Page 18 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

“That, I cannot say. You are part Fae and part Witch, making your lifespan somewhat mysterious. I have known mixed breeds to live as long as Fae, but I have known some to pass at the one-hundred-and-fifty-year mark. The scholars have postured the idea that it’s related to which bloodline is stronger,” Dane said, attempting to begin our walk again.

I placed my hand on his arm, drawing his eyes to mine. “How oldamI, then?” In the past week, everything in my world had turned upside down, so it would be fitting to learn my age was a lie.

Dane’s gaze softened. “You are nineteen, just as you have been told. Faeries and Witchlings mature similarly to humans. First bleed for females is typically between the twelfth and fourteenth year. But once fully matured in all the human woman-like ways you might think of, the aging will slow. You will appear as you do now, save maybe a bit more angle in your face, for a great many years.”

I relaxed, allowing him to continue our journey towards the forest. At least I didn’t find out I was forty-five. I fell silent, and he droned on about the characteristics of Fae versus Witch,something about the history of the distinct point of Fae ears. And, even though my ears were human-like and rounded now, it wasn’t fully indicative of how I would appear for the rest of my life. My mind wandered, a million questions percolating. How old were Ezren and Jana? Soft creases lined the Witch’s face, gray streaked her hair. She must be in the last few decades of her life.

“And of course a Witch would never shift,” Dane said. “For that is a very specified manifestation of magic, again—why Fae havespecificshifts. It’s said that some Witches, back in the old ages, mastered universal shifting. You can imagine the implications ofthat. They were hunted, their children were hunted, and their children hunted. It became highly frowned upon for Witches to shift, though I suspect some have maintained this practice in secret. Unnatural, in my opinion. No Witch, even half Witch, should degrade themselves like that, flying around in bat-like form or something else… dreadful.” He shuddered.

I pulled my eyes away from the nearing trees. The woods always drew my gaze when I found myself lost in thought. Gia fondly called this directional shift entering Terra’s world. I looked at Dane sidelong. “What do you mean,shift?”

He sighed, clearly exacerbated. “Terra, I will not have my efforts to train you wasted. If you don’t deign to listen, I won’t explain again. You’re mistaken if you think there are no other demands on my time.”

I did my best to look apologetic. “I’m sorry Dane, it won’t happen again.”

This earned me an eye roll. “Now Terra, lying isn’t becoming on you.”

We went deepinto the forest, allowing the wood to grow thick and guarded. Dane thought it would be best for me to make my first attempt at calling the Earth somewhere remote. We came upon a small clearing with moss-covered rocks, tall grass, and a few lone oleander shrubs. Large oaks surrounded the meadow and tangled roots framed the area, which was littered with wildflowers; delicate daisies and lilac colored chicory, coneflowers and milkweed.

Dane beckoned me forward and knelt in the center. I followed, letting my knees sink into the dirt beneath the grassy surface, facing my teacher.

“Terra, listen now, for this first lesson will be the most important. The Earth calls to you—I see that plainly. And it has for many years. And for many years, though not intentionally, you have denied your nature. When you finally call back, the power will be like releasing a dam. As Element Witches prepare for battle, we spend months hoarding our power, allowing it to build up within us. When we finally call to it again, attempting to command that power is akin to curbing a large swell of the ocean. In a word, difficult.

“You will feel an immense rush. You will have no control at first. It will try to claim you, using your body as a channel. You cannot let it. I will guide you in gaining control, but you must open your mind to me. You must trust me. Can you do that?”

Despite the warmth of the spring day, a shiver shot down my spine. I wanted to shake my head at his caution. Dirt had leaped off my hands, yes. Not the most incredible power.Beyond the memories that returned to me in a trickle, I knew in my bones that my connection to the Earth was different. I could discoverthe way home through dense canopies when others could not. My hands blindly found their way over branches and tree-knots, letting me out-climb Mav every time we raced to the top of an old maple. And I could coax a bloom from a dried seed better than anyone else. Somehow, I’d always known my relationship to the Earth, to living, breathing things, was special.

“Could I hurt you?” I chewed the inside of my cheek.

“I know how to protect myself from novice error,” he said with a cheerful grin. “Anyway, someone has to guide you through it. Can you trust me?”

“Yes.” And to my surprise, I meant it.

“Close your eyes,” he instructed. “Open your palms. Feel the energy calling to you. Envision every root and tree and blade of grass as you. You live in them, and they live in you. They are your spirit, your lifeblood. And you are their commander.”

I did as he said. I felt out to them, as if the roots of the nearby oaks were extensions of my fingertips. I reached out slowly, gentle and exploring in my touch. A small current, no more than a spark, formed in my mind’s eye. I extended my forefinger to it, intending to give it a small brush.

Within an instant, the power flowed into me like a massive wave, dousing me from head to toe. But the wave didn’t just coat my skin, nor did it brush me with a gentle buzz. It penetrated my being. I couldn’t tell if it flowed into me or out of me—it might have been both. And it felt good,sointoxicatingly good. The vulnerability and grief and despair that had been lurking beneath the surface, threatening to bury me with every breath, were gone—evaporated, as if they’d never etched cruel markings into the shape of my soul.

I had the Earth, or rather it had me, but I didn’t care. Dane’s words floated past me, barely registering: ‘resist,’ ‘control,’ and then my name, over and over again. I didn’t feel his hands on my shoulders, shaking me back and forth, trying to wake me from atrance. I didn’t hear Dane screaming in horror at what unfolded around him. I didn’t see the Earth erupt in reaction to my touch—flinging rock and soil into the air in an uncontrollable tornado. I didn’t smell the burning of huge oak tree limbs, incinerated by Dane as the debris flew towards him.

I felt only the current of power, unwavering and completing. Healing.

Whole, whole, whole.

I knew I was submitting to the power. I knew it could kill me, as Dane had warned. But I didn’t care. The hole in my chest, ripped open when my family was murdered, no longer gaped. It no longer threatened to swallow me with every breath I took. I was burning. Everything was burning. And I was whole.

A fresh wave of magical ecstasy reverberated through my veins, igniting my every nerve. And then a loudboom!sounded, vibrating across the land. I didn’t feel the ground shift beneath me, severing—opening up as if an angry god had just split the world in two, mirroring the feeling in my chest. I just knew I was falling through a crack in the land.

Power thrummed through me as I fell, weightless, deeper and deeper into the crevice. I didn’t flail through the air—I only wondered how deep I would fall before I met certain death. Some distant, numb part of me stretched wide, opening its arms, welcoming the end. The euphoria from the surge of power had subsided and I just… didn’t want to go on. I didn’t want to wake every day, tortured by the descending grief and adjustment that followedremembering.

But then, out of nowhere, a tight grip squeezed at my midsection and I was snatched from the free fall, my descent reversed. I looked down to see claws, no—talons—clutching my stomach. Up and up we went, the crevice beginning to close behind us.

Perhaps my magic can split the Earth, but not hold it open for long.

It was a race, it seemed, and the huge flying creature carrying me was determined not to lose. I couldn’t see above me, for a large scaled body blocked my view, but below us the Earth folded in on itself at an accelerating speed. I knew we wouldn’t win. I stared at the dirt as it enveloped us, swallowing our bodies whole.

I should have died—Ifigured the rubble would crush us instantly. But it held us, a pocket of air lining my body. The beast struggled against it and I sensed my rescuer had no special sheath. I was resigned to staying there, allowing whatever air I had to run out. Tears escaped down my cheeks as I thought of Mama’s face. My father’s warm touch. Javis’s devious smile and Danson’s hearty laugh. Close. I was so close to seeing them again, in whatever form the gods had in store for us. In that moment, I felt them. I felt their presence, so close to the edge of death, beckoning me forward.

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