CHAPTER 144

"I don't mean in a metaphorical sense. I mean that it's sentient." He explained how he sometimes spoke with the house while wearing its body, and then went ahead and told her about the dream from the previous night. When he finished, Abella regarded him with glittering eyes.

"You know, my kind used to talk about the Earth Mother," she said. "This planet is a giant rock that hurtles through space with a molten core. In this way, she is not so different from our kind. I wouldn't say we were a religious people, but my mother was fond of saying 'if the Earth Mother wills it' when making important decisions."

"Do you think the planet is alive?" Suddenly curious, he found a nearby rock and sat down.

"Life isn't something we can so casually define," she answered. "I would argue that she lives, in her own way. But could you talk to her? Perhaps not."

"The forest is alive. I can hear it, right on the edge of my thoughts." Even now, it was like voices being carried across the wind.

"Is it the noise that bothers you?" Abella laughed. "I hear everything. It can be very obnoxious."

Mike nodded. "It's like hearing pieces of a conversation. I want to know more, but the words just aren't there. And I don't like the idea that the cabin and the house are alive, but won't just talk to me like this. It's always on their terms, and often in riddles."

"Maybe it's no different than listening to the forest. Maybe when you speak, they don't always hear you." She looked around at the trees. "I bet you can't understand the woods because they aren't fully awake yet."

Realization blossomed through him. Was that the key to finding out more about the house and the great game? As the house expanded, so had his interactions with it. Did he need to do more for the house to notice him?

Then again, that was the same line of thinking that had led Emily astray. Her need to fill the home with cryptids had segued into protecting its occupants at all costs. Led astray by the shadow, her desire for power had ultimately led to her tragic demise.

"Damn," he muttered in frustration. The last thing he wanted was to see his own desire to understand the Great Game be twisted into a journey toward madness.

"Come." Abella took him by the hand. "Let's see if we can find someplace where the woods have woken up already. Maybe then, you can put your mind to rest."

She had misunderstood him, but he didn't feel the need to correct her. Abella led him through the forest, taking him through heavy brush where no trails existed. She would often turn around and walk backward, her wings unfolding just enough to push aside the foliage and allow them to pass unhindered.

"I saw this spot the other day," she explained as she guided him. "It's not too far from the hot springs, and it gets plenty of sunlight."

"What do you mean?" he asked, but she only grinned in response.

The hum inside his head grew louder, and they moved into a clearing with a river running through it. Steam hovered above the water in places, fed by small bubbling pools on the shore. The snow here was melted along the banks of the stream, and the nearby trees rustled in the wind.

The humming had been replaced by the sound of music. Ethereal in nature, he couldn't identify a single instrument being played. It was hundreds of voices all at once, singing a song of waking.

"Well?" Abella asked. "Is it different here?"

He nodded, then wiped a tear from his eye. It was a song of hope, one that immediately reminded him of Amymone. Amongst the trees, he could hear the steady chittering of the spiders as well, raising their voices to join in the harmony. While the woods sang of waking and sunlight, the spiders sung of the hunt to come. They were hungry, yet hopeful.

"There's so much to hear," he told her. "It's actually quite pleasant. This spot is beautiful, thank you for bringing me here."

She nodded in approval, then knelt down by the stream. "I don't hear what you do, but it's the same. The rustling of the leaves. The sound of snow dripping, animals scurrying everywhere. But in a way, we are both hearing the heartbeat of the earth mother. At least, that is what my mother would say."

Content to listen for a while, he closed his eyes and let the music flow through him. The tune had been nonsensical at first, but now he could pick out some of its nuances. The trees whispered to one another in singsong voices, and the clusters of grass that had pushed through the snow made a sound like tinkling bells.

Behind the music, he picked up on a background melody consisting of deep bass tones. Doing his best to tune out the others, he focused on those deep beats, and was surprised when his magic responded. It spiraled around inside of him, unwinding in slow motion.

In the darkness of his own mind, he suddenly saw the clearing around him in intricate detail. Every blade of grass, rock, and tree was there for his perusal. Waves of light pulsed through them from below the ground, diffracting and changing colors as it passed through the foliage. The grass glowed a cheerful blue, while the trees were yellow and green. The rocks soaked up the noise, appearing black to his mind's eye.

He was humming now. It was like being a child again and trying to hum along with the vacuum cleaner. The vibrations filled his body and resonated outward, causing the colors around him to shift and glow even brighter. By altering the pitch of his voice, he could cause different elements of the clearing to ignite like tiny stars.