The Orchard of Hope Read Online Free PDF Page B

down to feel her favorite knife resting securely
in the hilt at her side. Perhaps she was getting a fever from the
cold rain, but touching her knife had a temporary calming effect
until another round of thunder and lightning startled her
again.
    Nevertheless, Kelsey moved forward,
and most of the time she managed to keep herself from falling. As
she reached the top of a hill, she paused for a moment to catch her
breath as she assessed the slick path underneath her feet by
grinding one heel into the mud. She knew from experience that the
descent would be more treacherous than the climb had been. With
gravity to pull her down in the direction she was heading, falling
would be much easier. She knew she had to be more careful on this
section of the road, so she extended her arm and grabbed a pine
bough tightly to guide herself along, moving even more slowly than
she had been. Just as her hand grasped another branch, her feet
slipped out from underneath her and she skidded forward several
feet. She held onto the tree limb as well as she could, feeling the
sharp edges digging deeper into her skin as her feet gave out. The
pain was burning her hands, but she would not let go because the
water was rushing down the path so quickly that it could easily
sweep her down the mountain, causing serious injuries.
    Kelsey glanced over her shoulder as
she struggled in the mud and saw Maggie fighting to stay on her
feet, as well. Kelsey felt all her anger and frustration toward the
girl going away. They were both engaged in the same struggle, and
it was exhausting. At this point, Kelsey didn’t have time to be
cross or upset. Fighting against the flooding rains was fatiguing,
and it felt as if everything within her was being drained by the
struggle. Kelsey watched Maggie having the same unpleasant
experience and it was difficult for her to hate someone who shared
something with her, even if that something was trouble.
    The situation felt hopeless, and
Kelsey didn’t know if they would make it without being injured or
losing their way in the downpour. She had never experienced rain
like this, and she still wasn’t sure they were headed in the right
direction. In a rare moment of empathy, Kelsey reached out a hand
for Maggie, who was sliding down the wet path despite her
scrambling efforts to hold onto a limb. Kelsey yelled Roland’s name
as loudly as she could, screaming above the sound of the thunder.
She and Maggie needed help, while Roland didn’t appear to be
struggling at all.
    Roland slowly turned around, but he
didn’t reach out a hand. Instead, he calmly took his small staff
and tapped the ground three times without speaking a word. The rain
abruptly stopped. More than that, the ground was dry as if the
storm had never happened.
    Kelsey dropped Maggie’s hand as
well as the branch she was clinging onto. She slumped down to the
hard, dry earth. As she hugged her arms across her chest, she felt
her clothes. They were dry, and there were no mud stains on her
anywhere. She quickly glanced over at Maggie, who was now sitting
on the path dumbfounded and staring at the cuts in her own hands.
She was dry also. There was nothing wet anywhere. The trees showed
no signs of dripping water, and the bits of sky visible through the
overhead branches were clear. Now Kelsey felt even more
confused.
    Maggie stared down at her hands,
looking over the scratches and cuts she had gotten from pulling
herself along the path. The blood was real. Kelsey’s own palms felt
raw and sore, and her whole body ached.
    “What happened?” Kelsey asked with
a baffled expression.
    “I don’t know,” Maggie replied.
She appeared to be even more confused than Kelsey.
    “You’re away from the castle,”
Roland said. “The sorcerer’s spell overwhelmed you all at once with
a storm of confusion. It’s because you were protected from the
spell at the castle and weren’t used to having to discern reality.
Even small spells can appear much larger when you’re not