Under The Oak Tree Epub Novels & Stories

It was enough to make me question my sanity. Sitting under the oak tree, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm the turmoil within me. Monica had spent countless hours with me here, sharing stories about the tree's ancient wisdom that flowed through the land. Monica had believed in things that others dismissed as fairy tales, and though I had always been skeptical, there was something comforting in those old legends. “ Meara!”

If the hedge wants payment for entry, it can have fabric. I have paid worse. When I reach the old boundary tree, I stop. It’s not remarkable to look at, which is why it works. A thick oak with bark like layered scars. The kind of tree people pass a thousand times without remembering. The kind of tree that survives because it’s uninteresting. I press my palm to its trunk. The wood is cold. Alive. I close my eyes and listen. Not with ears. With the part of me that learned early that silence has texture.

But the promise of answers to the issues that had been troubling me—the attraction of the unknown—was too great to fight. The old oak tree near the river stood silhouetted against the starry sky, its gnarled limbs extending like skeleton arms. I moved gingerly, my senses sharp. The soft rustling of leaves in the breeze was the sole sound; it was a comforting song that did not help me to relax. I looked about, looking for some indication of Kavan. But the place was deserted; the only observer of my covert meeting the old oak tree. I started to feel let down. Had he come to another opinion? Had he chosen not to travel?

“CIARA JOY!” If I can’t see her, then I don’t hear her. I thought to myself in a sing-song voice as I reclined cross-legged with my head resting back against the trunk of one of my favorite hiding spots in the woods. Nestled on the east edge of the border of our pack’s land is my favorite oak tree, with thick, wide branches stretching out in all directions high above the rest of the woods. My oak tree also has the most magnificent views of the mountains and surrounding woods which also border on two sides of the Crystal Lake waters. “Miss Ciara Joy Callaway, you better not be up some tree again, or so help me. Goddess. I will tell Alpha Radar and your father you are flapping about again!”

I am not worried about getting lost, I know the place like the back of my hand. When I reach the forest, I take in a deep breath and let it out before continuing to walk. It does not take me very long to reach the giant oak tree. It even has my initials that I carved into it the first time I ran here to get away from everyone and everything. The almost full moon sits in the sky and gives the night an eerie feel. I sit right under the tree with my back laid against the trunk. The ground is dirty but I gladly rest my legs on it.

"Many people helped bring this place to life, you know? It's just a place where Omegas like us can find a purpose." Torches are hanging on the walls and that's it for lighting outside the buildings. Inside them, a few people are using candles, and some even have lightbulbs. We walk past a few small homes and keep going until we reach a cavern called The Omegatrix. It's been built under the massive roots of a tree. I arch a brow at the name. "What does that even mean?"

The path beneath their feet grew uneven, the forest growing thicker and more ancient as they walked, until they arrived at the base of the oldest oak tree in Valenwood. The massive oak towered above them, its gnarled branches stretching out like protective arms, creating a canopy that filtered the moonlight. Caius stopped beneath the tree, his shoulders tense as he exhaled a slow breath. Lira stood beside him, unsure of what to say, the weight of the prophecy hanging between them.

KARIN The ancient oak tree at the center of the Nightfall Pack grounds had stood for more than three hundred years. Its thick trunk was wide and uneven, carved by lightning, claws, and long-forgotten battles. I pressed my palm against the rough bark. It scratched my skin, solid and real. Beneath it, I felt the slow, steady movement of life. This tree had watched leaders rise, rule, and fall. It had seen loyalty turn into betrayal. It had seen hope fail and return again.

He draped it over his shoulder. Kade always did things with purpose, so it was nice just to meander, no destination or agenda in mind, talking to Eliza as they wallowed in the lazy afternoon. It pleased him Skylar hadn’t cultivated the stereotypical suburban lawn, but allowed the landscape remain natural. Rugged. A backdrop of long, gold and brown grasses, stubby groundcover the color of cinnamon, sagebrush, and the occasional yellow daisy popped up, all blended seamlessly past the barbed wire fence and across the pasture. An oak tree with gnarled branches grew in the middle of the backyard. Usually only scrub oak survived and they never reached that size. He stopped under the canopy of shad

The bracket was redirected — she could see that even in the dark, even in the storm, the downspout angled away from the foundation the way he had described — so he had finished, he had done what he came to do, which meant he should have been inside already, which meant — Where is he. She turned. And then she heard it. Not over the storm. Under it. The kind of sound that bypassed the ears and went straight to the spine — a deep structural crack that she felt in the soles of her feet and the base of her skull simultaneously, the sound of something enormous making an irreversible decision. She turned toward the forest edge. She saw the oak move. Eighty feet of tree and the root ball had let go