Not even a heartbeat.
I slung my head back toward the heavens, caught the moon full in my gaze, and I loosed a wild territorial howl. Without a word or an explanation, I left both my sister and my daughter behind and soared off into the darkening sky, looking for the poacher that had hunted on my land.
I swept through the woodland thicket, dodging back and forth between trees, following the river. Beneath me, the water sparkled, reflecting my image, twisting it into song. Despite the stillness, I knew almost immediately that Darklings had been here, I could smell them. Right here in the midst of timber and sunlight; they had been hunting and harvesting. I could smell the berry-sweet odor of dreams stolen too fast, almost spoiled, almost bitter.
Then wind picked up and the scent drifted away.
In its stead, only the odors of dry crackling leaves and rushing water remained.
The air shimmered below me and the curtain of trees seemed to ripple. In an instant, I spread my wings and soared to the forest floor. There I saw it, walked through it like a doorway. Just at the edge of my territory, a wood-chip trail led through stands of fir and spruce toward an open meadow. Here, the fabric of reality twisted with the stench of stolen dreams; they hung heavy and thick as fog. I closed my eyes and inhaled.
Then I opened my eyes wide, searching for more clues and finding them. In between the fallen leaves and pine needles and shaggy moss, I saw the ghostly images that dreams leave behind. Their faint outlines wavered before me, evaporating on the breeze. A human male had been here—someone who walked with dreams of fire—and now the fragrance of smoke tangled with the sweet scent of overripe dreams.
Too late, I recognized another smell.
Life.
Maddie, her boy and their dog. They were here on this trail too, stumbling along, laughing, just on the other side of the ridge. They hadn’t seen me yet.
But their dog knew I was here. I’d had been in such a hurry to catch the poachers that I had forgotten to mask my own scent. And now the animal sprinted up the trail toward me.
In a panic, I spread my wings and tried to fly away. At the same moment, I lifted one hand to cast a Veil—to stop time, to hold everyone and everything still—and my mouth opened to speak poetic words of enchantment.
But I wasn’t quick enough.
Chapter 8
Laced with Magic
Ash:
I lowered my hand, the Veil complete. Everyone and everything around me stood still, as if carved from rock. Nothing moved, no animal, no bird, no human. Not even the wind. With a velvet-soft thump of wings, I sank to the ground and entered my own magical incantation, drops of light spinning about me as I walked, my own words of poetry still weaving through bark and leaf and sky.
Maddie stared straight ahead as I approached, at the empty spot in the forest where I had been only a moment earlier. I passed her dog, still on outstretched legs, head in the air, jaws open wide. Leaves stirred as I walked, pine needles crushed beneath my weight, spilling the fragrance of the forest around me. The boy stood held in place by his mother’s firm hand.
I walked haltingly toward Maddie. Beneath her fear I could smell the sweetness of her dreams and her stories; laced with magic and dark twists and turns, they all had one thing in common—a happy ending.
Something I wasn’t sure I believed in anymore.
With one hand, I cupped her face. Did she tremble at my touch, did she recognize the gentle brush of my flesh against hers or was that my imagination? The not-full moon hovered at my back, her silver light singing in time with my own poetry, reminding me how much I longed to harvest, how long it had been since I had eaten anything but the old dreams. My sister had been right, though I would never confess it to her or any of my clan.
The old dreams of Lily, those I kept in a secret cache, had become like poison. With each one I grew weaker. If I kept this up, I would soon become a phantom, trapped between worlds. I would become the ghost I had pretended to be for so many years and I would haunt Ticonderoga Falls forever.
Unless my appetite could once again be stirred.
I winced at the thought, my old wound causing me to curl over, bending at the waist. I almost lost control of my Veil and it began to melt around the edges, silver flashes of light growing nearer as the magic collapsed in upon itself.
“Be still,” I murmured, my strength failing as the pain waxed full. The Veil responded, staying just strong enough to continue holding all three of them motionless.
I leaned closer, fighting the temptation, though it was near impossible when the phantom mists of someone else’s dreams still drifted through the forest. My lips rested beside Maddie’s ear and I whispered.