We kept moving.
Soon I could see more light up ahead, the trees becoming less densely packed together and the wild undergrowth becoming sparser. As we got closer, I realized we were approaching a meadow. I moved faster, eager for a change of scenery and to see how far we were from the mountain range with my own eyes.
“Wow,” I breathed. I had scrambled up on a fallen log to see the view. It didn’t disappoint. No wonder the Hawk boys had described the land as ‘weird’—I’d never seen anything like this before.
The meadow was huge, spreading for acres in each direction. I couldn’t see the trees in the distance as the land rose in the middle, creating a large hill. Everywhere I looked I could see brightly colored flowers, a million different hues of color, and bright—like they were lit up from the inside.
I jumped down off the log and went to get a closer look. I could hear the others exclaiming as they followed me, then all racing down to the meadow.
The flowers mostly resembled the shape of poppies. They each had four rounded petals, with the stamen a darker, more intense color than the petals, which was where the mysterious light seemed to be emanating from.
“Careful!” Aisha called out. “Don’t touch them!”
I drew back my hand. I’d been about to touch the center of the flower to see if the light was warm, or even real, but I realized the jinni was right. Touching flowers or any other plant in the supernatural world when you had no idea what it was wasn’t a good idea.
“No, they’re safe!” Benedict cried out, clutching one in his hand.
Of course, Benedict had gone ahead and picked one.
He had been running back toward me, but he stopped, standing still in the field, intently looking down at the flower in his hand.
“Benedict?” I was instantly worried. He could be such a reckless id—
He looked up and beamed at me. “These are like the stones!” he exclaimed. I stared at him in bewilderment. That admission didn’t exactly make me feel comfortable.
“Put it down!” Yelena called out, her face horrified.
“No, you don’t understand. I think they have energy in them,” he called back, waving the flower about in excitement. “They’re giving me the same feeling the stones did, like power entering my body.”
He started to run toward us, and I bent down to inspect them more closely. I held my hand over the stamen, not wanting to touch it. After a while, I could see what he meant. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before—something strong and forceful moving up from my palm into the rest of me, making every nerve feel more awake somehow.
“See!” Benedict burst out jubilantly.
I looked around at the others. They were all starting to realize it too.
“I’ve never come across anything like this,” Horatio muttered, still looking doubtful as to the safety of the plants. “They are powerful though… I can sense that.”
Simultaneously, he and Aisha raised their hands over the bed of flowers nearest to them, falling silent, their eyes closed. We watched, waiting for their verdict.
Eventually, Aisha turned to us. She shrugged.
“They seem safe… The energy is pure, natural, and I can’t detect the magic of any other supernatural creature on them.”
“Me neither,” Horatio replied.
I heard the flapping of wings above us, and the Hawk boys landed in the field along with Ridan.
“Isn’t it crazy?” Fly grinned. “This place must look amazing at night. I wonder why the sentries never knew it was here?”
“We don’t know that they didn’t—they might know all about it,” I replied.
Benedict looked doubtful. “An entire field of energy-providing plants? They would have mentioned it—every contender in the trials would have been up here. And,” he continued, pacing the meadow in excitement, “we’d see them everywhere—they would have planted more.”
“Then this is great!” Yelena cried gleefully. “We can send these back to them. All the sentries can get help healing after the battle!”
The energy levels of Benedict and Yelena seemed to be skyrocketing. They were the only two holding the plants.
“Guys, put them down,” I interjected, “you’re getting hyper. We don’t know what exposure to these plants would do to humans.” I’d seen Benedict get like this before in Hawaii, when he’d downed six Coca-Colas in a row as a dare.
Benedict went red, and dropped the flower.
“But the idea is great,” I continued hastily. “We should get the flowers to the sentries—as quickly as we can. Either it’s going to help heal the wounded, or it’s going to help them while they battle.”