Antebellum Awakening (The Network Series #2)(26)

Sanna

“We’re going far into Letum Wood for your lesson today,” Merrick said the next morning.

We stood in the middle of the Forgotten Gardens on the edge of the castle grounds. They surrounded a dilapidated stone building with no roof that had been crumbling into ruins for years. Ivy and vines from Letum Wood had slowly been pulling it into the forest. New leaves sprang from the dead, dried vines of last year, coating the decaying walls in a layer of fluttering green. Every now and then bluebirds peeked their heads out and chirped, dancing along the wall with the promise of spring.

“Far into Letum Wood?” I asked. “How is that any different from the other runs?”

“It will be much farther than we’ve gone before.”

The hope for an adventure ran through me like a little thrill. But then a nagging reminder of Mama’s ghost tugged on the moment, reminding me that running was no adventure anymore.

“You look quite refreshed today,” I said in a dry tone, elevating one eyebrow. “Sleep well?”

A light dusting of stubble touched his cheeks with a golden shimmer, highlighting his bloodshot eyes. He rubbed a hand over his face to push aside his hair. He wore it down today, and it hovered above his shoulders like strands of sand.

“You’re brave to taunt the witch who controls how hard you have to run,” he said, mimicking my dry tone. I snorted with false bravado.

“I’m not afraid of you.”

But a little flicker in Merrick’s eyes told me that perhaps I should be.

“Let’s go," he said, nodding toward the creeping fog of Letum Wood. “We’ve got a jaunt to get there.”

“Do we have to run?”

“What else do you recommend?”

I hesitated. “Not going?”

His tolerance for my attitude took a considerable dive.

“We’re going.”

I grabbed his arm when he turned to leave.

“But I can’t run!”

“Why?” he demanded, staring at me.

I hadn’t expected such a vehement response. I could sense something behind his question.

“Because.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Because what?”

Because it hurts too much.

“Are we really having this conversation again? I just can’t."

“Yes, we are having this conversation again because I want you to tell me why you refuse to run.”

My heart hammered in my chest. For a second, the words hovered on the top of my tongue, but I dismissed them.

“There’s no reason. I just can’t."

The muscles in his face relaxed into a disappointed frown. “Well, you’re going to have to figure it out on your own then, since you won’t let anyone else help you.”

He pulled away and continued on to Letum Wood. I scrambled after him, feeling a little like a failure. “What are we going to do?”

“Test a few things,” he said, starting to run.

The early morning mist had just started to rise from the gardens, leaving a coating of dew on the hedge and grass. At first Merrick kept us at an easy lope, skirting along the edges of Letum Wood, for which I was grateful. Once we turned and plunged into the forest, Letum Wood’s trees loomed high and shady. I watched for a pair of bright yellow eyes in the murky trees and thought I heard a snort in the distance. Trying to find the dragon gave me something to think about besides the memories lurking in the back of my mind.

By the time we wound through several back trails, crossed forgotten roads, and waded a low creek, we were in a different part of Letum Wood, one that didn’t incite such strong emotions in me. The trees were spread out here less densely, making it feel open compared to the confinement of the forest near Chatham. It felt like a vise releasing from my chest, allowing me to breathe freely.

“This is where Sanna lives,” he said, motioning with his head to a small cottage. A chimney on the south end piped out a lazy stream of gray smoke, and two open windows faced us, their white drapes fluttering out into the fresh spring air. “Sanna is a friend of mine that lives out here all by herself.”

“You have friends?” I asked, feigning surprise.

“Only a few,” he said with a very brief grin. “Come on. You’ll like Sanna. She’s special.”

I wasn’t sure what surprised me more: the thought of Merrick having something to do outside the Protectors or seeing the old woman hobble onto the porch with a cane as knobby as Grandmother’s hands used to be. She wore a simple brown dress with a necklace that glittered ebony and orange. It only took me a few seconds to realize that she wore a string of dragon scales.

“Special, you say?” I eyed her necklace again. Either it was an old family heirloom, passed through many generations, or Sanna was the only living Dragonmaster in Antebellum. I dismissed the idea. Dragons hadn’t really been around in centuries: the Dragonmasters were long gone.

Then again, I reasoned with myself, I didn’t exactly imagine that forest dragon. A shudder climbed my spine. What was happening? Almorran magic, dragons in Letum Wood, West Guards in the Borderlands. What more?

Merrick smiled. “She’s special for her own reasons. Anyway, we’re going to help her split wood.”

“Wood?”

“Yes. It burns better than stones.”