It’s #BookQW and we all want to see that ‘break’ ahead!
More from Chapter 4:
They’d risen above the trees. The oaks’ tops mounded like green mushrooms floating in mist, a glowing murky line twisting through the undulating haze. Fern swallowed, thoughts of struggling dissolving. Whatever the rip was, it didn’t look safe. Neither, her gut said, was relying on strangers. How had they known she’d fallen into the rip? And where were they taking her? And how did they fly like storybook angels, keeping their legs up? Hers were dangling like wet bedsheets pulled from the washer.
Come on! Why worry over that teeny bit of magic? Freaking flipping portals lurked at the edge of the Meadows, and Gran had mentioned only, “Take care if you see flickering,” in an offhand way. What other impossibly crazy magic was out there to bite her in the butt?
At least she was still on the Isle of Giuthas. The same mountains rose on either side of the Meadows’ cloud-filled valley, the familiar rock cliffs only closer now.
Squinting against the wind, Fern peered at the first guy, who was still panting, and then Raven, who scowled back at her. He was anything but an angel. She had to be reasonable, to sound reasonable. “Thanks for the rescue. I appreciate it. I’m safe now. Please—”
“Hardly,” snorted Raven, the word snatched by the wind.
She sucked in a quick breath. Nice. Be nice. “Please take me to the Meadows.”
“After tending,” he grunted.
What the heck did that mean? “I’ll be fine at Hillux. Gr—Lark Fields’ cottage,” she added in case they didn’t know what she called it. She’d almost revealed Lark was her grandmother.
“No,” he repeated, adding to her growing fury.
“’Tis a…downpour there,” gasped Rescuer Guy, but he said it kindly. Both spoke quicker than her Irish-born mother or Gran, their accents thicker, yet Fern could understand them well enough.
It had been raining in the Meadows. But here, the clouds were high, way above the stony top of Mount Lookout. “Then how about—” she started at the same time Rescuer Guy said, “We could land below—”
“No,” Raven spat. “Her foot.”
Nothing was wrong with her foot now. She peeked to make sure—ugh. She snapped her gaze up. Vertigo to the max. Dirty, that was all. Not glowing, not numb. Just wait until she got both feet on the ground again.
Raven jerked his chin. Ahead, the sun shone through a break in the clouds and lit a swath of evergreens on the mountainside. “The grove is…close. She’s heavier than I realized,” Raven panted. “And nae dropping weight.”
Thanks for that, Mr. Too Big For His Boots. Working this spring and summer, she’d lost fifteen pounds and was slimmer than nice Rescuer Guy. Still, her hands balled into fists at the hated—and all too common—put-down. “I’m not big for my height,” she snapped.
Raven ignored her. “Your place yonder,” he said over her head.
Apparently, yonder was in the evergreens they flew toward. The ridge of oak trees gave way to a wall of pines spiking far above the regular trees’ height.
“Wow,” Fern whispered. “They’re huge.”
***
A short personal update: We’re practicing social distancing by isolating at home, and I hope all of my readers who can, will do the same for the protection of loved ones and humanity.
I’ve been reformatting the print version of The Witch of the Meadows into a program that I bought last year. It’s quicker and easier and offers many size changes at the touch of a [couple of] button. With that, I’ve decided to put this series into Large Print. I ordered the proof this morning, so look for my announcement soon. If it’s all I hope, I will move on to doing the others…though they may not come out as soon. We live in interesting times, doing business all over the world. My cover designers are in Europe, and through the red highlighted notes at the bottom of their emails, I’ve learned they’ve coordinated the entire office to work from home and are now under martial law, with partial lock-down, “17:00 to 5:00”. They expect full lock-down soon. Of course, this disrupts their work flow and that of others, but we will forge ahead the best we can. We have to.
Stay safe, my friends!
Here’s where you can get The Witch of the Meadows: Buy it!
All 4 Windborne novels now in paperback!
Loved this book
Thank you so much!