30. Elianna

Chapter thirty

Elianna

The dead grass crunched beneath our boots as we marched deeper into the land of The Elora Isles. The weight of Jace’s stare dug into my back until we were completely out of their sight. His nerves rattled down the bond, but I knew it wasn’t due to him believing we couldn’t handle ourselves but more that we were in a foreign land drenched in powerful magic.

We walked between the twisted trees, stepping over their gnarled roots and beneath moss-draped branches.

An uneasiness settled into me, one much more alarming than anything I had felt in the Sylis Forest. What lurked within that enchanted forest was ancient magic, but whatever grew and lurked here felt different—more powerful and dangerous .

“How deep into the marshland must we go?” Avery asked Veli.

Zaela stopped short in her tracks, startling me.

“What is it?” I asked as I followed her line of sight through the hazy fog.

“I thought I just saw…” she started .

“You saw nothing if you know what’s best for you,” Veli warned, tone softer than usual. “And Avery, we will walk until we are greeted by the ancient stone of Elora. It is at the center of this island. That is where I will call to my sisters.”

“By your blood…” she breathed.

Veli sighed. “Correct.”

The four of us began moving forward once more.

“What is it that you saw?” I asked Zaela in a whisper.

“Eyes. Glowing, crimson eyes. Looking right at us,” she answered with a gulp.

A shiver ran up my spine as my hand reached for the hilt of my sword at my hip.

Regardless of whether Veli had to actually summon her sisters, one thing was for certain… Something knew we were here.

We walked for miles, quietly following Veli’s lead, and in every direction we turned, I could sense that we weren’t alone. Animals called to each other from all sides as we passed, and we were each sure to listen to the witch’s instructions regarding looking straight ahead and paying no mind to the unsettling sounds.

Once deep into the forest, every single one of my senses went on high alert as the wood went completely silent and still, bringing our legs to a halt. Unease settled into me, and I instinctively stepped around Avery to get in front of her and block any potential threat .

“Veli,” I whispered to the back of her silver hair, as she remained looking forward into a dense line of trees.

“Shh,” she hushed me. The sorceress slowly turned to face us, her normally pale face somehow now even whiter than the snow that capped the Ezranian Mountains. “We have arrived.”

“I see nothing,” Avery interjected.

“And they say fae senses were once just as keen as our own,” Veli scoffed.

“Never in my life have I wished that I were something other than human until now,” Zaela muttered.

“You will all need to be silent for what happens next. Am I understood?” Veli eyed the three of us and I gave her a small nod as my stance remained in front of Avery, who had been unusually quiet since we arrived.

“Are you alright?” I asked my sister softly over my shoulder.

“Yes,” she whispered.

Any sign of the terror-stricken Veli disappeared as she took a single step closer to the trees before us and lifted her taloned hand, aiming toward them. “ Malifisc Venitian ,” she spoke, her voice radiating a power that I hadn’t yet heard from her.

As if commanded by the words, the twisted branches of the trees before us began to move . The sounds of their bark as it snapped and creaked filtered through the forest air. The ground beneath our feet rumbled, and Avery took hold of my shoulders as we both worked to balance ourselves to refrain from falling .

“Mother of the gods!” Zaela shrieked as she unsheathed her sword on instinct with one hand and held out her other for balance. Her eyes met mine, and all I saw was panic.

Veli’s neck whipped back toward us, and her eyes were glowing just as they had when she healed me in the dungeons all that time ago.

“No weapons!” she hissed, and Zaela immediately re-sheathed her sword and apologized as she worked to remain upright.

Veli’s focus went back to the shifting tree line before us. The embedded roots forcefully ripped themselves out of the terrain, causing their connected trunks to be carried away in their wake as we watched in disbelief. My eyes followed one of them, and I had to hold in my gasp as the roots silently coiled back into the soil, relocating the tree to a new area.

Suddenly, the entire forest was silent again. The branches and roots were frozen in place once more, as if they had originally grown where they now stood.

My gaze moved back to the witch before us, whose focus remained forward on what the trees had been guarding.

An entrance resembling a cave materialized before her—an archway of stone with intricate ancient symbols etched into its surface. The arch revealed nothing but the forest's ongoing existence on the opposite side. The woods suddenly darkened, even though we were completely shielded from the sun by the mist and canopy of the trees.

Veli turned to us, her glowing eyes beginning to fade. “There will be no turning back now. ”

I hesitantly stepped up to her side. “What was that spell you just said to have the trees reveal that arch?”

“It was not a spell. It was an announcement in the tongue of the gods,” she answered, as the other two joined us where we stood.

“Well, what did you announce?” Avery asked.

Veli’s stare remained on the ancient doorway she conjured. “A witch has arrived.”