Page 34 of Gift from the Source
“Time for what exactly?”
“Many, many things,”he says cryptically.
Sighing, I deflate from my tense position and continue to study the owl, who studies me in return. The longer I gaze at him in his eyes, though, I already know he’s no threat. He’s here to guide.
“You saw my mom, years ago. At an oak tree. Did you speak to her as well?”I ask.
“An oak that has become a willow…”He cranes his head around, almost all the way around, examining the tree.“Yes, I did. I will always connect to the filiae when needed.”
“Filiae? What?”I ask, utterly lost.
“You will learn soon enough. It’s time for us to go now. I will be going with you. It is time for me to return home as well.”
“Elementra is your home?”
“Home away from home if you will,”he says with a sarcastic little hoot and I sigh.
Always the riddles.
Waddling closer to me, all I can do is stare down and after a moment, he—I swear—hoots in annoyance, then flies up until he’s perched on my shoulder. I have no clue what to do, so I freeze in my spot.
“Open the portal, young Willow. Just as your mother did, you shall do the same,”he orders.
“Okay then,” I mumble.
What is happening right now?
Shaking the confusion from my mind, I tell myself that we’ll worry about my new little friend when we finally get home.
I rotate between flexing my fingers out and twisting them together, gathering the courage to do what I already know I can. My nerves and excitement mingle, making me jittery with both exhilaration and anticipation.
Shifting the claw on my right hand so I can slice my left, I smile up at my willow once more.
Home sweet home. Here we come.
There’s a shift of power in the air the moment I finish my first layer of the Nexus mark and it intensifies with every stroke along my palm. The difference in the intentions of opening a portal compared to closing one is obvious. I have no doubt my family behind the branches sense the pulse of magic.
Until this final layer, my blood stayed confined within the lines I drew of the mark, but as soon as my points touch on this fifth and final design, the dam overflows.
The warm, sticky red flows through my fingertips, down my forearm and onto the ground. Everything trembles as the drip continues, but as soon as I lay my bloody palm to the yellowish-brown bark, it all falls unnaturally still.
Counterclockwise and speak the enchantment.
Inhale. Exhale.
“Locus datus ab essentia mei esse. Per tempus et per spatium, libera me in desideratum locum.”
As soon as the words leave my lips and my points meet together, raw power blasts through the trunk of my tree like I just set off a bomb. I snatch my hand back and raise my arm to protect my face, whilst my little owl friend hoots and flaps his wings in my hair.
The surge of power doesn’t settle, rather it clings to me like a second skin. The raging wind it brought with it fades just as fast as it came and I slowly turn my head back to face my tree. My eyes immediately start watering as I stare into the gorgeous swirling rainbow and the feeling of home washes over me.
“I did it,” I breathe.
“You did. Now go gather your family. It’s time to go,”the owl says when I turn my head to look at him, then he lays his forehead to mine and hoots.
Standing, with a prideful laugh on my lips, I command my earth element to part the branches of my tree for me and I rush out. Every head turns toward me the second I step through the coverage, and their eyes bounce between myself and the owl on my shoulder. Then they catch sight of the colorful, powerful portal behind me.
“You did it,” every single one of them whispers.
