by Leia Stone
Trust yourself, your heart, the land, whatever it is that is broken inside of you. Make peace with that and fully trust it, and the cave will show itself to you.
Throwing dirt on the fire, I watched as the smoke rose into the chimney in long, curling tendrils.
Sage stepped beside me and we looked at our small space.
Home.
“This is goodbye,” I told the small mud-plastered walls that I had insulated with my bare hands. Together, Sage and I quickly tidied up and prepared to leave our life here. I grabbed a sheepskin blanket in case the temperature dropped tonight and we were still finding our way out, but I left almost everything else. Anything left behind was something that would benefit my future children, and their children when they came out here.
We filled our canteens with water and tossed the rest from our storage pot so that it wouldn’t mold. I grabbed the clay rattle Sage had made Baby Creek, and then we left.
Placing one hand on the side of the house, I took in a deep breath. “Thank you.”
I would miss this place. As hard as it was here, it was a simple life, and I found a part of myself I didn’t know was missing in this cabin. A strong woman who could do anything. A leader. An alpha. A mother. A flawed but fierce woman who could survive hell and back.
It was a strenuous hike up the mountain. I was still in the best shape of my life, but having the baby and then taking three months off from my usual daily hiking regimen had dulled my stamina. Not to mention I was running on three hours of sleep because baby Creek was going through a growth spurt or something. He wanted to eat like every hour throughout the night. It was exhausting.
But we made it to the top.
Taking a water break, Sage and I panted while Creek slept in the sling around my shoulders.
“I’ll take him now,” Sage whispered, and I nodded gratefully. I needed to start scouting for the cave, although something told me it would be easy now.
My wolf surged to the surface, ready to do the thing where we split up, but I stopped her.
‘Let’s do this together. As one,’ I told her, and felt her acceptance and pride at that decision.
I trust myself.
Purely on instinct, I set off to the right and started my hike to the top, just trusting that I would find it on the way. Sage and the baby followed at a good distance behind me, giving me the space to sense and feel what I needed to. I scanned the mountain wall to my left with a critical eye, looking for grooves or holes or something that might have suddenly appeared that I might have missed before.
Then I felt it.
The cold breeze, the smell of magic.
It was the same spot I’d sensed something at before. Taking a few more steps toward the steep mountain, I could see where new grass had grown over the spot I’d clawed at. The blades were shorter than the grass around it. The closer I got, the more the air felt heavy and the hair on my arms rose with electricity.
‘Trust,’ my wolf whispered.
This was it. My instincts had led me there before and here I was again.
Taking in a deep breath, I looked back at Sage and my sweet baby boy, nodded once, and stepped forward, walking straight into the mountain with complete faith that I had found the Cave of Magic and that whatever lay inside was something I could handle. One step, two, three, when I got within six inches of the dirt wall, it began to … flicker. Like a mirage, it became wavy and then transparent, before disappearing completely and revealing a deep, black, open tunnel straight into the mountain.
Sage gasped behind me, and a tear slid down my cheek as the relief of an entire year’s worth of search culminated in this one moment.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Sage without looking over my shoulder. I walked straight into the darkness. Blue flames flared to life at my sides simultaneously, causing me to jump a little.
I got this. I was made for this. I’m ready. I had to talk myself through it.
As I stepped deeper into the cave, the temperature dropped and the smell of magic became pungent. I could nearly taste it, like hot metal and electricity. Astra never actually told me what I would find in this cave or what I was really going to do when I got here.
With each step, more lanterns lit, until a faint blue glow flickered in the very center.
Steeling my breath, I walked into the large opening, toward the blue light.
Holy mother of shifters.
The tunnel had opened up into a giant cavern, too tall and too wide for my brain to fathom. The entire mountain must be hollow…
The sides of the walls were filled with rich, green, creeping vines, and brilliantly colored flowers. Around the border of the space was a ring of weeping willows that glowed with the vibrant blue hue that lit up the entire space. These trees, this place, it was … magic.
My skin buzzed with electricity as my wolf came closer to the surface out of curiosity. Following a stony path, I walked through the outer ring of glowing weeping willows and into the center of the mountain. It was a good ten minute walk through a legit fairytale garden. The white crushed stone path glowed supernaturally as it led me weaving in and out of vibrant ferns and wild dandelions, all growing out of a bright green bed of moss. I ducked under vines and trees until finally I reached an opening that seemed to be in the center of the mountain.
There in the middle of the mossy ground was a flat stone tablet.
I stared at the sentence engraved on the stone and squirmed, scared to read it aloud. But I knew I must. I’d come all this way, been through too much to turn back now.
I also noticed an engraved handprint underneath, where I assumed I was supposed to put my hand. My eyes skimmed over the words as I prepared to say them aloud.
I, NAME, give everything that I am to this land, and to my people, and I pray that I be found worthy of leading them.
What if I wasn’t found worthy? What would happen? Would I never make it home?
Only one way to find out. With a final gulp, I bent on one knee before the gray stone tablet and placed my hand over the impression.
“I, Demi Spirit Moon Hudson-Calloway, give everything that I am to this land, and to my people, and I pray that I be found worthy of leading them,” I said with a healthy mixture of confidence and fear.
The moment the final word left my lips, an electrical jolt shot up my arm and into my body. I was thrown backward as the blue light from the willow trees suddenly snaked out in long, thin, strands and wrapped around me, lifting me into the air.
I gasped then as I felt the consciousness of thousands of people merge with mine.
‘Alpha,’ I heard Astra whimper.
‘Alpha,’ Rab huffed in awe.
I felt Willow and Arrow and all of the other Paladins, most of whom I didn’t even know their names yet. I felt their love for their people, their land, love for me, and it filled me up until every corner of my soul was completely void of loneliness.
Tears trickled down my cheeks as my wolf howled inside of me.
‘I’m coming home,’ I told them.
Still suspended in midair, there was a pulse, a knocking against my sternum, and then more connections invaded my consciousness. Water, trees, soil, it was all alive. The Paladin land was special. It was linked to this cave and I knew that now. The Dark Woods were sacred, only for alphas, and Sage’s presence here was not allowed. It was like the trees were talking to me, telling me all of this.
I mentally sent an I’m-sorry-for-Sage-being-here, and then the magic set me back down and released its wisps from my body.
Something flickered before me, and I blinked rapidly to make sure I wasn’t going insane.
The ghost of a man stood before me. He was tall, with long silky brown hair. When I studied the shape of his face, my jaw opened in shock … I looked like him.
Running Spirit.
He smiled at me, bowing his head deeply before another flicker of light shimmered to his left and Red Moon popped into view. The old man who had saved me from my fall at t
he base of waterfall mountain looked ten years younger as he beamed down at me and bowed deeply. Another flicker, and then another, as all of my ancestors appeared and each bowed to me before they started to walk in a circle around me. I wept as the emotions all became too much. Everything around me spun as dizziness washed over me. The spirits of my ancestors started to fade and I wiped away my tears.
“Thank you,” I croaked, while the room spun harder, and I wondered if I was going to pass out. There was a popping noise, and then I blinked, confused.
What the…?
I was at the top of the mountain now … standing in front of the large wooden tree trunk with all of the previous names engraved in the roughhewn bark.
Was the cave … a portal? I shivered at the thought. That had been some crazy stuff down there. The magic, feeling Rab and Astra, and then seeing Red and everyone. I did it … I felt my pack, my land, everything. I was their alpha. The trial was over and I was found worthy.
I needed to get back to Sage and Creek, but I knew there was one last thing to do. Bending down, I pulled my hunting knife from my belt and finished carving my name. I’d started the D all those months ago, but knowing it felt wrong I’d stopped, sensing it was something all of the others did only when they had completed their time here.
Demi Spirit Moon. When I was finished, I sat back and observed my accomplishment.
I did it. I found the cave. I was found worthy. Now I got to go home. Tears streamed down my face as I placed my hand on the flat wood and caressed each name of my ancestors.
“Goodbye. Thank you,” I murmured as I stood, preparing to make my way back down the mountain. Then I heard a very distinctive sound.
A wolf’s growl.
More specifically, Sage’s wolf’s growl.
“I’m coming!” I took off down the mountain, veering down the path that would hopefully lead me to them. Why was Sage in wolf form? If she was a wolf, where the hell was my baby? As I ran, my own wolf surged to the surface, leaping out of my body and solidifying in front of me. I nearly toppled off the side of the cliff as I ran vampire fast, until I skidded to a stop behind the giant black bear, who reared up on his hind legs and roared.
My breath caught in my throat. He was about to slam down on Sage’s small wolf, Sage who stood protectively over my sleeping baby with her lips peeled back in a snarl.
‘STOP!’ I mentally commanded the bear, throwing my hands forward. An unseen force slammed into the giant beast. He shook, and then froze, giving Sage’s wolf enough time to grab the cloth of the shoulder sling and drag my sleeping Creek out of harm’s way. The bear was frozen, standing in an awkward position, and I wondered if I’d done that. I took two steps until I was facing him, and shock ripped through me to find him literally frozen. His eyes moved frantically left and right but his mouth was unmoving, open in a roar, his paws stuck in midair.
I’d told him to stop … but I didn’t think … whoa. Was this some new Paladin alpha power? Or one I’d always had and never knew about?
Then I heard the most beautiful sound in the world.
The drums.
The Paladin drums that would lead us home.
“I said I’m sorry for having Sage here! Now we’re leaving and I don’t want any more trouble while I escort her out of the sacred woods,” I told the bear, the trees, and whoever else was listening.
‘Go!’ I shouted, and the bear slammed down onto all four paws and took off running up the mountain and away from us.
When I turned back around, Sage was back in her human form, dressed and cradling my baby to her chest.
“I take it you found the cave?” She looked wide-eyed at the bear now fleeing us.
I nodded, the beat of the drums so loud it practically vibrated my entire body. “And that’s our way out. Come on!”
Sage frowned confusedly, looking at the direction I pointed.
I stopped. “The drums, don’t you hear them?”
Her frown grew deeper as she shook her head.
Hmm, must be a Paladin thing.
She handed Creek to me, and in one quick move I slung him over my chest before looping my arm through Sage’s.
“Let’s go home,” I told her.
She seemed unsure, as if she didn’t want to put hope in something that wasn’t going to pan out. But I’d never been surer of anything. I could feel them—my pack, my people, my land. The Paladins were waiting for me. Pulling her forward, I forced her to take the first few steps until finally she started to quickly walk in stride with me.
“We’re going home?” Sage seemed like she was in shock. The beating of the drums grew louder with each step away from the mountain.
I nodded. “Home to potato chips, cupcakes, and make-up!” I grinned.
A smile finally tugged at Sage’s lips. “I just can’t wait to shave my legs.”
We both burst into laughter as I led her forward. The trees had parted in such a way that a path had formed.
“Manis and pedis!” Sage screamed out in joy.
“TV and air conditioning!” I shouted.
“Pillow-top mattresses!”
“Underwear!”
“Shampoo!”
“Salt!”
“Ranch dressing!”
I burst out laughing.
“Instagram!”
“Shopping!” Sage cried out.
“Sawyer…” My voice lowered in reverence as I realized what this meant. I was finally going home to him.
Sage nodded. “Walsh too. Boys in general, really. I can’t wait to get laid.”
I threw my head back and laughed throatily. Good thing the baby was too young to know what that meant.
The trees had rearranged themselves to create a four-foot-wide trail right down the mountain, clearly a path the woods had made to lead us home, and we were going as fast as we could without tripping.
“It’s been a year,” I said, almost speaking to myself. “What if…?”
“It’ll be fine. Whatever it is, we can deal with it together.”
I could sense Astra, Willow, Rab and the others were alive, but not how they felt or where exactly they were. These conscious threads binding me to them were new to me, and I was still trying to figure them out.
When I recognized the section of the woods we’d just stepped through, I nearly burst into a sob. The trees were thinning, and the bronze plaque that warned of the danger of the Dark Woods glinted in the fading light.
“We made it!” I cried, and the drums beat louder as if whoever was pounding on them sensed my closeness.
Running full throttle now, tears streaming down both of our faces, I passed the Paladin farmlands, still black from disease—but a few new green buds had formed from the looks of them. Whatever had happened in the cave had worked! We ran harder, coming into town.
That’s when I noticed something was wrong. The buildings didn’t look right. The blackness wasn’t disease … it was … soot, like they’d been burned. Some of them were half caved in.
I skidded to a stop, just in time to see half a dozen Ithaki step out from behind a shelled-out Paladin home. They were dragging a large cage behind them with some type of animal inside. The sight of the Ithaki walking through Paladin Village made a growl rise in my throat. As they drew closer, my gaze fell onto what was inside the cage and a scream ripped from my throat.
Astra.
Underfed, dirty, and banging that little drum like her life depended on it. Her ankles were shackled, brown limp hair so long it was well past her shoulders. My heart nearly stopped right there at the sight of her. When she looked up at me, her hand froze in midair and a grin swept across her face. She looked so grown up … but there was a darkness in her blue eyes that hadn’t been there before. They’d broken her, taken her innocence.
Motherfuckers.
“Ahh, the demon has finally shown up,” one of the Ithaki said, holding a long whip in his hand. Another half dozen Ithaki stepped out behind them, and I knew I wasn’t getting Astra
out of that cage without a fight.
Unbridled rage surged up inside of me as I slowly unslung baby Creek and handed him to Sage. “Go to the bunker,” I said through clenched teeth. “I’ll meet you there. Get him safely inside.”
Sage’s eyes widened as she took the baby. “No way. I’m not leaving you to fight alon—”
“Run, and don’t stop until you reach the bunker under the school,” I ordered her.
“No,” Sage growled, her eyes going yellow as she looked at the dozen Ithaki now pulling weapons from behind their backs.
“Yes,” I growled. “I need to know Creek is safe or I can’t fight properly,” I told her. “I need you to trust me, Sage. Everything is different now. That cave changed me. I’ll kill every single one of these motherfuckers before they lay a finger on me or Astra.”
She eyed the dozen Ithaki behind me, who had now started to advance with weapons drawn.
“You sure you have enough power to fight them all?”
I grinned, magic coursing through my veins stronger than ever before.
“They’ll wish they never laid a hand on Astra.” Then I quickly kissed Creek’s soft head. “Mommy loves you.”
With a final nod, Sage took off running.
I wasn’t worried about her ability to take care of herself or my baby now that she was out of the cursed woods. Sage was a badass who wouldn’t stop until Creek was safe in the bunker with Sawyer. But I wasn’t leaving here without Astra.
No way in hell.
“Let her go and I won’t kill you,” I calmly told the Ithaki as magic built up inside of me.
They burst into laughter, looking at each other with wide expressions like I must be joking.
Astra peered up at me, collapsing back into the cage in exhaustion, her little drum falling at her feet. Something dark and feral snapped inside of me.
I thrust my hands out, sending a shockwave of energy at the group of Ithaki. Their bodies blew backward as if they’d been hit by a car, and I kicked off the ground, running right at them with vampire speed. The first one looked up at me with wide, terrified eyes and pointed ears right as I put my hunting blade to his neck and dragged it across his throat, before moving to the next.
