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“Another addition to the growing list of injured animals in these woods, Tom. Fortunately, this one’s life was saved by Juniper here. Whatever attacked it must have heard us coming and run away, in alarm, into the forest. Think you can help?”
The ranger scratched his head thoughtfully, then nodded twice. “Sure. Let me go grab a few herbs that will help calm the beast down. I think there’s some space in the barn where it can stay until it can survive on its own again. Set it down on that workbench over there.”
Rowan set down the buck on the surface the ranger had indicated, then rolled his shoulders as if he had just finished a leisurely run.
Juniper, with an effort, focused on the ranger, who had turned and headed into the house. As soon as he was out of sight, Juniper approached the workbench with the injured buck.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Rowan asked in a hushed voice, glancing at the door of the hut.
“I just want to see if I can find out what happened to our friend here. I could tap into its memories and see a quick vision of what attacked it.”
“Oh…” Rowan cocked his head in confusion. “Wait, you can make your…visions…happen?” he asked slowly.
“Yeah. I can control my powers now. Well, to a reasonable extent. I’ve learned how to trigger my visions when I need to.”
“Wow…” Rowan said with a raised brow. “It’s great how much you’ve grown. Well, be quick about it. It would be impossible to explain the chants and visions to a man like Tom.”
Juniper got down on her knees beside the buck. The buck watched her suspiciously with scared eyes.
“It’s alright, champ,” Juniper said soothingly. “I don’t want to harm you. I was hoping you could show me what hurt you so much. Help me see what happened to you, champ. Yes, I know you can do that for me.”
Softly, Juniper began chanting again. Her hair whipped up in a halo around her head, and her eyes turned a bright purple. “Show me, champ. Show me what happened to you…”
Juniper placed a hand on the buck and shot out of her body immediately. Her head rocked backward as millions of memories came rushing into her mind, threatening to rip her consciousness into shreds.
She gripped onto her anchor, and withstood the powerful wave of images. The buck let her in, making it easier for her to float on the current of its memories.
And then, Juniper was in the buck’s mind. She calmly sifted through memories, searching for the one right before it was attacked. She navigated like an expert captain on a familiar sea.
When she found what she sought, she became the buck, embodying the experience, sensing and feeling everything that happened around her.
Juniper, the deer, dashed through the forest, enjoying a lovely morning run. They leaped and bounded energetically. The woods was theirs. The tall grass wheezed by as they flew past, the rabbits scurrying out of their path as they came running.
And then a blur rushed past them. They didn’t know what it was. The next thing they knew, they were on the floor, bleeding. Dying. They could feel their limbs twitching, the life draining out of them. They were growing cold…they were dying…
Juniper was booted out of the vision by an invisible force as it came to an end. She flew back into her mind and the force of her reentry sent her tumbling backward, reeling.
She fell into Rowan’s waiting arms. There he was again—solid, sturdy, reliable. His strong arms held her protectively as she gathered her wits again.
Juniper felt she had been kicked in the gut by a wild horse. She squeezed her eyes shut as a wave of nausea passed.
“Hey, are you alright?” Rowan asked, his voice dripping with worry as he held on to Juniper.
She opened her eyes when she heard his voice, and looked up into his concerned face. She and Rowan locked gazes, and the moment seemed to be frozen in time as she lost herself in his golden eyes.
As if she had been plunged in a cold pool, Juniper snapped out of the daze. She pulled out of Rowan’s protective embrace, wrapping her arms tightly around her chest. She glanced away from Rowan. “Yeah, I’m alright. Thanks.”
“Oh,” Rowan said, his expression hurt. “I’m sorry for touching you. I just wanted to support you. I mean, you were going to fall. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks, but I didn’t need it. I would have been okay.”
Rowan frowned and nodded.
“You need to warn everyone,” Juniper said, as soon as she remembered the vision. “They need to be careful out here. Whatever I saw…I didn’t see it clearly but…it was fast and it was strong. And it was dangerous.
“In the buck’s memory, the attack happened in a fraction of a second. I have no idea what attacked it, all I saw was a blur. One moment it was jumping over a fallen tree, the next it was bleeding to death.
“Whatever you do, you need to keep people out of these woods. The young wolves don’t stand a chance against this thing. I don’t think even full-grown wolves stand a chance against it. Any trip into the forest should be in groups. Please, Rowan, you need to get them to listen to you. You have to convince them to stay out of here.”
