Do You Believe in Magic?

Adella gave him a smile and nodded, "Okay. Be careful, be safe. Go have fun being the town hero and save us from that dam breaking," she slightly teased. Even though it wasn't an exaggeration for her. Tonight, he was her hero.
 
Jeremiah gave her a little mock salute. "See you later! Be sure Molly gets nice and dry, Clara." He wrapped his slicker tightly around himself and headed out into the rain once more.

The dam was still holding! Though only just. His father had spotted the main problem: the spillway had gotten blocked with debris. Lucky Jeremiah, he got to climb into the sluice to clear out the twigs and ease the pressure off the dam itself. Finally, they could do no more but wait. If it went, it went, and they would have to start the whole engineering project over again.
 
"I will!" Clara chirped back, already trying to dry Molly off by the fire.

By morning, the awful storm had passed. Although it had continued until early in the morning. Adella's mother had returned, and cleaned and redressed Adella's knee again despite Adella trying to convince her mother that she had taken care of her knee in the same fashion. But, by morning, even though Adella should have been exhausted, with the combination of having to be saved by Jeremiah, and staying up practically all night, Adella was awake and alert. Before everyone else. She quietly got herself dressed, and snuck out of her small house. And thankfully, like normal, her knee didn't hurt as much as it had last night and she was able to walk without too bad of a limp.

The morning was quiet. No one was awake yet in the early morning hours. Branches and leaves were scattered all over the fort from last nights storm. Some windows were even broken. There was going to be a lot of clean up needing to be done around here. Dew sparkled on the blades of grass, and the fallen leaves as she quietly exited the fort. She hadn't told her father of the people she saw in the woods. She wasn't sure if she wanted to. The last time she told him of people in the woods, a few months later, he had found them a boat to take them to the New World. And, here they were.

It didn't take long for her to find her way back to the clearing where Peter and Clara were happily playing and her and Jeremiah were talking and laughing like normal just yesterday. But, the large oak tree, the one where Adella and Jeremiah, and even Peter and Clara had first met, where everything started for them, was severly damaged by a lightning strike during last nights storm. The bark was blackened, and the tree was broken and hanging at painful angles. This tree, the one that has always provided them shade, and a place to rest, when their youngest siblings were playing, was dying.

Adella felt a pang of sadness at the state of this tree. She never knew a tree could ever have meaning in her life, but, seeing it now, she realized this tree had become more than just a tree to her. She was silent as she rested her hand on the burned, broken trunk of the tree. She didn't even realize it, but her green eyes closed and she let the sounds of the forest surround her. Rabbits scurrying through the bushes, birds chirping, the leaves rustling in the early morning wind. And... It seemed that even this tree, so badly damaged, had a voice. A life of it's own. A spark that she could see. Feel. Maybe even touch. Before she even realized it, she was trying to touch that spark with her minds eye. It felt so warm. Like it was an old friend, calling out to her.
 
Jeremiah helped his second youngest brother, Caleb, milk the cow and gather the sparse number of eggs the chickens had laid. Storms tended to mess with the chickens' desire to lay. Not that Jeremiah blamed them one bit. Once the eggs were gathered and the cow milked, Jeremiah sent Caleb off to take the cow to the common to graze with the rest of the cows while he went in and helped his next younger brother, Stanford, with breakfast. Stanford had managed most of it himself but had difficulty moving the heavy cast-iron pots and pans. Peter was in the workroom helping Father sort out what work orders needed to be done that day. There were two letters requesting supplies from England, a couple of marriage notices, and who knew what else to be done. Jeremiah could hear Peter's happy chatter and grinned to himself. At least one of them looked forward to taking on the trade.

Breakfast was on the table in a few minutes, and the family gathered around the table to eat. One chair sat empty with the place set as if expecting someone. Five eager males polished off the meal in no time flat, and then it was time to argue over who had to wash the dishes.
 
Footsteps broke Adella's connection with the tree, however weird that was. Her green eyes shot open and she pulled her hand back from the bark like it had shocked her. She took a step back, and turned to see her father walking into the clearing.

"D-dad!" Adella stammered, blinking in surprise. Her dad usually never came out to this clearing.

"You gave your mother a scare, you know," her dad scolded Adella.

The morning light bounced off of her fathers golden hair, and in the new light, it really became visible that her father didn't look a day past 30. Not a single rinkle, or a single spot signifying growing old. In fact, now that Adella thought about it, she never noticed her father ever showing signs of aging. While her mother now had subtle rinkles and gray hairs, her father, seemed immortally young. His green eyes shimmered, almost an ancient glow even though he looked young. She's never really noticed it before now.

"Sorry. I just-the tree," Adella stammered pointing at the large oak tree, "It was struck by lightning last night in the storm and,"

"Ah, this is where you first met Jeremiah, isn't it?" her father asked, resting his hand on the ancient oak.

His eyes seemed almost sad as he stared at the dying tree and shook his head, "Well, perhaps a miracle will happen and the tree won't die," he suggested gently grabbing her shoulder and directing her back towards the fort, "C'mon, your mother has breakfast waiting for us. You can come out to play with your friends after breakfast if you're feeling up for it with your knee,"

Adella didn't get twenty feet from the tree before a horrible wave of nausea and dizziness struck her like a ton of bricks. The earth swayed under her feet, and the world faded away as the ground rushed up to meet her.
 
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