The Forest's Son Read Online Free Page A

this way blocks the incessant chatter of her sisters, a blessing these days, when she can sense the unrest among them. Edyta seems to be at the center of much of the grumbling; as usual, she is sowing discontent.
    It’s been decades since the last time they had any sign of Grażyna's son. There is always the chance that he is dead. That isn't enough for Edyta — to let things lie — she wants to hunt down Grażyna, to be sure there is no longer a threat, to "make sure" she says.
    Bożena huffs and rolls from her back to her front, keeping her eyes open. The water is clear, and she stares at the pebbles on the bottom, smooth from the water washing over them. They sit motionless and allow the water to do whatever it will. She tries to do the same, and wishes Edyta would be more like the stones. Instead, she is śliwa tarnin a — a pricker bush, always trying to poke at everything that might come near it.
    She remains face-down in the water until she runs out of air, then tucks her legs under her and brings herself to her feet. Her hair is a long sheet down her back, and she pulls some in front to cover herself, although no modesty is required with her sisters. For whatever reason, today she wants privacy, for both her mind and her body. Being what she is, she gets neither.
    She focuses her mind on calming thoughts, on what the tribe was like when Grażyna lived among them. Until she fled, Grażyna was as true as any other sister — certainly a better sister than she herself is. Even now, Bożena is willing to bet Grażyna keeps the sisters' ways, no matter where she might be living.
    If her son still lives, odds are he has been raised peaceably, to use his powers for good, or to not use them at all. How else can the complete absence of his presence be explained? Either he is a docile being unwilling to bring harm to the sister or humans or he is dead. No matter which, the sisters need not be concerned with him, and certainly don't need to mount any sort of offensive as they have in the past. Each time they have, Grażyna has always been able to get away anyway, and it always draws attention.
    Legend has always said any male would come back to assert his reign. Better he do so on their ground, where they have the advantage, than they go out into the human world again as they have done before. While some of the sisters are able to move about, most of them have grown more out of touch with the machines and the modern technology, and as the years pass, they look more and more out of place.
    Even Bożena, with her too-long hair, would be far too obvious. With their height and their discomfort, the sisters stand out. Better not to draw attention. Better to wait.
    She feels the prickles of Edyta withdraw somewhat, like a porcupine drawing back its quills. Edyta will wait for now, but who knows for how much longer. It has been so many years. Surely he must be nearly full-grown. Surely if he is going to return, it will be soon. What will that bring?
    Bożena is afraid to wish for changes. There are things she would like — things she dare not even think of lest another sister like Edyta catch wind of them. An image flickers through her mind, but she casts it away like a leaf on the breeze. She has no time for wishing or dreaming or wondering what might come if Grażyna's son were to reappear and assert his dominion over the sisters. There is always work to be done. She had best go do it.

 
    4: Cracks
     
    Vance can feel someone he assumes is his mother before they’re even to the house: a connecting string that had been pulled too taut starting to relax. He has vague memories of a place they lived before this one: a small Colonial with warm wood trim and leaded glass in the doors that separated the rooms. The cut-glass door knobs always felt heavy in his hands and the gumwood trim warm with memories of those who'd lived there before.
    But his mother hadn't been happy there. Snow covered the ground for months in the winter, and