The Magick of Dark Root (Daughters of Dark Root) (45 page)

Merry blushed and covered Mother with a sheet. “I should have checked her first,” she said.
 

“What do you need?” I asked Shane.
 

He looked around the room and pointed to an upholstered chair near the window. “Can you girls drag that over? Put it next to the bed.”

While we got the chair, Shane removed his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his white work shirt. “How deeply does she sleep?” he asked.

Merry answered. “Very. I can vacuum in here and it won’t wake her up. She’s always been a heavy sleeper, but lately it’s just scary.”

“Well, that’s good for us. Can you light a candle and some incense if you have it? I don't
need
these things, but it helps me get where I need to go quicker.”

I wrinkled my brow, watching as he settled himself into the chair while Merry attended to the candle and the incense.
 

It occurred to me that he had done this before. Probably many times.

“Turn off the lights, please. Then I need total silence. You ladies can stay in here but don’t make a sound, okay? It may take some time for me to go under and when I’m there, I may or may not speak. I’ll wake up on my own. Got all that?”

We nodded.
 

Shane slid deeper back into the chair. His right hand held the photo of Mother and Robbie, while his left reached out to Mother’s.
 

She snored loudly, but did not wake up.
 

“Here goes nothing,” I whispered to Merry.
 

She looked at me strangely, still not understanding what we were doing.
 

But she trusted us enough––or at least, she trusted Shane enough––to let it happen.

“So you know where the tree is?”

Shane still refused to speak to me directly.
 

In response to my question, he flipped on the windshield wipers, even though it wasn’t raining. We left Sister House, drove down Main Street, then took a sudden right down a narrow road I hadn’t really noticed before. “Road” wasn't exactly the right word; it was more of a path, forged through a grove of tightly knit trees.

Leo slept in the backseat. Shane occasionally looked at him in the rearview mirror, sliding his jaw from side to side.

“Damn it, Shane. Talk to me!” I stamped my foot on the floorboard. “After everything you’ve put me through, you could at least talk to me.”

His head snapped in my direction. “After everything
I’ve
put you through? Unbelievable.”
 

He turned back to the road. The trees were packed tightly around us and his truck took a beating as branches keyed their way along the side of the pickup.

“Yes. You’re the one who had that woman in your room. How do you think that made me feel?”
 

“Don’t get me started on strange sleeping partners,” he said, his eyes shooting to Leo once again.

“Leo is not strange.” I lowered my voice. “He’s my friend.”

“A very close friend. He’s been staying in your bedroom, if I’m not mistaken.”

 
“Have you been spying on me?”

“In case you’ve forgotten, I can spy on you whenever I want.”

“Oh, you would use your
remote viewing
abilities to spy on me, wouldn’t you? Not very chivalrous, Mr. Cowboy.”

“I never said I did that. I just said I could. I saw Leo in your window one night when I was dropping Paul off after work.”

“Oh,” I said, slightly embarrassed and wondering what he saw. “Still, I told you, he’s just a friend.”

“And so was the woman in my room.” He steered right, avoiding a large branch in the road, then proceeded forward. There was a clearing ahead.

“Who was she?” I finally asked. “You said I got it wrong, so tell me. Is she your long-lost sister?” I twisted the last word to let him know I wouldn't buy a story like that.
 

Shane slammed on the brakes, put the truck in park.
 

“You’re not the only one with secrets, Maggie Mae. I’ve got a whole closet full of skeletons ready to fall out. Be careful what you wish for.”

“What are you talking about, Shane?”

“We all have secrets.” He looked back to make sure that Leo was still sleeping, then returned to me, his voice hushed. “Do you really want to know who that woman was?”

“Yes! I need to know.”

“Alright.” His eyes rolled back into his head and he let out a heavy breath. “When I was a young man, right after high school, I was handpicked by a group who found my talents very interesting.”

“Your tracking ability?”

He nodded. “The government had already been working with people like me. The ultimate spies, you know?” He stopped and coughed into his hand. “They offered me the chance to see the world. My grandmother had just died and, well, you know my parents weren’t in the picture. This seemed like a good opportunity for me.”

“Go on,” I unbuckled my seat belt.

“So I enlisted. I was grouped with other ‘gifted’ individuals. We were taught to locate anyone or anything, with just a picture of that person. We were tracking down terrorists and spies. It was pretty exciting, especially to a twenty-year-old farm boy from Montana.” He raised an eyebrow. “The training produced an interesting side effect: I became adept at lucid dreaming. Eventually, I could enter people’s dreams.”

I felt the familiar blush hit my cheeks as I remembered his visitations.

“After a couple of years, I had to get out. My views and The Program’s––as we referred to them––didn’t always line up. I took a leave of absence and told them I’d return, but I never did. I came to Dark Root instead, where it’s nearly impossible to be traced by the outside world.”

I blinked several times, trying to understand what he was telling me. “You’re AWOL, then?”

“I was never officially in the military, so no. But I think The Program would love to have me back. I know things…”

Shane took off his hat and scratched the back of his head.
 

“So, who’s the woman?” I asked, ashamed that I was still focused on her after his confession.

“Her name is Irene. She was one of my teammates. She got out, too, a couple of years ago, and when the dome went down, she was able to track me. Came to warn me that
they
are still looking for us. That’s all there is to her showing up here. Scout’s honor.”

“Oh, Shane.” I reached over to hug him. I was relieved about the woman but frightened that he had people after him. He’d kept this to himself far too long. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“The less anyone knew, the better. These people…they’re not all nice guys. I didn’t want you or your family involved.”

“Oh, my God,” I said, the finality of it sinking in. “I'm so dumb. God, I’m so dumb. I’m sorry. Are you sure Irene won’t tell anyone where you are?” I could taste the iron in my words as I said her name.

He paused, rubbing his chin. “I doubt that. Irene and I had a special relationship.”

Jealousy stabbed at me once again. I liked to pretend that Shane didn’t have a life before Dark Root, but there was so much about him I didn’t know.
 

“So, now you know some of my history.” He lifted his hands, spreading them across his lap. “Hope you don’t hate me.”

“And nothing happened between you and Irene that night?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

“I believe you.”

“Good. Someday you’ll tell me your secrets, too” he said, pulling me in and stroking my hair.

“Yes. Someday soon. I promise.”

“Does it have something to do with this tree we are looking for?”

“Partly, yes.” I resisted the urge to look back at Leo.

“Be strong, Maggie Mae. I’m here for you, okay?” He put the truck back in gear and we continued down the road.

I kept my head was on his chest as he drove and I listened to his heartbeat. I had a million questions: about his time with the government, his training, and Irene, but they could all wait.
 

This was all that mattered now.

He startled me from my thoughts as he parked the truck once again. “There’s the river from the photo and your ma’s dream, up ahead.”

I squinted. Sure enough, I could see the faint outline of a silver channel of water off to our right.
 

“We can’t get there in the truck,” I said. The trees before us were too cloistered together.

I gave one final glance to Leo before crawling out of the truck. Shane took my hand. We walked into the woods, moving through the darkness as one, strolling towards the light.

Twenty-Eight

ONE OF US

We passed through the forest, fighting the undergrowth along the way.
 

Suddenly, it opened up. We entered a clearing the size of a football field, a welcome relief after the constricting woods. It was bright here, even on this, the first day of winter.
 

We blinked, blinded by the light of the sun as it reflected off the roiling river, casting rippling beams across a still-green meadow.

I scanned the bank, looking for the Lightning Willow.
 

“Are you sure this is the spot?” I asked Shane.

“Don’t you feel it?”
 

“Yes.” My fingertips tingled and hummed. The magic was so powerful here I half-expected to see a gathering of fairies.

“Straight ahead,” he said, pointing to a knoll overlooking the river.

I shook my head. “There’s nothing there.”

“Trust me.”

“The illusion spell,” I said, understanding.

Shane grabbed my wrist. “We’ve got company.”
 

Two lithe figures emerged from the trees behind us, approaching within a dozen steps. Leah looked plain and minuscule next to her statuesque mother. The only resemblance between the two was the menacing look in both sets of eyes.
 

“Yes!” Larinda looked around satisfactorily as she stepped further into the glade. “I remember this place. It’s been too many years. Thank you, young man.”