It’s #bookqw and the ‘usual’ isn’t.
Excerpt from Chapter 9:
Beri pointed northward. “I’d like to show you something.”
Curious, she nodded. She stashed the bucket to use again, Beri carried the pots, and they walked together, easily matching strides. Past Hillux, past Gran’s onion-scented gardens where Beri dropped off the pots, past the beehives and then uphill past their burn and compost piles, toward a ridge she’d never crossed. Gran had gotten permission to postpone work in this part of Upper Meadows until next year. Maybe it was the low morning light, but the valley had a hazy cast to it and seemed to extend farther. This…wasn’t the usual view.
Fern shaded her eyes, hesitating. “A barrier is gone here, too, isn’t it?”
“Not quite gone, but now you can see the entire Meadows habitat.”
Any more secrets to divulge, Gran? Hiking on, she tried to take in the change. The new land doubled their habitat…doubled her work, because these hazy hills were still spotted with invasive bracken ferns.
The haze snapped into a shimmering wall of green before her.
Fern flinched from it, stopping dead. “Whoa.”
“This barrier still separates a portion of the habitat,” Beri said. “Inside is my trial area.”
Not her work—his. Great, just…great. Nice-guy Beri was her rival. She couldn’t make herself look at him. Or away from the land behind the magical plastic wrap. The grass seed heads swayed in a breeze going the opposite direction from the gusts she felt. The area lacked the variety of wildflowers she’d planted, and with the bracken, she was ahead of him for providing the diversity the council required.
He crouched and slid his hand into the magic and lifted. An opening formed, like parting a stream of water. “I’ve been looking forward to showing it to you. With both sections done, they may be reopened to each other. Please come in.” Beri waved her through, she stepped past the film, and he pushed the sides back together. Tiny hooks on each side melded to each other.
“Like Velcro,” she said.
“I suppose? They are patterned after seeds that stick to your socks. Try it.” He pinched a piece of the wrap. It peeled like birch bark, and he offered it to her.
The magic slipped through her fingers like nothing was there. It soaked into the ground.
Beri looked stunned. “Barrier magic is linked to us and to the land. It should be linked to you, too. Why can’t you hold it?”
Fern turned from Beri’s scrutiny and walked into his trial area. Without magic, I won’t be able to help Gran more than I have.
~~~
Thanks for reading!
The Witch of the Meadows is available to buy on Amazon. Or read free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription.
Leave a Reply