbelief coursed through me, twisting with the surreal notion that reality could shift so abruptly. The texture of the grass beneath my feet was too real, the scent of a nearby pine tree too sharp against the soft decay of the forest floor to be anything but genuine.

“Let’s keep moving,” I said, casting one last look at the empty space, half-expecting the shack to appear just to prove me wrong. But there was nothing, no sound except that of our footsteps that served as a hollow reminder of how little we truly understood about the forces at play. And as the trees closed in behind us, I fought the unsettling feeling that we were mere pawns in a game far greater than us.

As we neared the den, the stillness was shattered by urgent footsteps crunching on the forest floor. I turned, squinting against the light to see Joren and Hale emerging from the den’s entrance, chests heaving. Lyza and Mia stood right behind them.

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