Wrath of the Gods [Legacy, BK 3 - Hiatus]

6.2 - John

We'd gotten back to the bunker and had barely finished our showers when Hunter's phone started buzzing with messages. I finished drying off and pulled a clean pair of jeans on as Hunter read through the messages.

"Dad wants us to come meet him," Hunter said, sliding his phone back into his pocket. He grabbed his bag from next to the door and dumped the contents onto the bed. Quickly sorting through the contents, he tossed dirty clothes into the hamper across the room and set other items on his nightstand as he spoke. "He says Rose may have something for us."

I pulled my t-shirt on over my head, and it stuck to where my back was still damp. The thought that the hedge witches may have finally found something was good news. After spending the whole morning and afternoon struggling with trying to figure out a new angle to use my powers, I needed a different problem to chew on.

"Sure," I said, bending over and scrubbing my hair with the towel. It was getting too long, but I didn't want to bother with getting it cut. "What time?"

"Twenty minutes? Finish up here, grab something to eat, and join them?" Hunter folded his bag and stashed it under the bed.

"Sounds good."

I grabbed my hoodie and we went to the kitchen for a bite to eat. Hunter did his usual best of overfilling a single plate for us to share, and I did my usual attempt of picking at it. A few of the others came through as we ate, but no one stopped long enough to chat, and once Hunter and I had finished and cleaned up, we were on our way as well.

Hunter opened a portal to the house his father had rented to work out of. It was an old, two-bedroom on the outskirts of a tiny town in back woods Georgia where the houses each sat on a couple of wooded acres along an old country road. It'd become a temporary office to host the group of Hedge witches and meet with everyone without having to compromise the location of the bunker to too many people.

I followed Hunter into the kitchen from the open garage door. There wasn't too much here. A coffeemaker and some snacks out on the counters as well as an old folding table pushed into the corner next to the fridge. Through the door to the front room, there was a moth-eaten sofa and some mix match camping chairs set up to be a small meeting area.

"Hey, guys," Cameron said, appearing in the small hallway that led down to the bedrooms and bathroom. "Thanks for coming out here. How was the other side?"

"It was good." Hunter crossed the kitchen and embraced his dad. "Everything going okay here?"

As Cameron caught Hunter up on the logistics of organizing the hedge witches, I stepped away, examining the potted plants Cameron had put on the kitchen's window ledge. One wasn't doing well. It was a small crocodile fern, its leaves mostly yellow and brown hanging dry and limp.

"One of the neighbors left it on the porch in the sun as a welcome gift over the weekend and it got sunburnt. I was hoping to save it, but it's not doing well," Cameron said, from across the room.

I glanced back at them and Hunter smiled at me a little, raising his phone up. "I'm going to get Rose and the others, okay?"

"Okay."

I watched Hunter head back out into the garage and Cameron came over to stand next to me.

"Even with your Earth magic, you can't heal it?" I asked him.

"I hadn't had a moment to try, and in any case, I like to attempt to use mundane means first." Cameron paused and I could tell he was looking into the plant the way I used to be able to. To see down to the roots, the life light.

It made my heart ache.

Reaching out to one of the limp brown leaves, I touched it gently, holding my breath. I didn't want to take anything from it that it didn't have left to give. Fighting the tightness in my chest, I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and to grieve my lost magic.

What I wouldn't give for a chance to give life again instead of taking it away?

A sharp spasm went through my outstretched hand, my fingers curling into a fist with a painful cramp. With a curse, I cradled my hand to my chest.

"You okay?" Cameron asked.

I shook out my hand, trying to get it to uncramp, but stopped as I caught sight of the fern. It had been brown and yellowed, but the nearly composted leaf I'd touched was changing, growing brighter. Watching it was like watching a nature documentary with the time-lapse moving in reverse. Until the single leaf was a brilliant, bright healthy green.

"What happened?" Cameron asked.

Staring at the plant, I looked back at my hand back. "I'm not sure."