Page 80 of Monster's Mystery

“Yes!” Hazel exclaimed. “The golden spirit tree is microscopic in size, which is why many searchers don’t find it! They are looking for a normal tree, not a miniature one.”

“When you say miniature...” I trailed off.

Bruce nodded. “Even at our current size, the tree is barely taller than me. It’s downstairs, in the room I was in. There’s a weather spell in that room, so that it’s always the perfect weather for the growth of a tree, seasons included. Of course, the seasons are a little off, since we planted the seed in the fall, which is why the fruit is ripening now.”

“No, that’s not why,” Hazel interrupted. “The fruit has been ripening for two years. It grew when you arrived in the present.”

Bruce frowned. “Are you sure?”

“You brought me here... Why, again?” she sassed.

“Because you’re the expert,” he answered sheepishly. “Does that mean that if I had arrived ten years ago, the fruit would have ripened then?”

Hazel shrugged. “That’s not what I’ve been studying.” Her eyes brightened eagerly. “But I have theories!”

I laughed. “The theories can wait. How much time do we have left?”

Bruce glanced at his watch. “Enough. Hazel, please tell Siobhan why I needed your help.”

“He needed to make sure that the fruit would do what his professor theorized it would,” Hazel said, sitting up straighter. “He also needed to figure out the substitute for the siblings. I’ve been running tests, which is why we needed volunteers. Bruce left Aiden for last because he knew he’d be willing to help, but also, he didn’t want to stress you out too much.”

“Me? Stressed?” I joked, though I felt the truth of the words.

“I really am sorry,” Bruce said. “Hazel’s testing has been thorough. She feels quite confident that the magic in the fruit will bind with the fire of Clarissa’s brethren and wake her.”

“She was a fire beast, then?” I asked. “That’s why you’ve only taken— Sorry, asked for help from fire beasts?”

“Exactly.”

“What was the whole thing with the forest’s border and the bowling alley door?”

“Bowling alley?” Bruce asked, confused.

“Jim and Everly’s place,” I tried to clarify. “The journal says that you came and tied the door to the forest’s border.”

“Right! I didn’t know the names of the new owners, or that they had turned it into a bowling alley.” Bruce chuckled. “Brilliant. I needed to set the spell into an immovable object, one that wouldn’t grow and change over the course of over three hundred years. We could have protected more trees, but that would have been suspicious. One tree that lives for that long is natural. A whole row of them? I didn’t want anyone poking into the magic. So I visited a loyal villager and got his permission to tie the shrinking spell to his door. I assume that was how you were able to follow me tonight?”

I nodded. “I took the fixing spell you had given them and worked backward. I’ve worked with you enough in Qualitative Spellcraft to understand how your mind works when dealing with spells, so it wasn’t too difficult.”

“You are the smartest spellcrafter I have ever met in two centuries,” Bruce said admiringly. He gave himself a shake. “The drain on the spell once we started using it was unexpected, though. The past two years, I tried to come here as little as possible, so that it wouldn’t pull on the door’s spell as much, but when I needed to bring more people, I had to tie the spell into more of the forest.”

“What happened when you cut the ties last night?” I asked. “Why didn’t everything grow bigger?”

“I didn’t cutallthe ties, just the ones at the edge. If you had tried to use that magic flow spell on a new tree deeper in the forest, I would have had to cut more.” He shook his head. “I was torn between helping you and not letting you find out what I was really up to. That spell was genius, and if I hadn’t been with you, it would have succeeded.”

I couldn’t help but preen a little at his praise.

“What was that beast-creature that attacked us?” Aiden asked. He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed my cheek.

“An illusion if anyone got too close.” Bruce frowned. “You must have been unknowingly following the path. Sorry about that.”

“No harm done,” Aiden said, accepting the apology.

“Was there anything else?” Bruce asked, checking his watch again. “Are your fears eased?”

I looked at Hazel. “I trust you. If you say that everyone will be safe, then I believe you.”

“I am ninety-nine percent sure,” Hazel said. “I’ve run every test I can think of. But I’m glad you’re here in case of any surprises.”

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