Page 4 of Up from the Earth

Goddess knew I needed the rest, though. Tomorrow was my birthday, yes, but it was also the equinox. Ostara. The first day of spring as the earth stood poised at the precipice of balance. Equal day and equal night. Equal dark and equal light.

And me in the center of it all.

Smoothing my hand across the tops of the books on the shelf by my door, I walked past the numerous tomes, past the crystals hanging in front of my window that faced east, and slipped into my closet to change for bed.

The long pull chain to my closet light was nearly invisible in the dark, impossible to find if you didn’t know where to look. I gathered the cool metallic beads around my hand and pulled down, illuminating the cramped space with a warm glow of soft gold light. My nightgowns were tucked into the far right corner, and I pulled over the hanging dresses and reached mindlessly for one to wear.

What I pulled out was a shock, however.

The floor-length nightgown, made from soft linen, was stark white and nearly sheer. The moment I looked at it, the words "maiden" and "spring" entered my head, and I stood frozen in front of my hanging clothes for several long moments.

This isn’t mine.

My hands moved on their own, pulling down the halves of the cardigan I wore and tossing the thing to the ground. I went for the hem of my long dress—light blue with pale yellow flowers all over it—gripping the fabric and hauling the yards over my head. The dress joined the cardigan in a heap on the floorboards of my room.

All that white, all that intricately embroidered white fabric…it had to be on me. I had to wear it.

It is yours…

I couldn’t place the voice. It was a whisper in my mind. Except…Icouldplace it. I knew precisely the tone and timbre of that deep rumble. I’d heard it before. I’d heard it in the woods.

Blinking, I opened my eyes to see the dress draped over my body. That strange feeling of being watched, of being known, fled away, melting into the background. It had come and gone for so long. I still had no idea what it meant, and at this rate, I had to assume I never would. In any case, it was best to rest. There was so much to be done tomorrow for the Equinox, and sleep was the way I would handle it.

Shaking myself, I crossed the room once more. I lifted the covers of my bed, the thinner green blanket in place now that the weather had grown warmer. Getting underneath, I stretched out long on my mattress, closing my eyes as I settled into the soft surface and buried my face in the pillow. A good night’s rest, that was what I needed. And tomorrow would come like any other day before it.

Myeyesflewopen,the last chime of the clock down the hall finishing its ring. It was midnight. That was what the bell meant. I’d never woken to it before, years of growing up with the sound making it little more than white noise, but now…

I could not sleep.

Every inch of my skin felt too alive, restless, and screaming at me to get up.Go, Cerridwen. Go, go, go.

Flinging the covers to the side, I hung my legs over the edge of my bed as I sat up. The room was nearly pitch black. Pinprick stars were visible through the sheer lace of my curtains, and the moon was shining through the night sky as a slim crescent.

Waxing, growing bigger. Get up now, Cerridwen. Go.

The chilly floor touched my feet, and I stood, the bunched skirt of my nightgown slipping free of the covers and settling around my ankles. It was so light that it felt like wearing nothing at all, but I was not cold.

I took one step, moving toward my door. I took another and another, and before I knew it, I was sprinting from the coven house and into the woods.

Pound, pound, pound.

The drumbeat of my feet on the earth rang through my mind. I had to go; I had to find…something. It was waiting for me, there in the dark of the wood. Goosebumps rippled over my flesh as the night air rushed over me. Trees in rows and rows, chaotic and patterned, whipped past me as I tore off through the deepening thickets. I’d left my shoes and coat far behind.

I’d left the path behind.

Exertion challenged my legs, making them burn, and I gulped down lungfuls of air quicker and quicker. Ahead was a winding turn through the threes, a natural gap between them that called for me to enter and follow. I did, rushing through the darkness without reason or care.

Snap.

I stopped. Frozen in place, I scanned the shadows around me. There was nothing. Nothing visible, at any rate. I couldn’t make out much in the dark, but shapes moved in the blackness—amorphous and inseparable from the expanses of shade around them.

The fury of my heartbeat ached in my chest and head, begging me to keep going, keep running. Trying to orient myself, I turned left and right. I’d been heading through that small clearing in the treeline. I could still see it.

Taking one tenuous step forward and then another, I began sprinting through the pines and oaks and birches once more. Each second of rushing beneath the trees sent my blood into a greater frenzy. I was desperate to take off through the undergrowth like some sort of wild animal, darting this way and that as I rushed toward what I assumed was safety.

Grrrrrrr.

My stomach dropped into the aching soles of my feet. The growl was right behind me, making the hairs on my neck stand on end. It was so deep, an earthly rumble that shook my steps. A mountain cavern had roared as I ran beneath the leaves, and it was somehow chasing me down.

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