The Sisters of Nowhere

f o r t y - o n e : c r e s c e n d o

Birdie didn't know she was the only one performing the ritual. If she had, then maybe she wouldn't have absorbed all of the energy in the entire forest, thinking it would be distributed between the three of them.

As this was not the case, Birdie Penny became the lightning rod of Gwydyr.

If she had known that she wouldn't be able to control this much energy, then maybe she wouldn't have tried to bring the forest to life.

As this was also not the case, Birdie Penny found herself on fire.

At the beginning of the ritual, Birdie was transported to a place of sentience, of being, but was not completely conscious.

She walked the thin line between being connected to the forest and actually becoming the forest.

Birdie could feel this line in her veins, sensing that, if she wasn't careful, she could lose herself in a place she didn't know if she could return from.

As she read the list of names, ghosts began appearing in her peripheral. Their shapeless forms hovered just above the ground, asleep but real. Their presence brought both relief and familiar comfort to Birdie when she saw their shadowed faces.

Though she couldn't tell exactly what was going on around her, she knew the precise moment when the eclipse happened.

The voices--the screams--of the forest intensified.

Now is the winter! Now is the winter! Now is the winter!

It chanted in Birdie's mind, leaving little room for any other thoughts to pass through.

And the energy, once a flow, became a living thing that was hot against Birdie's skin. She felt it pressing into her, entering her body and seizing her muscles.

Thunder roared overhead and Birdie saw red behind her closed eyelids.

The eclipse.

For several moments, she was lost. She was in pain.

She gasped for air that wouldn't come and began to panic. She tried to wrench away from the invisible hand that was grabbing her.

The screams of the forest grew louder.

Now is the winter!

"Stop!" Birdie tried to yell, but her words were replaced by fire.

No, not her words.

She was on fire.

Her brain began flashing warnings in her mind. What was happening? What had she done?

Her body convulsed back and forth.

She was drowning in the energy and burning alive at the same time.

Until, all at once, she came up for air.

The world silenced and the atmosphere cooled.

There was nothing but the thum, thum, thum of a heartbeat.

Was it Birdie's? Or someone else's?

A cool hand pressed against Birdie's cheek and she opened her eyes.

All around her was darkness--the ghosts, the forest, everything had disappeared.

The form of a woman stood in front of her, but her face was covered by a veil that was similar to Birdie's.

The woman's hair fell in black tresses down her back and she was dressed in a white, gauzy dress that matched her veil. She resembled a strangely beautiful mummy and Birdie could only stare.