Page 43 of An Arcane Education
Breathing deeply, I allow my mind to roam as I process everything that’s happened over the last week. Remembering what Alaric had said about my emotions, I focus firston the one that’s been lingering in my mind for almost a week now. Every time I remember that my dad attended school here, I’m overcome by waves of conflicting emotions. Relief that I have a deeper connection to him than I once thought. Disappointment that there was no way for me to know. Confusion about why Professor Showen acted the way she did and hasn’t acknowledged it since.
Instead of brushing the thoughts aside, I let them travel through my mind at whatever speed they come and go, and there’s an ache in my chest as I think again about my dad.
It’s an odd feeling to miss someone you’ve never met, to grieve not only your loss of them, but the fact that you never had any time together in the first place.
I’ve been putting off asking the other professors about my father after Professor Showen’s strange reaction, but I can’t any longer. Otherwise, it’ll weigh on the back of my mind forever. I have to ask the others.
With that decision made, I breathe a little easier.
About halfway through my walk, an idea hits me. I was able to connect with my plant in the lab and sense its needs, so could I do that on a larger scale?
I stop walking and close my eyes, focusing on opening myself up to the nature around me. I’m surrounded by evergreens and deciduous trees, ferns and salal, moss and fungi. It only takes a second before I’m overwhelmed with my awareness of the vast collective consciousness of the world around me. It’s like a second heartbeat, or an expanse in my chest opening after it’s been closed off forever. It’s nothing short of incredible.
Beginning to walk again, I’m both soothed and awed by the energetic hum of the forest.
I start cataloging what I pass and attempt to connect individually with each plant I mentally label.
The first I focus on is a western sword fern, with its fronds arranged in that distinctive upright pattern.
Next, a tree with smooth, pale gray bark. Red alder, I think.
Then devil’s club, with its bright red berries.
I continue like this for a while, mentally reciting the names of plants I recognize while finding that singular thread of energy amongst the larger natural connection.
Fog drifts through the trees in wisps that thicken gradually, obscuring more of the forest as I walk until I can no longer make out the details of plants that aren’t within a few feet of me. Since I’m already more than halfway through the trail, I decide to finish the loop, confident I won’t get lost considering the distinctive path.
I’m enjoying my calm connection with the world around me when there’s a shift. It’s subtle at first, but the farther I walk, the more it weighs down on me. Whatever friendly bond I’ve been feeling with the plants is replaced by something heavier.
It’s the wary sensation of being watched, stalked by something unseen. It’s similar to the feeling I got the last time I explored the woods, though that time it hadn’t been until I veered off the trail that I’d felt this sense of unease, ofwrongness.
Nothing else indicates a predator. The forest is still alive with the sounds of small animals and insects, and there’s no other sound besides that. I keep walking,though, deciding that it’d be worse to stop and look around, which would indicate to whoever—or whatever—is watching me that I’m aware of being observed.
My stomach twists with unease, and I gradually speed up my pace in a way that’s subtle enough to not be immediately noticeable.
The words of the guy at the party last weekend echo in my mind.Over the last thirty years, over a dozen students have disappeared from the island. Some say the missing students have been sacrificed out in the forest.
My heart rate ratchets up, even as I shake my head to rid myself of the thought.He was just trying to scare you, I tell myself. Even from my brief interactions with him, it was clear that he’s the type who likes to stir up trouble.
But then Alaric’s warning from that first night in the greenhouse comes back to me as well, when he told me it was unwise to walk alone at night in a place where magic exists without inhibition.
But what kind of threats could possibly be out here? If there truly were something dangerous on this island, the administration would surely warn everyone, right?
Behind me, a branch snaps, and I jump. But when I look over my shoulder while walking at a brisk pace, there’s nothing but an empty trail concealed by thick fog.
I fight the urge to run, and when I finally see the opening in the treeline ahead, relief crashes through me.
I’m safe.
But it’s only when I'm back on paved pathways that run through campus that I allow myself to stop and breathe properly. My hands shake as I check my watch. Still fifty minutes until my last class of the day.
I make my way back to my dorm room and grab my bag before heading toward the botanical sciences building, attempting to reason with myself about my experience in the forest. The fog made things feel eerie. Opening up my magic in such a vast and diverse area confused my senses. Yeah, that must be it. I’m inexperienced, and my nervous system was overwhelmed by that much input.
But as I walk through the nearly empty stone hallways, unable to see anything out the windows now that the fog has fully descended, I can't shake the sensation of having been watched.
And as much as I tell myself I was simply being paranoid, I can’t fully convince myself to believe it.
CHAPTER 17
