Free The Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle Page B

The river bed was filled with large boulders and the water rushed along in foamy patches of white. Even from the water she felt a powerful pressure of energy. It looked a bit dangerous.
    Zolin walked into the water without hesitation. He was already barefoot so there was no need to remove shoes. His old Maya feet were tough she guessed. She’d been going barefoot much more often herself but her feet were used to designer shoes, manicured lawns, and concrete. The forest path had forced her to wear her hiking shoes here. She paused to take them off.
    Slipping the loop of rope attached to the end of her spear around her wrist, she hesitated a moment before following her grandfather into the water. It looked as though it was running pretty fast. This was nothing like the calm swimming hole she and Aiden frequented.
    “Don’t think of withstanding the current. Allow its energy to flow around you,” her grandfather encouraged.
    While the water looked too swift, Grandfather knew a lot more about what they were capable of than she did so she decided to trust him.
    Even though it was already hot out, the sun hadn’t had time to warm the water up yet. It felt like submerging her toe into ice. She paused to let herself adjust to it. Her energy spiked, leaving her feeling like she had just downed a quadruple espresso. The sensation passed and left her submerged legs warm. That was new. A moment later the water didn’t feel cold at all. It felt good.
    Walking in deeper, she made her way over to where her grandfather stood up to his waist in water. She found a shallower spot next to him, not quite willing to go in deeper than her own waist just yet. The water was moving fast. She felt it pushing against her and then thought about what her grandfather had said. The pressure eased and flowed around her, leaving her balanced and steady. Even when she moved her feet it didn’t threaten to sweep her way.
    “Excellent job. Now feel the weight of your spear, find where its balance is,” Grandfather instructed. 
    She lifted it in her right hand, getting used to its weight and balance. The shaft had no energy to it but the steel tip did.
    “Good. Now let your instincts find the fish,” he said as he turned his attention to the water.
    That sounded crazy. How were her instincts supposed to find the fish when she’d never fished a day in her life? Not wanting to disappoint him, she watched him very closely. His eyes were half closed against the glare of the sun off the water and his head moved from side to side, scanning. Suddenly, he thrust his spear into the white caps just in front of them. When he pulled it back to him there was a fish wriggling on the end of it. Laughing, he lifted it triumphantly and showed it to her.
    “Wow! How did you do that?” she asked. There was no way he could have seen it, not in the white caps.
    “I felt where it was. The water telegraphs their movement and if you’re paying attention to the energy of both, you will feel where the fish is,” he explained as he tossed the wiggling thing onto the grassy bank.
    Eren nodded and turned her attention back to the water. It sounded fascinating, she had to try it. At first she was distracted by the movement of the water around her. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to focus and try feeling for the energy. It was hard, at first the only fish she could feel was the one flopping on the bank and its energy was slowly fading. There was a stronger feeling energy that was similar to it in the water, just in front of her. Once she noticed it, she felt the fish’s movement—or rather its energy—in the water as it was trying to swim up river.
    She tuned into the energy of the steel tip of her spear and launched it toward the heart of the fish’s energy. When she pulled the spear back there was a fish on the end of it. It was smaller than her grandfather’s catch, but still close to six inches long. She whooped in triumph and presented it proudly to