Shadows of the Redwood

“Is my grandmother out here? Is she in danger?”

“In this forest? Every second.” Coyote sniffed the air. “I picked up the scent of the girl named Laurie on the western edge of the forest, near the beach.”

If Coyote was telling the truth, at least Keelie wouldn’t have to worry about her anymore. But Scott would still be missing, and maybe Grandmother, too.

“Sean, we’re going to have to split up. Can you get Laurie to Sir Davey’s RV?”

“I won’t leave you here.”

“Knot, where are you, my love?” Risa’s voice came from farther north.

“I can’t leave Risa to wander alone in the woods, either,” Keelie said. “If she catches up with Knot, and he’s after Tavyn, she’s in great danger.”

“It’s true.” Coyote spoke quickly. “Risa’s love potion is like a magical GPS. She’s compelled to seek her beloved, and it will lead her right to him.”

Sean and Keelie locked eyes. “I’ll find Laurie and get her to safety, then come right back for you,” Sean said. “We’ll find them, Keelie.” He started to back away, then stopped and pulled Keelie to him, kissing her hard on the lips. He smiled as he released her.

The coyote’s jaw dropped open in surprise. “My, my. I think our elf is thawing a bit here.”

Despite the cold mist surrounding them, Keelie felt warm inside.

“Swear to me that you’ll watch over her.” Sean gestured with his head toward Keelie.

Coyote snarled. “Don’t tell me my duties, elf boy.”

Sean glared at him and stalked off into the forest.

Keelie sat at the base of the tree, wishing this were a regular forest. She could usually take comfort from talking to the trees, but not in this place. Feeling a surge of fairy magic, she looked around for its source. There were no fae here except for Coyote. And herself, of course.

Coyote came to her side and butted his head against her shoulder. She reached up to scratch his ears.

She felt itchy, and at the same time heard the jangle of Peascod’s hat. Her heart pounded against her rib cage when he hobbled into view from behind a hemlock tree. A harlequin-patterned mask covered his face, but from within the nimbus of his brown eyes, flames seem to flicker behind the pupils. Coyote growled as the jester walked closer to them, his gaze holding Keelie’s.

She was trapped, held spellbound by his probing stare.

“Do you want to know the future?” His voice was scratchy, as if he’d been yelling.

Coyote’s growl echoed through the trees, a spectral rumble that made chills go up and down Keelie’s spine. If she hadn’t known he was on her side, she would have been terrified. He snarled at the jester. “Fool, your lord has no sway in this forest.”

Keelie wondered who Peascod’s “lord” was. Someone even scarier, that was for sure. She did not want to meet him.

Peascod ignored Coyote and held out a glass sphere. A light from within glowed brightly, revealing Sean standing atop a snow-capped mountain, his green cloak billowing around him. “Look inside to see your future, Keliel.”

Producing two more crystal balls, he started juggling all three high into the air. Keelie held her breath, afraid they would go soaring into the night sky never to return, like dreams taking flight in the middle of the night. Mesmerized, she slowly walked toward the glittering spheres. She had to know what her future held.

She wanted to touch them, to look at the wonder and secrets hidden deep in the center. When Peascod stopped juggling, she reached out a hand. But as she stepped forward, Coyote gripped the back of her hoodie with his teeth and tugged her backwards. She reached around, trying to make him let go.

“Look again, Keliel.”

The sound of Peascod’s voice brought her attention back to the promises of the future held within the glass. He slowly moved his hand, and the image of Sean in the green cloak disappeared into that of a dark rider, whose cloak flowed around him like raven’s wings.

Keelie stopped. Cold apprehension slid over her as a premonition prickled up her spine. She would meet the dark rider.

This jolted her back to reality. Keelie quickly reached down and touched the Earth, pulling up a current of magic. Suddenly, Knot appeared and ran directly between Keelie and Peascod. He meowed angrily.

The scary jester narrowed his eyes. He started juggling again, tossing the crystal balls into the air in ever-increasing arcs. She watched as they ascended into the night sky, toward the stars. When Peascod reached out to catch the balls, his hat jangled. It made Keelie feel as if someone’s fingernail was raking down a chalkboard inside her head. The glass balls clacked against one another as he caught them. Keelie was afraid they would shatter.

Peascod bowed gracefully and then righted himself, as if he was performing in front of an admiring audience at the festival. Menace filled his eyes. “Magic is loose in the world, my dear Keliel.”

“I am not your dear Keliel.” She glowered at him.

“We are not so different.”

Keelie didn’t look away from him, even though every instinct in her body told her to do so. Jesters liked to taunt and tease. Maybe this was what Peascod was doing to her. Playing with her, like Knot played with a feithid daoine.

Peascod drew nearer to her, and a coldness wrapped all around her. Knot hissed and stepped closer, acting like a feline shield.

Peascod glared, but then he turned his head toward the forest. His eyes dilated, and Keelie thought she saw an eerie silver flicker in his pupils.

“Knot, where are you?” It was Risa again. Keelie never thought the day would arrive when she would be glad to see the elf girl.

“We’ll meet again one day, Keliel Katharine Heartwood, with no guardians to protect you.” Peascod smiled wickedly. His outline wavered, and she watched in horrified wonder as he seemed to melt into the forest floor.

He was gone. Relief washed over Keelie. She knew he’d spoken the truth. She would meet him again—it was a certainty that seemed as real as anything her new life had brought her.

Knot meowed angrily and hissed, tail bushed out. Next to him was Coyote, hunched and snarling. They did not like the jester, and for once Keelie agreed with them.

Keelie heard Risa coming closer. “Oh Knotsie Wotsie. My love, I hear you. Where are you?”

“Risa, over here.” Keelie called. She held the flashlight up to act as a beacon for the lost elf girl.

Knot sniffed at the spot where the jester had vanished, then scratched at the soil and squatted over it. A moment later, Coyote sniffed where Knot had been and lifted his leg.

“No kidding. I kind of understand the urge,” Keelie muttered. She was still shaking a little. Coyote just looked at her, then bolted into the forest.

There was a crackle of sticks and the movement of bushes on the ground. Risa stumbled into the clearing. She was covered in mud and had sticks poking up at odd angles in her hair. Her eyes immediately focused on Knot. She dropped to her knees. “Oh my love, I thought you were in danger.”

“What the hell happened to you?” Keelie felt a rush of adrenaline and fear. “You look like Zombie Apocalypse Barbie.”

Risa ignored her and rubbed Knot’s ears. Knot drooled.

Keelie squatted and stared at Risa. “Tell me what happened.”

“Sir Davey came by to check on your grandmother,” Risa said distractedly. “He said he had something that might help her with the tree magic. When I went to tell her, she wasn’t in her room. Sir Davey told me to stay because he was going to contact the ranger elves to help search for Lady Keliatiel, but I had to find Knot. I knew he was in danger.”

“Search? You mean you didn’t find her?”

“She’s missing, but don’t worry. Lady Keliatiel can take care of herself.” Risa rubbed Knot’s tummy. “I was frantic to find Knot. I couldn’t stay in the house knowing he was in danger.” Risa’s face shone with love as she gazed at the cat.

Keelie gritted her teeth in frustration. “So who exactly is looking for my grandmother?”

Knot turned his head to look at Keelie, and for a moment Keelie thought she saw a flash of tenderness in the cat’s eyes. He immediately wrapped his paws around her jean-clad legs and bit her.

Keelie shook her leg and lifted it, sending the cat flying toward the bushes.

Risa rose. “What did you do?” she shrieked.

“He’s fine. See?”

A purring Knot strode back to Keelie and rubbed up against her ankle. Risa’s face looked haunted. Tears streamed down her face.

“Knot and I have a complicated relationship,” Keelie said. “I’ll explain later, but now I need for you to tell me what happened before Grandmother disappeared. Did you hear any strange noises?”

Risa straightened her shoulders, her face stiff with concentration as she thought back. “The night was windy, and I heard the tapping of the branches at the window and this beautiful music.”

“Harp music?”

“No, a song. It was lovely.”

Keelie’s skin grew clammy with fear. Now she knew who had her grandmother. Bella Matera. But why? Closing her eyes, Keelie opened up her telepathic communication.

Bella Matera.

Nothing.

Where is my grandmother?

Her head exploded with a sound that seemed to come from the trees. Keelie placed her hands over her ears, attempting to stop the spine-shattering noise. She stumbled, her equilibrium became distorted, and the world began to spin.

Risa reached out to steady her. “What’s wrong?”

“The trees,” Keelie gasped. “They’re screaming, and I can’t get them out of my head.”

Risa held onto her. “Focus. Concentrate. Call upon your Earth magic.”

Keelie sent a tendril of power into the Earth and touched cold, oily darkness. She yanked backed her power, nauseous. “I can’t use it. The soil is polluted with dark magic.”

“Here?” Risa stared at the ground, and at the normal-looking silhouettes of the ferns and bushes. “I knew there was something creepy about this place. But wait—you’ve used dark magic before. Why can’t you use it now? Turn it to your purpose.”

Yes. The dark magic within Keelie pulsed like a beating heart, a wild animal that had been caged and was waiting for its moment of sweet freedom. What would happen if she loosed it?

“I can’t.” Keelie said. There were consequences to using dark magic.

“You can. You can control it.” Suddenly Risa fell to her knees. “My head. I think the trees are banging on my skull.”

Keelie’s thoughts seemed to skip, missing pieces, as if the trees were distorting her mind. She’d never experienced trees talking to anyone but tree shepherds, or trying to hurt people, but these were Ancients. Their store of knowledge was over two thousand years old. She had nothing to use against it.

Something heavy, fat, and fuzzy landed on her foot.

“Yeow fae meowgic.”

Risa leaped up, staring at Knot. “He talked.”

Keelie removed her hands from her ears and dropped to her knees. The world spun super-fast, faster than any ride she’d ever been on at a theme park. She must be hitting Super G. She raised her arms, fighting the centrifugal push. The dark fae magic within her, unleashed, glittered gold. Like an uncaged cheetah, it raced through her. A comet of magic flowed through her hands and spiraled into the sky, illuminating the forest around them in an eerie red light.

Keelie fell face-forward into the dirt.

“Keelie!” She heard the shout but couldn’t make out the voice. Her nose scraped against a piece of bark as she remembered that Knot and Coyote had polluted the soil even more than the dark fae. She forced herself to roll over.

Something cold and heavy was walking on her forehead. A soothing purring filled her ears and embraced her mind. She heard the “lick, lick, lick” noise as something warm and wet sandpapered her eyebrows.

“Should he be doing that?” a female voice said. It sounded like Laurie.

“I think it’s a good look for her,” another feminine voice answered. That had to be Risa.

Keelie opened her eyes and stared into Knot’s green gaze. He placed his paw on her forehead and licked his leg.

“Get off of me, you beast.”

“See, she doesn’t appreciate everything he does for her.” Risa said.

Knot jumped off Keelie. His purr remained nearby.

“I don’t know,” Laurie said. “I mean, I think this intense love you have for him might require therapy, Risa. Or an antidote.”

Keelie sat up. Her head still felt fragile, like an eggshell. “What happened? Laurie, where’s Sean?”

“He found me,” Laurie replied. “But then we got separated in the fog. I heard you screaming.”

“The trees attacked us with some type of sonar, I think. I don’t know how they did it, but it—”

“It gave us vertigo,” Risa interjected. “And then we couldn’t think. You couldn’t tap into your tree magic, Keelie, but you found some way around it.”

“How do you know that?” Keelie asked.

“Anyone who has taken Elianard’s classes knows about the ancient powers of the trees. Plus, I use green magic, too.” Risa pushed her hair back from her shoulder. “You’re not the only elf with magic. Why do you think my family is the gardener of the Dread Forest? My pumpkins are famous.”

Knot turned his face away and tried to look innocent. Keelie figured he’d been up to pumpkin mischief. Typical.

Her head throbbed, reminding her of their situation. “Have you seen my grandmother?” she asked Laurie.

“No, sorry. I was heading back to the festival grounds, because I thought Sir Davey could help me. But Sean found me. He said Scott is missing.” Laurie looked as confused as Keelie felt.

“The trees are playing us,” Keelie said. “Somehow they’re the cause of this mayhem. But why? I think they want my grandmother to help them. They must have her.”

Risa looked shocked. “How could you think that Lady Keliatiel would possibly agree to get involved in any shady dealings?”

“No, I think she’s the victim here.” Keelie rubbed her hands up and down her face. She had to concentrate. That’s what Dad would tell her to do. Leave this elven circus of emotions for later. “First, we need to find my grandmother. I think she’s in danger.”

“How are we going to do that? So far, the trees are outsmarting us.” Risa looked around at the tall shapes of the tree trunks as if they could hear her, which, of course, they could.

Laurie nodded. “I mean, from what I understand, these guys are like the PhDs of trees. What do they want?”

“Good question. I think it’s time we found out.” Keelie started walking toward the Grove of the Ancients, where the song had come from. Knot hurried to her side, leaving Laurie and Risa to catch up.





Keelie shone the flashlight into the mist. They’d been walking for what seemed like forever, but there was no sign of Grandmother. She hoped they would run into Sean. Even Knot seemed frustrated.

Risa stopped. “I think we’re going in a circle. That tree looks familiar.”

“They all look the same to me,” Laurie said. She sagged to the ground.

Keelie’s heart pounded. Risa was right. “If we keep walking, eventually the sun will come up and we’ll know which direction to go. At least to get out of the woods.” Meanwhile, Grandmother was in danger.

“Where are we?” Risa asked.

“I don’t know.” Keelie said. “I thought we were heading toward the Grove of the Ancients, but we should have been there by now.”

Laurie shivered. “I don’t want to go there.” She crossed her hands over chest.

“Use your rose quartz. I think we should go this way.” Keelie shone her flashlight down a path with branches intertwining like a woodland arbor, then flipped the beam up. She couldn’t even see the top of the canopy.

Bloodroot’s voice drifted in her mind. Are you sure this is the right way?

You have my grandmother, and I want her back.

Knot forged ahead.

Keelie closed her mind. She knew she was on the right path. She could feel a thread of dark magic. A very powerful source of dark magic, and different from the dark fae magic that she’d felt around Peascod.

“It’s this way. Follow me.”

Laurie looked very afraid. “Why do you always have to go walking into creepy forests in the middle of the night? It’s like a repeating plot line from a B horror movie.”

“It’s not a repeating plot line. I’m a tree shepherd, and helping forests in need, even in the middle of the night, is what I do. I don’t have a choice.”

Risa lifted her hands in frustration. “Will you two shut up?”

There was a loud snap, and Tavyn stepped out from behind the trunk of a giant Redwood.

“Allow me to escort you.”

Risa shrieked, and Laurie stumbled backwards.

Keelie stood firmly in the middle of the path. “We don’t need your help.” She put her hands on her hips. Tree shepherds came to a bad end in this forest, and she was sure that Tavyn was involved.

Laurie leaned close to Keelie. “Are you crazy? He’s a ranger elf. He can get us out of here.”

“Yes, but he’s also possessed by a tree.”

“I didn’t know trees could possess people. I thought he had a bad spray tan.”

“I didn’t know either, until I came to the redwoods. The Ancients are different.” Keelie had been possessed by a tree in the Wildewood Forest, but that had just been for a second.

“Will you two shut up?” Tavyn shouted.

Keelie could feel the power of the Earth beneath her. She felt her fairy and tree magic swirling together like a whirlpool, stretching her skin from inside. But her dark fae magic hadn’t been added to the blend. As long as she kept control of it, the trees wouldn’t be able to draw on it.

Tavyn glared at Keelie. He thrust his head forward, sniffing. “I feel your power. You’re so strong.” He circled her. “The goblins know about you. Herne wants you for himself. They’ve known about you since your birth. They’ve been looking for one like you for two hundred years, ever since their seer predicted that a half-elven, half-human child would be born with the magic of the fae.” He smiled, showing green teeth. “But we found you first.”

Keelie swallowed, trying to process all that he’d said. “I’ve never heard about a prophecy.” And what or who was Herne?

“The elves didn’t know about the prophecy, but the goblins did.” Bloodroot’s voice had taken over Tavyn’s. It was deep and woodsy.

“So, I’m just a half-human, half-elven girl. I don’t have any great power. What use am I to the goblins?” Keelie thought that the less she did with goblins, the better. She shivered.

“You can wield power that the fairies and elves only dream about,” Tavyn-Bloodroot replied. “You can change the shape of the natural world.”

“Oh please. If I could do that, would I be here talking to you?”

A ghostly tree shape formed in the air and floated in front of them. “You’re wanted now.”

Tavyn-Bloodroot frowned. “We’re on our way.” He motioned to Keelie. “Follow me.”

“What if we don’t come with you?”

“You want to see your grandmother again. So follow me.”

There was a muffled cry from nearby.

Tavyn-Bloodroot nodded. “To ensure your cooperation, and Knot’s, we have something that belongs to you.”

A wooden cage was lowered from the tops of the trees. Inside was a wild-eyed Scott.

Risa and Laurie gasped.

Scott saw Keelie and grabbed the bars of the cage. “Keelie, get me out of here. I lost that pink rock you gave me. Hurry, you’ve got to do something. The trees are going to eat me.”

“Stay calm, Scott,” Keelie called up to him. But like a yo-yo, the wooden cage was yanked back up into the tree canopy.

“Okay, we’ll follow you.” Keelie detached one of the rose quartz charms that she wore on her belt loop. “But give him one of these, okay?”

“Of course. I figured you would see it my way.” Tavyn-Bloodroot took the little charm and put it in his pocket.

Laurie glared at the tree-possessed elf ranger. “You’d better not hurt him.”

“My dear, we are trees, not humans like you. Humans are the hurtful ones. We just want to make sure that your kind do not cause further destruction. We’re the injured parties here.”

Scott’s screams echoed through the night forest.

Laurie looked up. “Can we get one of those to him? I know just how he feels.”

“Me, too,” Keelie said. She wished Ariel were here. A hawk would be able to fly the charm right to Scott. She looked down at Knot and held out another charm. “Can you get this rose quartz to him? Mr. Greenteeth doesn’t seem to have any intention of giving it to him.” She thought she’d made too many charms, but at this rate she’d be out soon.

Knot took the key ring with the pink stone hanging from it and clawed his way up the bark of the nearby redwood. I hope those claws hurt, Keelie thought, but she didn’t dare say it in tree speak or Knot would be swatted down by a branch.

Tavyn-Bloodroot glared at the cat fast disappearing up the tree. “Come on, then.” He marched up the gradual slope, going through the great ferns and brush that covered the green hill. The girls struggled after him until they reached the top and saw a clearing, surrounded by the tallest trees Keelie had ever seen.

“The Grove of the Ancients,” she said aloud. She could sense that this was the source of the thread of dark magic.

Then she noticed Grandmother. Lady Keliatiel was sitting on a log in the center of the meadow with a very old man, who was wizened and wrinkled with age and holding a carved staff. He looked like a petrified wizard. It had to be the Redwood Tree Shepherd.

Keelie raced forward. “Grandmother, are you okay? We’ve been looking for you.”

Her grandmother didn’t seem to hear her. She and Viran appeared to be in a trance. At that moment, a clear bubble formed around them and they rose into the air, vanishing into the tree canopy.

Tavyn-Bloodroot leaned close. “She can’t hear you. She’s in her own world, lost in time.”

“What have you done to her?” Keelie wondered how she could get Grandmother and the old tree shepherd back to the ground safely.

“She’s in a kind of stasis, based on an elven charm that we have adapted to our own use. Tree shepherds are a constant source of magic, but your power exceeds our dreams.”

Now she knew why they wanted her here. “So you just want to use us as batteries? For what?”

“To protect the forest from humans. Humans have outstripped your tree shepherd skills. But we’ve discovered a way to keep them out. We need to control the Dread.”

“But the dark magic I feel here is not the Dread,” Keelie said. “What you’re doing is wrong. I will never help you.”

“That’s what we thought.” Tavyn-Bloodroot nodded as if she’d confirmed it.

Suddenly, there were loud screams. Keelie looked behind her and saw Laurie and Risa ascending in a wooden cage. They were next to Scott, whose cage now dangled above her as well, transported there by the trees. He had the rose quartz, but there was no sign of Knot.

“If you want your friends to survive, I think you will cooperate.”

Keelie had to find a way out of this. Sean and Coyote were somewhere out there, and Knot was somewhere up in the trees. She wished she could communicate with them.

Tavyn-Bloodroot turned to her. His eyes were bright green, but ringed with gold. Keelie recognized the sign of fairy magic. Dark fairy magic.

He leaned closer to her. “The elf jouster will not save you, nor will the fae creatures.”

Tavyn-Bloodroot could read her mind. Keelie stared into his green-veined eyes. Focus. Concentrate. The trees had used a disorientation spell, based on sound waves. She pulled up her barriers against the trees, then pushed Tavyn-Bloodroot out of her mind. Maybe if she concentrated on something that she found irritating, she could telepathically send it to Tavyn.

She thought about nails raking down a chalkboard. Laurie had done it at Baywood Academy.

Tavyn-Bloodroot stumbled back, holding his head.

Around the cages that held Laurie, Scott, and Risa, misty forms floated and circled. Then Keelie heard the sound of children laughing. Totally not what she had expected.

She looked around. The largest tree in the Grove stood in front of her, and growing between its roots were small treelings. It was the nursery she’d seen in her dream. Keelie heard the beautiful music, the lilting melody that had haunted her from the night she’d first arrived.

But the taint of goblin magic was getting stronger; Keelie located its source. It was the treeling nursery. And pushing her face out of the massive trunk was none other than Bella Matera, the Mother Tree.

“Hello, Keelie. I’m glad you could come and meet my babies.” Bella Matera pushed her whole body out of the trunk. No longer a part of the tree, she was in her spirit form, as were the little treelings, which had come down to dance and spin around their mother. Tavyn-Bloodroot pushed Keelie closer to Bella.

Bella clasped her elegant, treelike hands together. “Aren’t they beautiful? They will survive no matter what. I have seen to it.”

“What are you doing?” Keelie asked. “You’re growing them in soil tainted with dark magic. What will it do to their roots?”

“It will make them stronger. They have to be strong to survive today. Do you know how many children I have lost over the past millennia? My heart has been broken thousands of times—whenever I hear a tree being cut down for lumber. Now they will strengthen, while the Dread keeps humans away.”

“There has to be a better way.”

“If there is, I haven’t found one in two thousand years.” Bella’s voice sparked with anger. “When the goblin died at my roots, we drank in his blood. We tapped into the dark magic, and I found a new way to strengthen my young.”

“I’ve never heard of trees using blood for power. You’re the Ancients—you can’t do this. Did you kill the goblin?”

“He had lost his way. He was sick, and going to die anyway. The elves killed him to keep him from revealing the Grove and their village.”

“The elves killed a goblin here. Why didn’t they tell me?” Keelie thought guiltily of the Red Cap she’d killed, but he’d attacked the people and forest around the High Mountain Faire. She’d done it to protect them … but how was that different from what they’d done here?

“We call it survival.” Bella Matera’s face hovered inches from Keelie’s. She turned her head toward the cages. “There is another here with green magic flowing through her veins. She can understand me.” She pointed to the cages with her ghostly branches. “Release the elf girl and bring her to me.”

The cages lowered. Tavyn-Bloodroot pulled Risa out and dragged her over to the queen tree’s spirit.

Stubborn and haughty, Risa held her head high.

Bella examined her. “Her power is nothing near the strength of Keliel’s, but there is a different kind of magic. A fertile power of the Earth. We can take it to feed my little ones.”

“I’m with Keelie. I’m not going to help you.” Risa lifted her chin.

Tavyn-Bloodroot slapped Risa across the face and she fell to the ground, angry red welts on her skin. “You will do as our queen commands.”

“Leave her alone,” Keelie shouted.

Tavyn-Bloodroot glared at her. “Why?”

“Because she’s in love with my cat, and she’s covered my butt on more than one occasion, and I guess that makes her my friend. Something you wouldn’t understand since you’ve sucked up so much dark power that it’s made you unbalanced. Can’t you see what Bella is doing is wrong?”

“Do not talk to me about what is wrong. You were glad when dark magic restored your hawk’s sight and helped you to make things right in your forest. We’re only doing what is right in our forest.” Tavyn-Bloodroot turned his attention back to Risa.

“Dark magic is only helpful when it restores balance,” Keelie said. “Killing another creature is not restoring balance. Draining the magic of the tree shepherd is not restoring the balance. It’s evil and it’s wrong, and you and the other redwoods will pay the price.”

“Yes, we will pay the price, but our treelings will stand a chance in this world, and we’ll be able to protect ourselves from humans. You say killing another creature is wrong? How about the humans who tear us down, to be used for their comfort?”

Keelie stared at him. “Don’t you know the karma fairy always finds you?”

He looked alarmed. “What karma fairy?”

Keelie shifted her gaze to Risa, who looked puzzled for a second, then nodded.

“I should know,” Risa said. “The karma fairy paid me a visit. Why do you think I’m in love with a cat?”

“See?” Keelie shrugged innocently. “She tried to give my boyfriend Sean a love potion.”

“Then I drank it instead because of a mix-up,” Risa added.

Tavyn-Bloodroot narrowed his eyes. “You’re in love with a cat because you made a stupid mistake.”

“Why do you think there was such a mistake? It was because of the karma fairy. She’s really good friends with Keelie.” Risa nodded toward Keelie.

“There is nothing in the lore about a karma fairy. Why haven’t we heard about it?” Tavyn-Bloodroot looked at Keelie for the answer.

“I don’t know. I didn’t know I was part of a goblin prophecy, either.” That was certainly true.

A sharp pain erupted in Keelie’s head. She winced.

You’re here, Tree Shepherdess. I tried to warn you away. The voice seemed sad. Keelie kept her eye on Tavyn-Bloodroot to make sure he couldn’t pick up on her telepathic communication.

“Why does Bella not know about this karma fairy? I must ask her.” Tavyn-Bloodroot walked toward Bella, who was back in her dark nursery.

If all the bad guys were present, then there was only one person her painful caller could be. Keelie sent a thought out. You must be Viran, the Redwood Tree Shepherd.

I am he.

Bella and Bloodroot have taken my friends and me prisoner. They have my grandmother, too. How do I stop them?

I have no answer for you, Keliel of the Dread Forest. I am fading and cannot help you. I sought only to warn you. Too late, too late. His voice seemed weaker, then vanished.

She looked at Risa, who was staring, frightened, at the treelings and their spectral mother. Somewhere above them, Grandmother floated, stuck in a tea party that would end when the trees were ready to drain her, and Keelie would be next. No help was coming.

She’d have to rescue everyone herself.