Page 32 of Entering a New World

Deep breaths. Salt in the air. Moist moss beneath me, a crispy, cold breeze stroking our fur.

Feel, I encouraged my wolf.

My heart calmed, my pulse getting slower, but stronger, until it aligned with my breaths.

Warmth hit me, a ray of sunshine breaking through the cloud cover.

Rustling leaves, the faint pitter-patter of a small animal.

A bird chirping.

Calm, quiet energy.

The forest was alive; everything surrounding me was alive. The trees, the ground, the wind… and then I finally got it. The barrier.

Keeping my eyes closed, I mentally extended my senses, trying to feel it, expecting the quiet humming sensation that always caused goosebumps on my skin, but getting… woah.

My body flinched, but my wolf and I were on the same page, trying to keep the connection going, trying to feel, to get a response from the barrier we protected with everything we had while it did its best to protect us.

The humming, buzzing sensation washing over me made my fur stand up, an electric charge surging through my body with more energy than I’d felt in years.

Maybe ever.

The barrier felt… alive.

Which, I guess, it was. It’d always been alive, but comparing what I usually felt to what feelings I was receiving now… It was like the barrier had woken from a long, deep slumber, ready to seize a new day.

Exhilaration flooded my veins. I hadn’t known connecting with the barrier could feel so good.

At the same time, there was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, a thought trying to weasel itself to the forefront to remind me of something important, while all I wanted was to bask in the barrier’s energy for a while.

‘Barriers are created by magic users.’ I could practically hear Solomon’s deep voice inside my head, saw his wrinkly, dark skin in front of my inner eye, the way his dark eyes sparkled with mischief and wisdom. ‘They’re alive, feeding off of the land they’re protecting, but they need magic users to maintain them, feed them energy, nurse them back to their full potential. The better the land they’re protecting is maintained, the slower the decay of the barrier happens, but you can never stop it. Only magic users can.’

I opened my eyes, blinking against the bright afternoon sun, my heart hammering in my chest, a thread of unease settling in my chest.

The barrier felt more alive than ever, but, according to Solomon, it shouldn’t. It shouldn’t be possible.

Jumping to my paws, my wolf and I came to the same conclusion in the exact same second: Gray needed to know.

And we needed to get to the bottom of this.

Chapter 10

Levi

“I’ve been making coffee for fifty years now, son. And I never needed one of these… things to do it. Ask anyone in town: my coffee has always been fine.”

The old man carded a hand through his white hair, shaking his head. The desperation was written all over his face, his eyes slowly filling with tears.

“When my coffee machine broke last week, my granddaughter, Allie, said I needed one of these espresso machines, the ones real coffee shops in the city used to keep up with times. That girl made me spend a fortune on this shiny barista thing, but it just doesn’t work!”

His chest was heaving, wrinkly forehead wrinkling even more, hands shaking. I wasn’t sure if he was mad or desperate or a mix between both. What I did know was that no one should sell a professional portafilter machine to a guy in his eighties who’d spent his life selling regular filter coffee.

“Do you want me to show you the ropes?” I carefully asked, just like I’d asked what was wrong with his espresso machine when I’d seen the big No coffee today sign on the door.

“What do you know about those monsters?” The old guy, Herbert, said. The bell over the door chimed and two women in their forties entered, happily chatting and laughing.

The change in Herbert was remarkable. His face smoothed out, worry lines fading back to a normal level as he made his way to the sink, dutifully washing and drying his hands before addressing his customers.

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