Nobody Can Say It's You

63

That had been a couple of years ago. 

As Chandra walked through the woods, she was guided by her 'second' sight. She was like a cat, sleek, agile, and independent. She had popped a few seeds before venturing into the woods. They never failed to work for her.

The landscape glowed with an eerie luminescence that showed Chandra the way, even on the blackest nights. No one could see her. No human, that is. 

So black was the night that it felt like you could cut the darkness with a knife. Chandra spied a red fox. She knew it was lurking nearby. She'd heard its high pitched scream only a few minutes before.

It was calling for a mate.

Chandra felt like screaming back. There was something pulsing inside her. Wild and savage. These woods felt like Time had been turned back. There was a primordial, ancient element in the air. 

Her footsteps trod lightly on the leafy carpet laid for her in the woods from a hundred falls and winters. The air was so cold. Biting. Yet, she felt no chill. Her heart raced inside her chest, pumping fiercely to warm her body.

She felt electric. Alive.

As much as she hated to admit it, Chandra had slowly fallen under the mountain's spell. How could that have happened? 

But deep inside, she knew. Part of it was the mountain that was pulsed through her blood. She had been planted in her mother's womb by her father, but something from the generations that had come before both her parents was planted alongside that seed.

The other part was because of what Estill was teaching her.

Chandra smiled in disbelief. She'd been so ignorant then. She'd wandered into Estill's work shed on a whim. Dougal wasn't home. Estill said he was off hunting.

The door to the shed was ajar. Estill had been working in there earlier, but now she was up to her eyeballs in dirty laundry. The washboard would have Estill's undivided attention for many hours.

Chandra peeked inside. The dirty windows let in just enough light to see the magical workroom. From the ceiling hung herbs of every variety. Rough wooden shelves lined the walls. 

Each shelf was filled with crudely labeled jars of mysterious items. Dried frogs, black and leathery. Feathers, stones, and many things that Chandra could not identify.

In the far corner of Estill's shed was a book on a stand made of tree limbs with a bark table. The wood was dark and charred.

The book was beautiful. Its thick goat-skin pages were brightly illustrated. The edges were brown with age. Chandra was spellbound. She leafed through it. There were spells and potions and prayers.

A rose in bloom and red like fire

Warm my lover's heart with true love's desire.

Okay, Chandra thought, I need this.

***

Dougal had been inattentive, lately. It wasn't like him at all. Was he growing tired of her? This might just be the answer to her problems.

She took the book home. Granny and Dara were out weed hunting. That's what Chandra called it. She grabbed a composition book and began to crudely copy the pages of the book. With luck, she thought, she might be able to sneak it back into Estill's shed before she missed it.

She worked diligently. But the book was long, and it was going to take her a few days to copy it.

What if she was caught? 

No matter, she decided. A treasure like this was worth it. Besides, what could they do to her? Dougal would defend her. She'd find a spell to make him do her bidding.

There in the tiny upstairs bedroom, Chandra worked. 

It wouldn't be long now, she thought. Not long at all.