Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
The older man called out, “You’re welcome,” but when I glanced over my shoulder, he had the most thoughtful expression.
Henri’s fingers laced through mine.
I let it happen, but I did lift our hands between us.
Henri peered at them too. “What do you think?”
I took in his shade of tan against mine. Then I met his eyes. “Fits pretty good, I think.”
He squeezed my fingers, not saying anything else as we walked out of the clubhouse.
The magic was richer than normal, I thought, as we headed to the golf cart building, and Henri wasted no time pulling out a two-seater with a little bed in the back. He steered us down the main path and away from the clubhouse. After a few minutes, we went in a different direction than I ever had before, the magic in the air getting that much stronger the further we got from the residential area.
Were we going into a more magical part of the forest? The nerves along my spine prickled.
He glanced at me. “Cold?”
I shook my head. “Not too bad. It’s the magic here.” I’d gotten used to it, for the most part, but now? It was hard not to shiver. Why hadn’t we ever gone this direction before? I could hear the river in the distance.
Henri nodded and kept driving, and sometime later, he let go of the accelerator and we rolled to a stop.
I perked up. “What’s that sound?” The trees were dense, but it was easy to see a land mass rising up ahead. And I could feel a faint hum of what felt like magic in the distance.
Henri slipped out of the golf cart and came around. “There’s a waterfall I want to show you.”
“Is this the waterfall?”
His face got scowly, but he nodded.
Too soon, I guessed. “I like waterfalls.”
“Come on, it isn’t too far,” he said, gesturing me to follow with a tick of his head.
I did. Henri hiked toward the hill, and I tagged along right behind him, so close I could grab his belt if I had to. The terrain was steep, but the path was clear and wider than a game trail. We hiked up and up a little more, the sound of water falling getting louder as we followed the switchback. Just as I started to get sweaty, the tree line broke.
There it was.
A tall, narrow waterfall, around 100 feet tall.
“It’s glowing,” I gasped, stunned.
Beside me, Henri smiled.
“Is it bioluminescent?” A faint pinkish purple glow covered the boulders alongside the cascade. I’d seen pictures of shores and lakes covered in the light-producing bacteria before, but those had always been blue.
“It’s not. It’s the magic here.”
That got me to turn toward him and away from the incredible glowing sight. “Really?” I was in awe, suddenly feeling like this might be the closest I ever got to a religious experience. It explained everything. How it smelled so good, and now that I had a chance to notice, it felt like I’d been plugged into a power outlet after taking a hit of some kind of drug. The urge to fall to my knees pressed at some part of my brain, and for once, it was easy to look away from Henri and focus on this.
There were purples! Pinks! Lilacs!
“It’s been like this as far back as our records of this land go. The stream never weakens, never runs out. It’s fed by that river you met yesterday,” Henri said in a steady voice that almost sounded reverent. “This is sacred land for us.”
I understood. Shimmering water pooled below it before exiting into a narrow creek. I blew out a low whistle of wonder. Of amazement.
This was what the boys had been looking for.
No wonder.
How could something like this exist? It could have come from a movie set for a different planet. Somewhere beautiful with jellyfish birds that hung from the glowing foliage and purple dragons that crept across massive branches of trees belonging in a jungle….
“My ancestors claimed that a large chunk of the meteor landed in this area. See the trees? Do you see how the trunks are twisted? They’re the oldest on the property. I’m not sure there’s anywhere else on Earth with trees that look like these. We’ve tested the water, and it’s totally uncontaminated. Probably some of the only water in this country that you can drink out of without worrying about bacteria.” He paused. “Not that we tell anyone about it.”
My lips formed an O. “You can drink it?”
“Sure.”
I wanted to try some of that water, dang it. I took a step forward just as he laughed, his hand reaching for the back of my shirt. “Only on a supermoon or a special occasion, tiger. We’ll all come out here and do it. It’s a ritual.”
“Oh. That makes sense.” I laughed. Sacred. Right.