Page 59 of Rise of the Melody
“She knows it’s over,” he whispered. “I swear. I feel like it would be hurtful at this point to, you know…I don’t know.”
I chewed my lip and dropped my eyes, feeling weak at the moment. “Yeah?”
“I promise,” he said. “If she tries to hit me up, I will be one hundred percent with her. I’m not going back.”
He sounded so sincere.
A hard breeze blew up from the sea, rustling the trees all around us and making me burrow closer to him against the chill.
“Letty,” he murmured, taking my face in one of his hands while the other still splayed across my back. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the day you got here. I can’t.”
Oh, crap. I could feel myself buckling. He was just so…uungh.
I lifted my chin in the darkness, making out the outline of his features where the moonlight touched him. My breathing turned shallow as I allowed myself to press fully against him.
Acrackcame from above us in the trees and I practically clawed Teague’s chest as a branch came crashing down nearby. He covered my mouth to quiet the scream I’d almost let out. I was about to turn and run when a loud series ofsquacksfrom the branches above had us both jumping as a massive bird dove down, straight past us and out of the trees, into the night sky. Teague let out a whispered curse. “Just a bird!”
We were giggling as quietly as possible when I heard a feminine whisper…,“Hey guys.”
Both Teague and I turned our heads to an old, thick tree where the voice had come from. I stared around, not seeing anyone, and then there was a small movement.
In the middle of the tree.
Two eyes. They blinked from inside the bark of the oak and a reedy mouth opened and said, “Hi!”
The.
Tree.
Was.
Talking.
The scream I let out rivaled what a banshee probably sounded like.
I clawed away from Teague, hollering and tripping over my own feet as I sprinted out of the trees and came crashing down into the grass with zero grace. Behind me, two voices were laughing so hard I couldn’t make out any of their words. Nora and Teague came out of the trees holding their stomachs. Nora had wetness in her eyes from laughing so hard.
“That wasyou?” I exclaimed, my heart still racing. All Nora could do was nod, barely breathing. My head wrenched toward Teague. “Did you know she was there?”
“No!” His face was red from trying to catch his breath. “But I’ve seen her tree form before, so I knew what was happening. Oh, my God, that was wicked.”
“Gotcha!” I nearly came out of my skin when Erin grabbed my shoulders from behind, making me scream all over again. I grabbed my chest and fell back into the grass. The others were all running and yelling their way to base as I tried to calm my heart. Soon, everyone came over to find out what was so hilarious, and then we were all hysterical as Nora and Teague told the story of exactly how my face looked when I saw Nora talking in her dryad form. It took forever because they could barely talk through their mirth. They took turns reenacting my face and how I’d run from the woods with my arms flailing, making everyone fall over.
“So glad I could entertain you all,” I said, pretending to be annoyed as my heart slowed. “Literally the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” This made Nora flex with pride.
Teague’s hand on my back was a warm reminder of the moment we’d shared. Gods, does that mean Nora saw that whole thing? Geez, how embarrassing.
When everyone finally calmed, Clare asked, “Can I use your bathroom?”
“Yeah, of course,” I told her. “Anyone else want to come in?”
The night chill drove us all inside, and I think everyone was curious to check out the house, too. I set out seven mismatched mugs and some milk for hot cocoa.
“I got you,” Declan said. I moved aside and watched in wonder as he held a mug in his hands and muttered something until light steam began to swirl from the cup.
“You heated it?” I asked, shocked that someone could manipulate liquid like that. I needed to practice and see what else I was capable of.
Declan grinned and nodded, heating each mug while I added the cocoa powder and stirred. Then Teague came over to show off his skills, lifting each mug and sending it across the room to its person. We all laughed when the mugs wobbled and spilled, teasing him.
