Avery Rhiannon's Arc

Chapter 1 of 17

Avery parked at the edge of the tree line and stepped out alone. The woods stood quiet, deep, and untouched. She had driven past these forty acres three times before. Today, she walked in. Her boots pressed soft moss. Her hand closed around the worn heart-shaped locket at her throat, the one holding her Pap-Pap's silver-haired face. She had carried it every time she almost asked. She carried it now. She stopped in a small clearing and let herself see it. A glass-paneled building would sit right there, wooden beams holding up soft light. Inside, wounded creatures would rest. Her notebook would sit on a shelf where every name could be read. She pictured herself walking the path each morning. The quiet she had carried her whole life would finally have a shape. It would finally have somewhere to live. Avery pressed the locket once, hard, against her palm. She turned back toward her truck with steady steps. Today she would knock on his door. Today she would ask for the land. Whatever the answer, she would not drive past a fourth time.