Page 81 of Which Witch Is Wicked?
The wind suddenly wailed through the stones and Tierra's heart clenched, hearing the weeping of Siren's Cry.
Her mother was gone. Tierra swallowed the cry to beg her to return and wiped away the remaining tears that yearned for her mother's embrace. She needed to be happy for the brief connection and not want for more.
She picked up the crown and studied it. For whatever reason, her mother was part of this, had shown her the way to find her inheritance. That couldn't be bad, could it? Inheritances were like gifts, boons. Plus, her own mother wouldn't steer her wrong.
Slowly she raised the golden circle of antlers and set it on her head.
The same sensation that had shocked her when she'd been digging and first touched the crown returned and grew. From a seed germinating and breaking through the soil, it unfurled its leaves to the rising sun. Tierra gasped, embracing the flourish of new knowledge and power. Her senses went on hyper alert, and voices all around her could suddenly be heard. Not people. Animals.
The beasts of the forest.
She closed her eyes and tuned in to the new frequency. It felt natural, as though she'd opened a door that had always been there, but for some reason or another had overlooked it each time she'd passed down that particular corridor.
An eagle soared overhead and she melded with it, drifted along as though she were a hitchhiker. The eagle didn't seem to mind. In fact, it welcomed her and was proud to show her what he reigned over. The fear of being off the ground was replaced by an overwhelming sense of freedom.
Is this what Aerin felt when she flew, and Claire and Moira who had taken to the sky so easily? Untethered, liberated, and spirited?
From the eagle's eyes, Port Townsend glowed green and lush below her with Puget Sound sparkling like sapphires in the sun, showcasing the surrounding emerald islands. With a little nudge, she directed the eagle to fly over Water Street where Ambrosia's was already open for business and a few customers shuffled in to order their morning coffee, tea, and scones.
To the west, a seining boat crested the waves as it headed out to the fishing grounds, while a pleasure craft unfolded her sails and captured the wind. Tierra stayed with the eagle until it spotted prey.
She broke the connection, not wanting to share in its breakfast of shrew tartare. Opening her eyes within the circle of the stones, she froze, coming face to face with a majestic white stag that had silently stepped in.
The sun shone between his silvery antlers. He stood there like some mythical beast from the fairytale books she'd read as a child. His shoulders were massive, his stance regal and serene.
She blinked. He couldn't be real, but he didn't disappear.
According to myth and legends, the Native Americans believed that to see a creature like this was to invite you on a spiritual journey, and to follow where it led. The Celts suggested an adventurous quest with the gods and fairies of the otherworld—Tuatha Dé Danann—and a lesson to be taught since, to have come across the white stag, you must have transgressed. Well, she'd certainly done that last night.
The Christians believed the sacred animal was a symbol of Christ. But in other, older, more pagan beliefs, the white stag was not a creature of the gods, but himself a god, and represented the three creative forces of the universe.
Sex, life, and death.
Killian had pointed out that she, an earth witch, symbolized life, and he, the Fourth Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Death, and they'd created a life force together.
Could he be right and they were fated? Maybe she ought to rethink that fate/destiny aversion.
One thing was for certain, she needed to talk to her sisters, hit the books, and figure out what all this meant.
Grasping the wand, she shakily rose to her feet before the blessed beast. Her heart pounded and her mouth fell open when the stag bowed his head in a formal greeting and knelt before her like a loyal subject. Tierra didn't question the validity or safety of climbing onto his back.
From wherever he'd come from, be it through time or the otherworld, he'd arrived to see her safely home.
* * *
Moira stoodon the front porch, hands propped on her hips, a worried expression painted on her face. She gaped when Tierra dismounted the white stag, her mouth falling open as the stag bowed before leaping off and disappearing into the forest that bordered one side of the yard.
"Where thehellhave you been?" Moira asked, recovering quickly from the shock. "And since when do you travel by big giant bucks?"
"I'm having a bit ofdéjá vuhere." Aerin joined Moira on the porch, Claire right behind her.
The look on their identical faces were full of condemnation.
And I thought I was in trouble before.
"It's not like she can get knocked up again," Claire commented.
"But she can get herself killed again," Aerin stated.
