Free The Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle Page A

easy to be around as an old friend. World history was his passion and his job. He taught at Spruce Knoll’s high school. It made the idea of going to a school full of channelers just a little less terrifying. At least she could run to her grandfather if someone went all atomic on her.
    She and Sylvia were eating breakfast when Eren heard her grandfather’s footsteps on the gravel driveway. He was going to take her fishing down at the river. It had sounded like a torturous way to spend a hot August afternoon, but she was eager to get to know him better.
    “Thanks Aunt Sylvia, see you tonight,” she called over her shoulder as she dashed out the door.
     The pancakes had been frightfully bad but she hadn’t had the heart to tell her that. Sylvia was still annoyingly apologetic about the way Eren had found out she was a channeler. Any criticism wouldn’t go over well right now. Grandfather’s timing couldn’t have been better. 
    It was still pretty dark since the sun hadn’t come all the way up and Eren could just make out the shadow of her grandfather approaching. When he got closer she realized he wasn’t carrying fishing poles, he was carrying spears. Her eyebrows rose and she wondered for a moment if he was kidding.
    “Eren, good morning, you ready?” he asked. The cheerful tone of his voice made her smile despite her reservations.
    “Yep. Um, we’re going to use spears?” she asked with a touch of disbelief.
    “Of course. The other way is so boring, don’t you think? We’ll do it the Maya way,” he said as he handed her a spear.
    Speechless, she accepted the spear. It was taller than she was and had a sharp steel head with little barbs sticking out of it. This would definitely be more exciting than sitting on a bank and watching a line bob. He surprised her by walking around the back of the house and heading straight out into the forest.
    “You haven’t discovered this way to the river yet?” he asked when he saw her shocked look.
    “No, I didn’t realize our land went back so far,” she admitted.
    It was at least two miles to the bridge and the river wound farther west after it passed beneath it. Which meant their land was a lot more than just a few acres. More like a few thousand. That seemed totally unreal. Where Eren was from people lived on lots that weren’t even close to a quarter of an acre.
    There wasn’t much underbrush and the lowest limbs of the trees were well above her head which made for easy traveling. Since the sun wasn’t all the way up yet it was somewhat dark but Eren had no problem seeing through the trees. What she couldn’t see, she could feel. Trees and plants had energy too. It was kind of strange to feel it after all these years of seeing such things as mere greenery. The sensitivity to energy was overwhelming at times but she was learning that she could dampen it when she didn’t need to see or feel it.
    Now she understood why it felt so much better to run here than it had felt in L.A. It wasn’t just the air quality, it was the lack of concrete.
    “With all the plants and open space here it feels so much better than it did in L.A. How could I have not noticed this before?” Eren asked.
    Her grandfather’s smile faded. “Because your power wasn’t fully awakened yet,” he said.
    “Does it always happen when we’re sixteen?” she asked.
    “No, but being among other channelers makes one awaken earlier. The energy of our kind calls out to its own. Stress brings it about faster as well,” he said. 
    Eren wondered if that was part of why her parents had raised her among normal people. She didn’t ask though. Talking about them was too hard.
    In about a mile the majority of trees changed from spruce to aspen. Birds sang to the sun as it rose and bathed the forest in its bright light. The rushing sound of water had become so loud that she knew they had to be almost there. After another turn through a thick copse of aspens, they crested a hill and saw the river.