I smiled. “That’s easy. The little tree-cave.”
Someone had planted a circle of twelve evergreens, and the center had a small space to sit so you were completely enclosed. I’d found it as a swan by going under the branches. As a human, I had to crawl and Dementor had to practically slither, but it was completely worth it once we were inside. I bathed in the energy of the trees.
Dementor
Sophia approved of our plans, but I still felt as if I should take precautions. You never know exactly what will happen when you play with blood magic, and since Ember’s energy apparently sometimes went wonky due to her royal status, I figured I should be prepared, but how?
I put two bottles of water in a small cloth bag. I added a big container of orange juice, four candy bars, four protein bars, and a travel-sized container of scent-free baby wipes. I wore shorts with no shoes. Ember wore shorts and a tee with some funky sandals I’d never seen before, but I’ve learned not to ask if shoes are new. If they aren’t, it’s like I haven’t been paying attention. If they are, it’s like I’m judging her for buying new shoes. Best not to ask.
Alabama can get damned hot in August, and we were doing this midday. Solar noon was at twelve fifty, and we went out fifteen minutes before so we’d be sure we were set up and in process. Just before we left, I put a picnic blanket in the bag — waterproof on one side and soft fleece on the other.
Ember crawled under the branches, and I put the bag under them once she was through. She pulled it in, and I went to the ground and rolled. It was only evergreen needles and dry dirt. No biggie.
We spread the blanket, and Ember slid her sandals off before stepping onto it. We sat facing each other. Her scent told me she needed a few moments, so I gave them to her. I didn’t pick up on any uncertainty, it was more like she needed to anchor herself to the trees. The bear was at home in this energy as soon as we entered, but the swan needed a few minutes. Finally she pulled her shirt and sports bra off and folded them on the edge of the blanket. Now we were both in shorts with no shirt.
I turned my right hand into a bearpaw. “You first or me first?”
“Same time. Poke my finger and then yours, and we’ll touch each other’s chests together.”
I gave her a half smile. “I, too, like to live dangerously.”
She shrugged. “If it’s gonna blow up, we may as well do it right. Don’t want to get halfway through and have to stop.”
I morphed my paw back to a hand, took my phone from my pocket, and put it on top of her shirt. Sometimes magic fries electronics. “Seven minutes until solar noon.”
She put her phone by mine. “Should we wait?”
“Yes, I think so. Maybe get started two minutes before?”
She leaned to the side and ran her hands over a low tree branch. “I feel as if we should thank the trees for providing shelter.”
“And Velvet for planting them in a circle. They were small trees when she did it, and they’ve grown into this.”
We talked a few minutes, and I finally shifted my hand back into a paw so I could poke holes in the tips of both our pointer fingers. Normally, one draws blood from the side where there aren’t so many nerve endings, but since we were doing each other at the same time, I figured we may as well have the energy streaming from our fingertips be part of this. In for a penny, in for a pound.
I held my finger an inch from her chest, and pulled it back to keep from making contact yet when she leaned forward to touch mine. We were both about an inch from touching before she asked, “Ready?”
I nodded, and she counted down from three.
We touched each other at the same time, and I stopped breathing. My focus pulled away from my body, so I was watching both of us and the trees all around us. Don’t ask me how it’s possible, because it isn’t, yet it happened. We were sitting above the roots of all twelve trees, all woven together as a unit under the ground. The lush, healthy green trees became part of our energy transfer.
Ember’s energy didn’t slam into me, but it still overwhelmed my senses. If her magic had been even a tiny percent different frequency than mine, it would’ve short circuited me and possibly fried my brains — and the rest of my body. However, as I’d predicted, our energies mixed and swirled all around us and through us. It was way more than I could handle, and yet, somehow, I did.
Ember
D had been right. We didn’t short circuit.
I can’t always access all my own magic at will. I’ve never figured out the key, but it’s always been there when I really needed it. Like a reflex. I’d hoped only a little of it would surface today, but it emanated from every cell in my body. I felt it calling on the trees around us, and I sensed their joyful answer.
My pulse beat faster and louder, my body grew even warmer in the August heat. There was so much energy in my body, there wasn’t room to breathe. I sucked air in, forcing it, and the energy moved to make room for it. Breathing wasn’t difficult anymore.
D held his arms out, palms up and open. I grasped his forearms, and he grasped my arms just above my elbows.
“Out the right, in the left,” I told him.
Perfect.
It took me a moment to realize I’d heard his voice in my head.
Can you hear me?
“Yes.” He sounded shocked.
Think your thoughts towards me.
Can you hear me? His mental voice was as deep as his physical one, but he sounded unsure.
I can. Do you feel the trees?
Yes. Above, below, and around us. They’re part of this.
They are.
I didn’t know swans and bears could telepath.
I chuckled out loud but answered in my head. That makes two of us. It might only work during the blood ritual, or it might belong to us.
The energy is swirling clockwise around the trees and counterclockwise through our bodies.
Which wasn’t terribly unusual, but bears probably don’t play with energy as much as birds. I breathed in and sensed the other patterns. I couldn’t explain them all in words, so I thought the overall pictures at him.
Wow.
Yeah. Can you lift me into your lap without breaking contact? It’s okay if your hands aren’t touching me, so long as mine stay on you.
He slid his hands up my arms, moving slow so I could adjust my grip as necessary. He grasped me around my rib cage, lifted me, and I spread my legs so they’d go around him as he settled me in his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck, rested my head on his chest, and aimed my thoughts at him again.
Imagine the energy forming an egg shape around and under and over us. We don’t have to direct it anymore.
It didn’t feel like we were there terribly long, but it was nearly five when we finally returned to the house. We were both starving, and I’ve never been so happy to have someone hand me a plate of food.
Several of the members on loan from other chapters were sharing a house. It’d been owned by one of the members who’d died in the war, and now the club owned it. Orange Crush had been home when we started, and he’d felt the energy exchange. He’d called Mad Dog, who’d come home to investigate, which is why everyone not scheduled to be at work was waiting for us with a ton of food when we finally showed up.