season avatars 03 - chaos season (26 page)

“Do we need to give it the plants ourselves?” Ysabel asked. “Or could anyone do it, if they knew how?”

“We should still be on hand to manage any possible Chaos Season,” Gwen said firmly.

“Then we have to travel away from the One Oak. My tree will be in danger.” Jenna lowered her gaze and fluttered her eyelashes, but Kron didn’t seem moved. By the Four, he must be the world’s most faithful man. Ysabel ought to be the one flirting with him if they were going to persuade him to help them, but she stood close to the door, studying everything else in the workshop except the man who’d traveled through time for her.

Jenna grabbed Ysabel’s hand and tugged her forward. Turning her face so Kron wouldn’t see, Jenna smiled and batted her eyelashes again so Ysabel would get the hint. She raised her eyebrow questioningly, and Jenna nodded. Ysabel grimaced for a heartbeat, then smoothed her expression into something more welcoming as she stepped forward.

“Please, Kron,” she said, “my sister Avatars need help, and you’re the only one who can give it to them.”

He studied her for a few long heartbeats that seemed to stretch into forever. Finally, he sighed. “If you ask, Dearest, how can I refuse?”

Jenna repressed a smile.

Kron rummaged through a couple of chests, selecting items that made no sense to Jenna: a child’s broken rattle, the clock hands, a pair of small black buttons, and a larger pair of white ones. He turned to her and said, “I need thread from your dress.”

“Thread? This dress?”

“Any one you’ve worn, but this one is most convenient. It doesn’t have to be much.”

Kay knelt and fingered the stitching of Jenna’s hem. She pulled a length from the back and silently handed it to Kron.

“Better make sure Dorian’s not at the tree right now,” he said. “If he sees me working, he might get suspicious.”

“What if he sees your artifact?” Gwen asked.

“He won’t. I’ll meet you in the Summer Study. Since I already used that door as a portal to Tradetown, it’ll be easier to use it again.”

“But we’re not going to Tradetown this time,” Gwen said. “There’s another deathbush we want to take care of first.”

Kron spoke angrily in the ancient language only he understood. Jenna wondered what type of curse he was using. He switched back to Challen and said, “Have any of you ever been there before?”

“Only in thought when we tamed Chaos Season yesterday.”

“That may not be enough,” he said with a frown. “I need a picture to focus on, otherwise I don’t know where to direct the portal.”

“I’ll sketch the orchard,” Gwen told him.

After he left, she turned to Jenna, Ysabel, and Kay and said, “We should be ready in case we need to handle another Chaos Season. I recommend getting something to eat and bundling up in our Chaos Season clothes. Try to remember as much as you can about that peach orchard. All the details have to be right for Kron to create a portal.”

They hurried to get ready. Ysabel had the cooks prepare a picnic basket similar to the one she’d shared with Jenna, only with much more food. “Have them make up another one with chocolate,” Jenna said when Ysabel returned to the study.

“Won’t that be heavy?” Kay asked.

“What do they make chocolate from?” Gwen didn’t look up from her sketchpad. “It’s not like beer or wine, sold in barrels, is it?”

Ysabel smiled. “No. At home, we bought it as a powder that the cook adds to milk and boiling water and whips with an egg wheel. I’m sure they do the same here.”

Gwen switched colored pencils. “Then let’s just bring the powder and let Kay add the water. I hope the deathbushes don’t want milk and sugar with their chocolate. I see no reason to give it to them.”

“The day plants ask for that is the day I turn them over to Ysabel,” Jenna said. “Cause then they’re no longer true plants.”

Gwen smiled for a heartbeat before returning to her sketch.

Kron returned before she was done. He gave Jenna half of the rattle. She shook it, but it remained silent. “I don’t think Robbie would like this,” she said as she offered it back to him. “All he can do is chew on it.”

“It’s not for Robbie, it’s for you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I’m too old for rattles. Wait, does this have something to do with my tree?”

“Yes. It’s the alarm. When anyone other than you comes within touching distance of the tree, the lightning rod will shake the other half of the rattle. That will make your half sound out.”

“Does that mean we won’t be able to get close to the tree either?” Gwen said. “That could be inconvenient during a Chaos Season.”

“I can disable it when we return. But first, where are we going? Do you have a picture for me that I can focus on?”

“In a heartbeat. I have to finish this part…here.” Gwen turned her sketchbook to face them. “Will this do, Kron?”

Her trees showed good attention to detail in the placement of the branches. Kron shook his head. “Trees? Only the God of Summer knows how many there are in Challen. That’s hardly specific enough. We might arrive somewhere else on this estate, or at the border with Selath, or anywhere in between.”

Jenna suppressed a laugh. Did Kron really have such trouble telling peach trees from oaks?

“Was there a building close by?” he asked. “I do best portaling to structures instead of natural landmarks.”

“There was a farmhouse with a garden,” Jenna replied.

Gwen closed her eyes and massaged her temples. “I remember seeing it, but I can’t recall exact details.”

“Would linking with me help?” As Gwen opened her eyes to stare at Jenna, Jenna continued, “Or Ysabel and Kay too? They might have noticed something I missed.”

Ysabel had gone off to fetch chocolate. Kay shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t think I can help. I was too busy dealing with the weather.”

“As you’re supposed to,” Gwen said.

“I remember inspecting the vegetables, so I might have noticed other details about the house.” Jenna confronted Gwen with her own gaze. “If you’re willing to link with me, that is.”

Gwen regarded her for a few heartbeats, her blue eyes as cool as lakes, before reaching over and touching Jenna’s wrist. Jenna struggled to bring up the memory of the house, not just the garden. There were red checkered curtains in the window. The house itself was a two-story cream stucco with dark brown trim on the windowsills and door. Gwen released Jenna and sketched furiously for a few moments, long enough for Ysabel to return lugging another basket with her cat peeking out of it.

“I have about five pounds’ worth of chocolate,” Ysabel said, showing her a couple of tins. “And a tin opener. I hope that’s enough.”

“Maybe we could portal to Wistica afterward and purchase more,” Jenna said.

“Will this one do?” Gwen asked Kron as she showed him her new drawing.

He studied it for a while before replying, “I can try it. Are we ready?”

Gwen draped her cloak loosely about her. “Go ahead.”

Kron traced the door frame, starting from the bottom and working his way up, over, and back down to the floor. Then he swung the door open to reveal the farmhouse. He stepped through, and Jenna and the others followed.

It looked as if the farmers had been busy cleaning up the damage from Chaos Season. A pile of broken branches had been stacked near the house for firewood. The smell of preserves wafted out of the house, making Jenna wonder if the farmer’s wife would give them a jar or two for their help. A couple of children, their backs to the Avatars, squabbled as they weeded the vegetable garden. Another girl carrying two buckets of water approached the house. She shrieked, splashing water. “Ma! Pa! Strangers!”

Gwen stepped forward. “Have no fear, child. We’re the new Season Avatars. We tamed the Chaos Season here yesterday, and we’re here to help you with any problems left over from the storm.”

The girl glared at Gwen. “That’s not possible. My Pa says the Avatars live a long way from here, in the center of the country. It would take—” she scrunched up her face—“a long time for anyone to travel from there to here.”

“Not so long when you have a friend with magic of his own.” Gwen moved to a grassy patch before bending on one knee and extending her hand to the girl. “I’m Lady Gwendolyn lo Havil, the Spring Avatar. Was anyone hurt yesterday? No? Well, may I touch you anyway and make sure there’s nothing you need me to heal?”

“My tooth?” The girl wiggled a loose tooth.

Gwen smiled. “That will come out when the Goddess of Spring decides it’s ready.” She turned back to Jenna and the other Avatars. “I’ll check the rest of the family. You can spread out and examine the farm. Call me if you need me.”

“I’ll send Pouncer for you,” Ysabel replied.

Kron took the basket from her, and they walked into the orchard. Jenna stopped at each tree to touch it. Most of them hadn’t been severely damaged. For those that had lost branches, she sped up regrowth where it was possible and healed over other wounds. “Ysabel, this tree has pests,” she said. “Can you kill them before they spread?”

She nodded and set a mole back on the ground, away from Pouncer, before coming over to the diseased tree. “I can’t reach the infected area,” she said. “Kron, could you give me a boost?”

“Of course, Dearest.” He cupped his hands to make a step for her. Jenna wondered when Ysabel had started warming to him. It seemed a bit sudden after her earlier reluctance.

Obviously I can’t instruct anyone in the ways of love.
She glanced at Kay, who was observing the clouds. “Have you heard anything from your intended lately?” she asked.

“Jon? When he got my first letter he was upset. He didn’t understand why I wouldn’t tell anyone, even him, that I was the next Ava Win. Then he thought he wasn’t good enough for me anymore, that I would want to marry a nobleman now. I wrote back and told him that didn’t matter to me. I want someone who loves the Four and is a hard worker. But he still doesn’t think an Avatar can marry a locomotive driver. So he’s taken his savings that were meant for our home and gone to the University in Wistica.”

“What’s he going to study?”

“He wants to be a surveyor, someone who finds coal for the locomotives—”

“Wait! What’s that?”

At the edge of the orchard, two figures attacked a familiar-looking plant with shovels. The deathbush was already taller than Jenna.

“Ysabel!” Jenna called. “Bring the chocolate!”

One of the men lunged forward, but the deathbush flung out a branch, blocking his blow and slapping his arm. He cried out and staggered away.

“We need Gwen,” Jenna told Kay. She nodded and ran back to Ysabel.

Jenna picked up her skirt and ran forward. “Get back! That plant is dangerous!”

The second man was a year or two younger than Jenna, with youthpox blemishing his forehead. He stared at Jenna as if she were one of the Four. In other circumstances she might have flirted with him in spite of the youthpox. Now, however, she had to take care of the deathbush before the young farmer was poisoned too.

“Stand back!” she told him again.

“By All Four, who are you? Where did you come from?”

“I’m the Ava Summer. The other Avatars are here too. The Ava Spring will help your father.” She hoped Gwen would get there in time. “Let me handle the deathbush. Haven’t you heard of them?”

“How would I have heard of them?” He dropped his shovel, grabbed his father, and dragged him away from the plant.

Jenna was saved from talking about the other deathbush sightings as Ysabel, Kay, and Kron appeared. Gwen ran, passing them. She headed straight to the poisoned man and laid both hands on his arm. Jenna hoped the shard wouldn’t cause any problems.

She ran toward Ysabel to take the basket herself. One of the tins was open, and some of the chocolate had left a trail in the dirt. She hoped the chocolate didn’t poison peach trees, but the deathbush was far away from them. As she approached the deathbush with the tin, it whipped its branches at her as if it knew what she meant to do.

“Enough of that!” she snapped at it. “I’m the Ava Summer, and I’m sick of you and all the other deathbushes!”

A flock of songbirds descended on the deathbush. Some perched momentarily on the branches, nimbly avoiding the thorns. Others plucked off leaves and taunted the plant with their prizes. Hummingbirds darted around at speeds impossible for the branches to match. A pair of branches collided, but unfortunately they didn’t poison each other.

With the birds distracting the deathbush, Jenna was able to duck under the branches. How much powder did she need? Jenna poured out a generous handful close to the main stem of the deathbush. Nothing happened.

“Kay, I need rain!” Jenna hoped her voice carried past the plant.

She mixed the chocolate powder into the loose dirt, then crawled backwards away from the deathbush. A couple of branches dropped low to block her, but she kicked them and kept going. Another branch snarled in her hair, forcing her to stop and untangle herself. Long hair was pretty, but sometimes it was impractical for an Avatar, even if she wore it up.

Rain spattered her as soon she was clear of the plant. The chocolate couldn’t work quickly enough for her. Jenna grabbed the closest branch and blasted it with all of her magic. Her power splintered the branch but left the rest of the tree intact. She reached for another branch. The tree writhed, eluding her grasp. Suddenly, all of its branches hung limp. Leaves yellowed even as she grabbed two branches and sent death into the tree. She didn’t let go until the entire plant had turned brown.

She wiped her hands and turned to the youth. “Burn it. Dig out the roots and burn them too. Don’t let a single seed escape.”

He nodded with a dazed look on his face. Had Gwen saved his father? Before she could ask, the temperature dropped. The rain turned to hail.

“You don’t need to freeze the deathbush, Kay,” she said. “I took care of it.”

“I didn’t change the weather. It’s Chaos Season again.”

Jenna sighed. “Where’s Gwen?”

“Here.” She strode forward, reaching out to them. “Let’s tame this before it gets out of control.”

Pouncer yowled.

Jenna, Kay, and Ysabel quickly linked with Gwen. Kay directed her magic at the cold front generated by the deathbush. Uncertainty colored her thoughts as she said to them,
This cold front is bigger than it should be.