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Coral studied Sadie, her gaze trying to read her. “Different?”
“I went to Crow Moon yesterday and bought a few things.”
“How about we find a table, and we can talk more about it.” Coral guided Sadie inside, where a sign read to seat themselves. They took one of the small booths tucked into the back corner, and as soon as they sat down, an older woman with gray hair took their drink order. “So, you bought some items from Kalina’s shop, and I take it something happened?”
Sadie fidgeted with the edge of her black T-shirt. “The dowsing rods I bought moved.” Even though she’d seen the shadow spinning it.
Sadie still couldn’t tell Coral that River might be a shadow in places, that somehow she’d seen him the past few nights, spoken with him. When she lived with Charlie, her nightmares had felt real, but never like this, never this vivid.
Coral nodded. “I’ve never seen anything supernatural, and I already told you I didn’t spot anything in those woods, but I still believe in it. Just because I didn’t see anything doesn’t mean you can’t. I don’t know what’s out there and whether the rumors people have said are true or not, but you seem to have experienced something. Not only that, but you might need to protect yourself. Kalina told me in the past that some spirits will feed off of emotions. You could always do a reading with her.”
“Maybe.” Most people would think she was being foolish, but Sadie’s heart told her it was River, even as a voice seemed to whisper in her ear that these could be tricks of the mind, that she could be going insane.
“If you ever need an escape from the cabin, my door is always open. That will never change.”
“Thank you, Coral.”
“Of course, you’ve always been like a daughter to me.” Coral smiled, tears beading her lashes when she squeezed Sadie’s hand.
Sadie smiled in return just as the waitress came to the table with their drinks.
After finishing their meals, they parted ways, and Sadie’s anxious feeling came back to her in a rush as she drove back to the woods. She wondered if the animals would still be there, waiting, breathing.
When she arrived home, she gathered her laptop from the cabin and trekked to where the stag rested, the shadows slipping by her side. A single shadow lingered farther away, traveling up a tree as if watching her. Sadie wondered if it was River, and if it was, she would let him approach her if he chose to.
She sat beside the graceful animal and watched it in wonder. As she waited for night to fall, she worked on a magazine article that was due soon. Yet every few moments she would lose focus, glancing at the deer, thinking the stag’s eyes would be open and watching her. Only, it remained as it was.
Sadie wrote the last sentence of the article, then read through it several times, but she would have to wait and go another day to the coffee shop or library to use their Wi-Fi. It was a bit tedious, but at least it was keeping her busy until she could sleep.
As the sun started to set, she kept her gaze trained on the stag. Darkness rolled in and the wind started to blow. Just when she was about to chalk it up to the stag being locked in eternal sleep, the animal jolted, its eyes slowly opening, as if it was being pulled out of an enchanted slumber.
Sadie sat still to not frighten it, but as soon as the stag’s gaze fell on her, it shakily stood, then darted away from her through the trees, twigs snapping below its hooves. She cursed herself for not being ready to film it, but the whole occurrence had been too beautiful not to watch.
Sadie thought about the daily rotation of time. Silence in the morning. Sound at night. Music at … midnight… That was it.
Taking her laptop, she dropped it off at the cabin before heading to the secret place behind the vines in the woods. She watched as the shadows moved—something had to connect it all. She needed midnight to arrive, for the music to call to her, for River to be waiting for her below ground.
Sadie rested against a tree, continuously checking the time on her phone. Skyler and Charlie had both texted her earlier, but the conversations had been brief, nonchalant.
As the numbers on the phone changed to midnight, Sadie’s body grew limp, exhausted, her eyes closing of their own accord. But she forced them open to lit lanterns, the small fire, and a deep and low melody entwined with the wind. It was just the same as the previous nights—she would feel tired, forced to close her eyes, then the music would stir.
Ivory moths rose from the whispering trees, hovering above the circular opening in the ground. The creatures slipped out from behind their trunks, standing beneath the bobbing flames of the lanterns. They lifted their arms, their skeletal fingers pointing toward the entrance. The goat-skulled creature stepped through the vines, bowing its head, motioning her forward.
Sadie didn’t wait to ask if River was here—she knew they wouldn’t speak, and she craved what was to come. So she plucked a lantern from a tree, then raced down both flights of stone stairs until she found River in the center of the room, as he’d been the previous two nights. When she pressed her fingers to his cool skin, he warmed, just like before, coming to life, as if she’d woken her prince from death. The dagger fell from his hand, and he gazed intently at her.
“River.” She smiled with a sigh.
“I thought I told you to stay away from me,” he said in a gruff voice, yet folded his arms around her and pulled her to him.
“Talk to me,” she pleaded, her voice shaky. “Tell me what’s happening in these woods.”
He traced his fingers up her spine, brushing the tip of his nose against hers. “I want to, but it’s not time.” His fingers skimmed down her side and grasped her hand like before. “Dance with me once more.”
She blinked, staring at him as if he’d lost his mind. “We can’t just dance and not talk about anything.”
“For now, I think we can,” he purred and nudged her forward.
As if under a hypnotic spell, she gave in, following his steps like they’d done this a thousand times, spinning round and round until the room disappeared in a blur.
