Page 23 of Magic in the Woods
“Oh, come here!” Annabel fluttered down the steps, coming toward me with her arms open wide. We embraced tightly; my face pressed into her chest. I breathed in deep committing her scent to memory. The trailer had become my home. All the meals shared, dishes washed, vegetables picked…
“Go, now!” Annabel said as she released me.
I looked back at Emily and the trailer, trying to commit that to memory too.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to turn around, to face my future before I got caught up in the past.
I followed Luke as he jogged away from the trailer and intothe woods. My previous time in these woods crept up on me, all those days walking without food, keeping my mother frozen in the pail. The memories sent shivers down my spine.
The woods were quiet, almost eerily so. There wasn’t even a breeze. I looked above me, only seeing the green of the leaves and the brown of the branches. The trees had all twisted together, creating a complete canopy, void of any blue of the sky. I was thankful for the shade as we jogged.
The path Luke led me down was a narrow footpath full of branches that snagged my dress and rocks that I’d have a hard time maneuvering over if I were barefoot.
Sweat had already stained my underarms when we broke through the brush and into a small clearing. Luke took my forearm, pulling me across the clearing into the brush on the other side.
“Now we wait,” he said. His breathing was calm, unlike my own ragged breaths.
We crouched in the brush facing the clearing that I now realized was a road. Narrow like the footpath we’d just taken, the road could fit a single car, like the one Elise and Everett and I had driven in.
Luke pointed to the road, slightly past where we currently crouched. A tree lay across the road, its trunk chopped cleanly by something sharp. “When the truck stops and the men get out to clear the tree, we move,” he said. “I’ll help you in the back with the other witches.” He glanced up the road, looking for the truck. “Grab hold of the closest one and push her off the truck. Don’t be afraid to push hard—you might only get one chance.”
I nodded.
“You won’t see me, but I’ll grab her once the truck is gone. The other witches can’t catch sight of me,” he said. “Theycould see me around the Academy and then might start asking questions.”
I nodded again, unable to form words. My mouth was dry.
The rumbling of an engine met my ears at the same time it met Luke’s. I could tell by the way his body stiffened that he heard it coming. His hand met my cheek, turning my face toward his. “You can do this, Dafni. Help me. Help my family. Help yourself.”
He let go of my face, not giving me anytime to reply before he turned toward the road as a white truck barreled down the road, its wheels bouncing along the rocks and gravel.
Luke grabbed my upper arm, his leg poised one in front of the other, ready to run. I mimicked his position, digging my shoes into the dirt below me. The tree Luke had brought down was big, but nothing that couldn’t be moved by two strong men. We had limited time and too many unknown variables to account for. What if there were more than two men? Maybe they’d taken two trucks. Maybe the witch I pushed would fight me, maybe she’d scream and garner attention.
Negative thoughts abandoned, both of us faced the road, the engine noise growing louder as it got closer. There was no point in thinking of the what-ifs. We’d made the choice. We were here—I was ready to go. Beams of light hit the surrounding trees, illuminating the canopy of leaves we were under.
“Wait,” Luke commanded.
My muscles twitched under his grasp, ready to contract at a moment’s notice. The screech of the brakes squeezing the tires met my ears as the white truck barreled past us. Red lights met my eyes before the truck stopped just shy of the fallen tree. Expletives met my ears next. One word after another that I’d only heard come from my mother’s mouth directed at my grandmother over my lack of “witchy-ness.”
“Fucking tree in the fucking woods.”
“Listening to those brats bitch for the last hour was enough; now this? I thought those injections were supposed to knock ’em out or at least subdue them… How much are we getting paid?”
“Not enough. Matilda better tip us extra this time.”
“She booked us a year out. She likes us. She’ll tip.” The men left the truck, sliding out of their seats and walking toward the tree that had blocked their path.
Luke’s grasp on my upper arm tightened. Our noses almost touched as we looked at one another. He tilted his chin in a nod before pushing off his legs, dragging me along behind him. The vehicle was a small cargo truck with a roll-up back door. Luke was right—the drivers were idiots and hadn’t locked it. He easily squeezed the handle and pulled, the door rising as he slowly lifted it up. The back of the truck was dark, and it took a second for me to see the women huddled in the back. They trembled as a unit, contracting and expanding together in fear.
Luke looked over his shoulder at me. Our eyes met as they had many times before. This time his green eyes were wide with fright, different from the steady green ones I was used to.
“Push one out quick. I’ll be there to make sure she’s okay,” he whispered before he gripped my waist, hoisting me into the truck.
I crouched, my feet meeting the bouncy floor beneath me. I had to be fast; the men would soon be done moving the log, and I didn’t want to push someone out of a moving vehicle. The witch closest to the door was small, sitting with her arms wrapped around her bent legs. Taking Annabel’s advice, I didn’t give myself time to overthink. I grabbed hold of her upper arms, using the element of surprise and the extra strength provided by the adrenaline flowingthrough my body to gently push her out the back of the truck. She dropped feet first, and that, I hoped, would cause her to land on her feet.
“I’m sorry…” I whispered after her. She probably didn’t hear me, but I hoped the sentiment reached her.
Against all my instincts, I didn’t look out the back of the truck to see if she was okay. I had to trust that Luke would take care of her.
