Page 1 of Evergreen

Chapter 1

Linden

The grove was silent under a fresh blanket of snow. Moonlight danced off the empty boughs heavy with powder. All the earth was still and quiet under a clear sky full of stars. But it was still breathing, still living, still… green in its own way. I could feel it.

I lay on my back, fingers laced behind my head, and stared into the inky darkness above. Dawn was still a couple of hours away, but this was my favorite time of the night to look up. It was at that moment when the band of the Milky Way came into view, a spilled cluster of stars streaking across the sky. It made me feel small and insignificant, but not in a bad way. Because I knew, even though I was absolutely minuscule in comparison to the cosmos, the part I played was important. I cared for the trees, for the grove, and helped the earth live to her greatest potential. That was my power, my gift. And that was beautiful.

My stomach growled loudly, disturbing the winter silence around me.

“Hungry…” I grumbled, one hand coming to rest on my belly.

The cafeteria wouldn’t be open yet, not on the first day back from winter break. Besides, I still had to trek down to the teleportation circle to get back on campus, anyway. However, there was a gas station a mile down the road from my grove, and it was always open. And potato chips, the really cheesy kind with the ridges, sounded really fucking good right now.

I rolled to my feet with a grunt, brushing the snow from my jeans and the back of my hoodie. My breath came out in cloudy plumes as I picked my way back through the grove toward the tree line. The snow was soft beneath my boots, cushioned even further by the years of fallen leaves and needles beneath it.

I found the edge of my grove where the ancient oaks gave way to the younger forest beyond, and I pressed my palms against the rough bark of the oldest sentinel tree. The shift was always easiest here, at the threshold between my world and theirs.

My skin tingled as the bark texture faded from my fingertips, replaced by smooth human flesh. My olive green skin faded into a warm brown, the golden veins I loved so much disappearing from view. I even managed to shrink a few inches, going from an imposing seven feet to just over six. However, the bulk of my body and the thick muscles, those didn’t go anywhere. That was just how I was shaped.

I looked down at myself, running a hand through my short, dark hair. The hoodie and jeans were a little looser now, but not ill-fitting. Still, I’d learned a long time ago to make sure I bought clothes big enough for my full dryad form and not my human one. They had a tendency to rip to shreds when I shifted. And going to a gas station naked would definitely raise some eyebrows.

“Okay, Linden,” I said to myself, my voice sounding strange in the crisp night air. “Chips. Maybe some pistachios. And a Gatorade. The blue one.”

I made my way through the remaining trees toward the road, my boots crunching on the snow. My human body was always colder than my dryad form, and I could feel the chill biting at my cheeks and fingertips. But there was something nice about it, too. It was a sort of sharp clarity that told me I was separate from the earth, at least for a little while. And while I felt that way, I could pretend to be normal, just for a bit.

Twenty minutes later, the gas station lights came into view through the darkness, a warm beacon of fluorescent yellow cutting through the winter night. Sure enough, they were open. It was one of those twenty-four-hour places that never truly closed down. Being located near a major freeway, they had no reason to. There was always someone coming and going, no matter the time or the weather. They had an attached deli that I really liked, too. That, however, was closed right now since it was probably close to five in the morning.

I pushed through the glass door, a little bell chiming overhead to announce my arrival. The warmth of the gas station wrapped around me like a blanket, and I couldn’t help but sigh in relief. My fingers tingled as the feeling returned to them.

The clerk behind the counter barely glanced up from his phone. Good. I didn’t need any weird looks or conversations. I just needed snacks and to get back to the teleportation circle for the start of the next term.

I made my way to the chip aisle, my footsteps echoing slightly in the quiet store. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting everything in that particular shade of artificial brightness that made all human buildings feel surreal in the dead of night. I grabbed the ridged cheddar chips. The good ones, of course. The ones that left your fingers orange and tasting like salty heaven. From there I headed toward the coolers, looking for my blue drink.

That’s when I felt it.

A tingle at the back of my neck, the kind that made my skin prickle. It wasn’t the same as the connection I felt to the grove. It felt like… magic. And it was close. I froze, a blue bottle halfway to my chest, and let my senses expand the way I’d learned to do over the past couple of years at the academy.

There was something in this gas station that wasn’t quite human. And it was watching me.

I could feel it like a second heartbeat in the fluorescent-lit space, a presence that thrummed with power and purpose. It was faint, whoever or whatever it was. And it was hiding from me.

I slowly turned my head, scanning the aisles with new awareness. My dryad senses weren’t as sharp in the human world of buildings and electricity, but they were still there, still working. And they were telling me that I wasn’t the only supernatural being in that gas station.

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly. Maybe I was just being paranoid. After all, it wasn’t like I was the only paranormal creature in that part of the world. We were everywhere now. In fact, most like me had fully assimilated into human culture, remaining in human form for most of their lives and following the Elder Council’s rules. It wasn’t uncommon for a werewolf pack to live in the city or a coven of witches to start an HOA. It’s what we had to do to survive in this world that was continually getting smaller.

No, whoever was here at the gas station wanted nothing to do with me. Why would they? I was just a dryad with a small grove of trees. I wasn’t anything special. I didn’t have connections, and I didn’t stir up trouble. They probably didn’t even know I was there.

Best to just ignore it and get my pistachios.

I grabbed a bag of roasted and salted pistachios from the shelf, my fingers brushing against the cool plastic. The presence at the back of my neck didn’t fade, though. If anything, it intensified, like someone had turned up the volume on a radio I couldn’t quite hear.

Fuck it. I wasn’t going to let some mysterious magical signature ruin my snack run. I’d been trained at Widdershins for almost four years now. I could handle a little supernatural interference in a gas station. Probably.

I made my way to the counter, my arms full of snacks. The clerk was still absorbed in his phone, scrolling through something with the kind of vacant expression that suggested he’d long since stopped caring about anything happening around him. I couldn’t blame him. Working the graveyard shift at a gas station had to be soul-crushing.

I set my items down on the counter, and the clerk, without looking at me, scanned my items. “That’ll be sixteen forty-three,” he mumbled at last.

I pulled out my wallet, and paid the man. The bell over the door chimed, and I let out a sigh of relief as the strange magical signature faded. It was just a customer after all. Maybe even that trucker at the coffee station. No reason to get worked up.