The Rise-Book II

Chapter 54: Amber

"Ok Amber, so what do we do?"

We were at my house with Mandy, Sam, and Mary bundling together some of the herbs that had been picked at the hunt. Over few days after we started digging for information again, it seemed that the trend Lyanna and I found was accurate–more than accurate. There were swarms of blue and red dots in the regions where we had originally suspected the trend–maybe they were head-quartered in one of those places?

Amber pulled her dark hair back in a high ponytail that made her look a little more like herself. She let out a shaky breath and picked up a box of small burlap bags then put them on the table.

"We need to take these purple flowers," she said softly, pointing at a basket filled full with small purple flowers that almost looked like they grown on a vine. "And put them in the burlap pouches. And we need to add some sage and the other weeds. I also have Moonflower seeds for everyone to take home with them. Bernard said we should plant them in front of our homes."

"Moonflower?" Mary asked.

Amber shyly nodded. "Yes, it's kind of like a vine. It's a big plant so it will need lots of room, but it does have nice flowers. They only bloom at night in the moonlight, then close again at day."

"What? Really?" Mandy asked with wide eyes.

Amber nodded with a soft smile. "Yes, Bernard said they can 'invoke the moons protection' and war off blood magic spells."

"Did you help pick all these?" Sam asked.

Amber nodded. "With some of the others that couldn't hunt."

Mary smiled in approval. "This should be fun then, I brought snacks."

Amber smiled and moved to pull out some napkins, but I stopped her. "I got it Amber, why don't you start showing everyone how to bundle?"

She nodded with a soft smile before Sam and Mary parted so she could stand between them. She had gotten better over the last few days and I even got her to laugh; I remember when she did, Ethan froze in his tracks and looked like he had seen a ghost.

It was a good thing, though, she and Aaron seemed to both be doing better; and the pack seemed to be taking will to them, although some members were still very wary.

I pulled out some napkin then turned back to the group. "I have coffee, wine, prosecco, or we can bust out Ethan's whiskey?"

"Where is he?" Mary asked while she piled some purple flowers into a burlap bag.

"He is out with Bernard checking borders. Evan went with him as did Jake and I think Murphy."

"He did," Mary said. "Griped about getting up early all morning."

"Coffee for now Char," Sam said.

"Me too," Mary added.

"Amber? Mandy?"

"Coffee is fine," Mandy said as she packed a burlap bag.

Amber nodded. "That's fine."

I started to fill the coffee pot up while the other women went to work. Amber showed them how to twist all the herbs, flowers, and weeds together before the put the bundle in the burlap bag.

"So Amber, have you and Aaron decided where you're going to go? Or do you think you'll stay?" Mary asked while I shut the lid to the coffee pot and click the 'on' button.

"Uh, I don't know. Aaron and I looked at a college when we were away," she replied. "College? That would be good," Sam said with a smile. "What would you study?"