Page 48 of Mama Si's Paradise

Tree roots—and not just the roots of the tree I was resting against, but those of all the trees around me as well.

I sat up straighter and the animals were wide awake, too, watching those roots slithering underground, then dancing atop the surface,risingup as if they were trying to reach for the sky. They were rising and twisting and turning, some growing thicker, spiraling around one another until they formed a big rectangular object in the middle of the clearing.

A big rectangle, and a smaller one next to it—and then something white shone on the side, too. White and black, different from the roots and tiny leaves that made the rest of it.

Holding onto the tree behind me, I slowly stood up, the animals already halfway there. I blinked my eyes and I filled my lungs with enough air and allowed myself a moment to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, but nothing in front of me changed.

I was looking at apianomade out of tree roots, and a small bench was in front of it, and the black and white keys looked clean and glossy and not at all like they belonged in a forest.

My body moved on its own, my legs taking me forward. The last time I played the piano was the night before I came to Roven. I snuck into the school for one last time that night, my hopes and dreams so damn big.

It shocked me to realize it now—where had they gone?

How had they faded into the background like that and I hadn’t even realized it?Whenhad I lost them, lost myself?

Slowly, I sat down on the bench, unable to breathe properly still, but who really needed air at this point? I sat down onthe roots, and they weren’t uncomfortable at all, or maybe I was just numb. I put my hands over the keys just to test them, see if they were as real as my eyes insisted.

The pads of my fingers touched the shiny surface lightly, and a surge of energy had my body sizzling within two seconds.

They were real. There were there.

A piano in the middle of a forest—and it wasmine.

Closing my eyes, I let go of a long breath, and I began to play.

The notes came out even more beautiful than I remembered. Two years had passed since I’d played this song, but I could have sworn that the melody tonight had more magic to it. More rhythm. Morelife.

I missed notes and the tempo was a bit off, but it was still perfect. The hares and the beavers climbed the roots on the piano to get to the top of it, and they watched me playing curiously, sniffing the air as if they couldsmellthe melody I created, too. They could smell it, and they loved it just as much as I did.

There was no rhyme or reason to what I was living right now, and that was okay. I accepted whatever the possibility might be—that I was dreaming, that I had lost my mind, that I had died and this was the actual afterlife. I accepted whatever option as long as I got to do this until I no longer felt my body.

And I did.

I played without stop until my fingers were numb and my heart was full and my soul was at peace. I played until the sun began to rise on the horizon and the ground began to shake a little bit and the tree roots began to unwind from one another, slipping underneath the surface again.

I watched the piano disappear just as fast as it hadappeared, smiling still. And when the sky turned a light grey, I made my way back to the mansion together with the animals.

It was easy. My feet knew the way. The mansion was right there, and the glass panel was still missing to let me in.

“Wait for me,” I told the animals as they watched me from behind the trees, looking up at the building curiously. “I’ll be back tonight, I promise. Wait for me.”

It was a promise I intended to keep.

Fourteen

I couldn’t getto the library fast enough, even though Marissa insisted I needed to get breakfast first. But getting breakfast meant wasting time, and wasting time meant I got to spendlesstime with the books, and then less time in that magic forest where pianos sprouted from the ground.

Magic.Real magic, and I’d seen it firsthand. Had witnessed it for what must have been hours. I’d barely slept for three, but either way I was full of energy. Either way, I wanted more. So much more.

So, the library, it was, a place where I could potentially find an explanation to this whole thing.

Marissa gave up trying to convince me fairly quickly, muttered something about bringing me breakfast wherever I was, then left me alone at the doors of the library.

Butterflies in my stomach even before I opened the doors and stepped inside. Laughter bubbled out of me.Floating shelves. They were still there. They were real.And I was willing to bet my right hand that there were no ropes holding them up, just magic.

I had never felt so completely happy than when I dancedmy way inside the library, not bothering to even check if it was empty first—of course it would be. It was nine a.m. still and people partied till dawn around here. Most would be asleep, and the girls who hadn’t partied the night before would be at the dining room together.

Not me, though. I was ready for books.

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