Free A Path of Oak and Ash by M.P. Reeves Page B

Perhaps this living bridge system was no different.  Simply a type of technology, not magic, he hadn’t seen before. 
    With every muscle in his body protesting his minds decision, he took a step forward into the open air. Expecting the rush of wind against his face, followed by the sharp pain of his body cracking on against the dirt.  An end to this otherworldly ride that had started just outside his own home.
    There was no rush of wind, no relief from his surroundings, no pain.  Just a thick mesh of foliage under his boots.
    And it soothed him.  Carrick did not understand how or why, but he felt...safe. A fool for believing he would plummet from his home.
    His home?
    Yes.  His home.  The city itself would ensure his safety, it was something he knew in his heart.  As crazy as that sounded.  Walking down the shifting stair, he felt more secure than he had since he was a small child sitting on his mother’s lap. The feeling had been so intense he had to turn around once his feet landed on the stone path, his eyes searching the emptiness between the grassy area and the door carved into a jutting branch two stories up for traces of the path.  The base of the trunks were thicker than a house.  Larger than any Washington Redwood by leaps and bounds.
    “It is just as beautiful from the outside is it not?”
    “I felt...”
    “Protected, I know.  Elderwood has been in our family for centuries.  She loves all the offspring of our line.”
    Carrick frowned, the idea of a thinking feeling plant was more off putting than conversations with Arcedes.
    “Today you start your written studies with the young to catch you up a bit. I will personally oversee your physical and metaphysical instruction. By the Autumn Equinox you should have a sufficient background to begin attunement preparation.”
    “Autumn?  It’s spring now.”
    “Yes, you have a number of months to go.”
    “Wait."  Carrick stopped walking, throwing up his hands.  "Just wait a damn minute here.  You still haven’t told me anything about who those men were and why they’re after me.  Further we don’t know for sure that my Mom is gone. I should be back there looking for her, not hiding here for months sitting on my thumbs.”
    “I told you to assume-”
    “Yeah well where I’m from we have a phrase about assumptions.”
    “Carrick, you do not know what you are up against.”
    “Because you don’t tell me.”
    “It’s not time.”
    “Why?  Do the moons have to align and the flowers all point west before we can talk about it?  Should I sprinkle a little ground banana dust on the grass to invoke a conversation on the topic?”
    Erik's jaw clenched.  “Stop trying my patience boy.”
    “Or what?”  Carrick crossed his arms.
    “There is no threat to give, you will learn your place the hard way or the easy way.”
    “That is so typica-” Carrick couldn’t finish his sentence.  The words died in his throat.  It wasn’t that he forgot what he was going to say, the words were still in his mind, his mouth just simply would not comply with the annunciation.  Three more times he attempted to open his mouth, thrice more he simply opened and shut his lips gaping like a fish out of water.
    Erik smiled, revealing dimpled cheeks.  He leaned down into Carrick, his face inches away as he whispered to him.  “You are blood of my blood which gives you some advantage, but you are still a young fool. An ignorant babe tossed to the wilds becomes pray for the keen minded predator.  Believe me when I say there is nothing left for you in that world.  Maureen Smith left behind no living relative, her life will grace the papers briefly while they hunt for you and then no longer. Her property sold at auction, her name fading into a memory for acquaintances, a brief notion in passing.  You.  You are her legacy as much as you are Brannon’s.  For her, you need to stay alive.  Honor the sacrifices she made for you.  You will stay here, learn and