Free Brightly (Flicker #2) by Kaye Thornbrugh Page B

Everything’s different now. You change, and before you know it, you can’t go back.” He looked at Lee with somber eyes. “You don’t feel different when you go back to Bluewood?”
    Lee thought of her visits with Kendall. The town looked more or less the same as it had when she’d lived there. Visually, it was the place that existed in her memory, the place where she’d grown up. But she knew better. Bluewood looked the same, but it felt different—or maybe Lee was the one who felt different, those missing seven years hanging over her, and newfound magic swirling in her blood.
    Whether she was walking the streets or sitting in Kendall’s living room, she felt slightly on-edge. If she passed a stranger on the sidewalk, or a place she used to frequent, she felt a sudden rush of nerves, her skin prickling. Some part of her was always waiting for her otherness to be called out. Maybe she always would be.
    She met Jason’s gaze. “When I go to Bluewood, I feel like another species.”
    “Then you know what we mean,” Jason replied.
    They stood on the deck in silence, watching the water slip past.
    Eventually, another island appeared on the horizon. Even from a distance, it was a little gem, covered in dark evergreens. Henry didn’t steer them past this island; instead, he turned the boat toward it and circled around toward the other side.
    The boat passed beneath the shadow of a cliff and a patch of rocky shoreline where squawking seabirds soared over the rocks. Eudora rounded into a bay, where a floating dock jutted from an empty beach.
    After Henry guided Eudora to the dock, he was the first off the boat, followed by Davis and Clementine, who helped him tie and anchor it. The others gathered their belongings and climbed down onto the dock.
    Even as Filo stepped onto the sand, he looked queasy. Lee knew he’d been miserable during the voyage—not just seasick, but magic-sick. Running water washed magic away; even heavy rain could make spell-casting nearly impossible. Salt water was even more powerful, excellent for purging magic and breaking its hold. The sea disrupted the flow of all their magic, but it clearly hit Filo hardest.
    The beach was unmarked by footprints. It was beautiful, Lee thought, but there was something isolated and wild about this place. Still, it was a mild relief to be on solid ground again.
    Above the empty stretch of beach, the trees were dense and dark, as if guarding some secret. The only break in the trees was a narrow path that disappeared into the woods. Lee shifted one bag in her hand, thinking of the woods outside of Bluewood, the woods that were full of faeries. What lurked in these trees?
    “This way.” Clementine started toward the path. She started up the shadowy trail without hesitation, and the others followed her.
     
* * *
     
    Somehow, the forest was less threatening when Lee was surrounded by it. Winding up the trail of hard-packed earth, she marveled at the trees, which glowed green as shafts of sunlight ducked among their branches. She could hear the island all around her—wind, birdsong, the distant rush of water down at the beach—and she could smell the tang of evergreens and earth.
    When they reached a fork in the trail, Henry pointed toward the path on the right, which dipped downward.
    “Most of the houses are that way,” he said. “Down by Gilbert Beach—along the waterfront, and just into the woods. A couple of people live on the other side of the island, but those houses are empty right now. Our house is this way.” He indicated the other trail, which cut a narrow path through the vegetation, sloping upward into the trees.
    They followed him in silence. Wildflowers and mushrooms crowded along the edges of the path, and Lee’s hands itched for her sketchbook.
    After several minutes of uphill hiking, the path leveled out. They emerged into a field where a brisk wind bent the tall grass, carrying with it the sharp scent of the sea. Beyond it was the edge