Aira stumbled on a root, almost dropping the basket she was carrying. It was really too big and unwieldy for her to manage, but she had insisted she was big enough to handle on her own. Lagan had shaken her head and gone along, because they only had so much time before their parents would wonder where they were.

“Be careful!” the older girl admonished. “That stuff is important.”

“I know, Lagan,” Aira said. “I’m not some silly sing-dig. Worry about you.”

Lagan bit back what she had to say. She would rather have made this trip alone, but Aira’s family had extra fruit this month and hers did not. They needed to fill the basket with something that would be acceptable as a gift. Otherwise, what was the point?

After a while, Aira said, “Do you think she’ll see us?”

“Sure, she will. Why wouldn’t she?”

“We’re just kids.”

“My brother says they used to listen to everybody.”

“Your brother wasn’t even alive back then.”

“Neither were you, so how do you know she won’t talk to kids? Walk faster, too. If you can’t carry the basket, give it to me.”

“I can too carry it! And my Dad says all they ever cared about was fighting and breaking things. Sometimes, things were worse after they were done than they had been before.”

“Then why did you want to come?” snapped Lagan. “I didn’t need you and your stupid fruit. I could have found some nunza leaves to bring or something. Why did you have to come with me?”

Aira didn’t answer at first. Then Lagan heard her sniffling. “Mina was my friend,” the little girl replied finally, tears in her voice. “I miss her.”

Lagan said nothing, just kept walking. She felt bad about making Aira cry. That wouldn’t help anything. And a part of her was starting to feel fearful about this whole thing. She could get in real trouble for making this trip, and that was if she even survived it. There were all sorts of stories about what was out this way…

“Look!” Aira said, pointing up ahead. “Is that it?”

Lagan stopped and stared. In the distance was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen, an oasis of color in the gray landscape. Trees and vines and flowers of all sorts grew and intertwined, forming a garden like the kind she had read about in storybooks. The hot breeze carried the scent of the blossoms and it made her dizzy.

Together, the two children clambered over rocks until they reached the edge of the garden. Lagan glanced at Aira, who nodded once.

They spent twenty minutes making their way through vegetation that seemed to move aside so they could pass. The hovering insects didn’t sting them and the sharp thorns on the many vines did not scratch. Were they being welcomed, Lagan wondered, or simply lured inside?

The two girls came to a clearing, the first empty space they had seen. But there was no one there and no sound of anyone moving nearby. In fact, there was no sound at all, not even birdsong or fire gnats buzzing. Surrounded by so much life, this eerie silence felt like death.

Lagan would have expected to feel frustration that they came all this way for nothing. Instead, she felt oddly relieved. As much as she hated to admit it, Aira’s father had a point. If all the legends were true, this probably would not end well.

She was about to tell Aira they were going back home when something caught her eye. There was a stirring in the soil in the center of the clearing. It looked like a whirlpool in the ground, followed by blue-green buds emerging slowly from beneath the dirt.

Then, shocked, Lagan took a step back, pulling on Aira to do the same. The younger girl lost control of the basket and the fruit spilled on the ground. What they were seeing weren’t buds, the girls realized … they looked like fingertips.

Awestruck, they watched as a figure grew out of the ground. At first, Lagan thought it must be some kind of weird plant, but it had arms and legs and a head. Something gleamed in the shadowy spaces that passed for eyes. Even more horrifying, the thing seemed to be smiling at them.

“We’re sorry! We’re sorry!” Lagan sputtered, as Aira began to cry. “We didn’t mean anything. Please let us go!”

The strange creature was fully grown now and it moved toward them, dirt showering from its body as it went. When it drew close, it reached out a hand to stroke Lagan’s cheek. What touched the young girl wasn’t metal or flesh, but something that felt like tree bark and flower petals combined. Lagan’s heart beat wildly.

“Why did you come here?” the being said, in a voice that sounded like the rustling of leaves. “You are far from home.”

Aira had her eyes shut tight. She was crying too hard to answer, Lagan somehow found her voice, though she didn’t know how. “We were looking for Shona. They said she was here. We need her help.”

The being inclined its head with a sickening crackle. “Is it very important? It must be for you to make such a journey and risk so much. You see, this can be a very welcoming place, or …”

Behind them, the vines and branches suddenly came together to form an impenetrable wall with thorns six inches long. Grasses sprang from the soil and wound themselves around the two girls’ feet. Aira screamed.

This drew the being’s attention to the little girl. A flower grew right in front of Aira, and bent its blossoms toward her face. Sobbing, Aira had no choice but to inhale its scent. In an instant, her tears had stopped and she stood placidly beside Lagan.

“What did you do to her?” the older child demanded.

“She was disturbing the peace of this place. Now she is not. So we can talk.”

“About what?” Lagan was surprised to find herself feeling more angry than afraid. If she was going to die here, she decided, she would find some way to fight.

“About why you sought out someone best left forgotten.”

“We have a friend. Her name is Mina. Last week, she went out to do chores and she never came back. Her family can’t find any trace of her. They’re scared. We’re all scared. I thought if we brought Shona gift” – she gestured to the fruit on the ground – “she would help. I didn’t know –”

“You didn’t know who you were seeking. You only knew the name and the stories. And none of the old ones would tell you more, would they? Shona is gone and they are happier for it.” The being leaned in close, its voice dropping to a whisper. “Shona is buried in the ground and that’s where they wish her to stay.”

“Oh, gods,” Lagan breathed. “You … you are…”

“I am,” said Shona, “the blooming and the dying, the harvest and the blight. What I am not,” she added, kicking at the fruit, “is some divine being to be bribed with a tribute. Gather that up and bring it back to your families when you go.”

The grasses withdrew from the girls’ feet, Behind them, the wall of green parted to afford them an exit.

“Does that mean… you won’t help?” Lagan asked.

“Once, there would have been no question,” said Shona. “But now… to your people, I am a weed to be stamped out. They made their choice. They will live and die with it.”

“Then you’re not alive!” Lagan said in fury. “You’re nothing that grows. You are just rotting here and you’ll keep on rotting until you’re dead. If I had a torch, I would burn you and your garden down!”

“Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea,” said a voice behind Lagan. She turned to see a familiar armored figure stepping into the clearing. “New growth and all.”

“You,” said Shona, as vines sprang from the garden and pulled the two girls aside. “We agreed. No more. Never again.”

“We agreed,” Kogar nodded. “I stayed away, like you asked. But it’s starting again, and I think you know it. It’s time to stop hiding.”

Kogar reached out his hand.

“Because we’re about to be found.”