“Emi, Emi, where are you going?”
The little girl didn’t wait for a response. She couldn’t give her big cousin a chance to wander off, she had to know where she was going! It was so, so important, Emily always went off and did neat things and Enid had to get involved, she had to follow and know what was going. She’d given Emily all sorts of privacy, just like Mama said she should, but Emily never told her enough. It was always real short and real not useful, but Enid knew she had lots of cool secrets. Her cousin was too neat and mysterious not to have good secrets.
Emily sighed and looked back at Enid. Enid thought she looked sleepier than usual. She wondered why that was. Had Emily been out last night doing even more things? She didn’t like that idea. She was never let outside after dark. Mama said it was too dangerous, since Enid already got lost a few times before. Enid knew that wasn’t fair, that was a whole year ago when she was four. She was five years old now and wasn’t a stupid baby who got confused by streets. She wouldn’t get confused anymore.
Her cousin turned away from Enid and continued onwards.
“On a walk.”
Enid picked up her pace and trotted after Emily, determined not to let her out of her sight. Emily was a slippery one, she couldn’t take her eyes off her for a second, or she might be gone! She hurried until she was just a few steps behind Emily.
“Oh, ok! I’m coming, too!”
“Hmm. You will get lost.”
Enid fluffed herself up in indignation, her hands planted on her hips. It was bad enough that Mama thought she couldn’t handle herself, why did Emily have to think so, too? That wasn’t fair!
“I won’t! I’m not a baby!”
Emily did not respond to the little girl’s declaration. She kept going, headed towards an abandoned field full of high grass.
This was a problem. Enid knew Mama wouldn’t like it if she went into the tall grass, since there were bugs there, but she was determined. She wouldn’t let Emily get away just because she was going into the really tall grass. Clearly, big girls went into the tall grass all the time. Besides, Enid wasn’t scared of bugs, she was plenty brave. She chased after Emily, but skidded to a stop as she reached the edge of the field.
The grass loomed ahead of the cousins, almost too tall for Enid to see over. Her cousin didn’t seem bothered by the height. Enid thought that was pretty weird. How many times did Emily go here, Enid wondered as she latched on to Emily’s leg. She wasn’t scared of the field, she just didn’t want to lose Emily in the grass. That wouldn’t be good at all, she’d never find her again! Or maybe she’d never be found again. That wasn’t allowed to happen!
Emily looked down at her and blinked at her carryon.
“Hmm. It is hard to walk like this. Take my hand instead.”
Enid stared up at her, a huge smile on her face. Yeah, she was going with her cousin on an adventure, this was great! She reached up and grabbed Emily’s hand, squeezing it with all her five-year-old strength. There was no way she’d let go, she wouldn’t allow it. This was a rare opportunity that she would not and could not pass on. She kept her grip as Emily pushed the grass out of the way and forged a path into the field.
Enid tried to keep her eyes on Emily, but there was so much stuff to see here. There were crickets on the ground and little white butterflies in the air. She knew she shouldn’t touch them, but it was tough. Her instincts screamed at her to grab the bugs. It seemed like so much fun! She needed a new plan to keep herself distracted. Luckily, she wanted information as well as a good time. There were questions to ask her cousin and facts to find out.
“Why were you coming here? The grass is real tall.”
Emily was quiet as she pushed forward. The whispers of the grass and the calls of crickets and cicadas filled the silence and kept it from getting uncomfortable. Still, Enid wished she’d talk faster. Emily was so slow with her answers sometimes, and Enid just wanted to know what was going on. It didn’t seem so complicated to explain things! Finally, Emily answered her question.
“There are stones in here.” She paused and considered her next statement while they walked on. “I have researched them. They are important for my studies.”
“Oh. What are you studying?”
“Runes.”
That didn’t answer things for Enid. She knew what runes were, but the concepts behind them and their magic were lost on the child. Everything magical her big cousin said seemed mysterious and amazing, but incomprehensible. Just how did magic work? Why was it put into letters? How come she needed rocks to do her magic when other people didn’t need anything extra at all? There were so many confusing parts to Emily’s story and Enid wanted to know the answers so bad. She reached up as high as she could with her free hand and tugged at Emily’s sleeve.
“How do runes work?”
She did not answer.
“How do they work, Emily, I wanna know!”
Her big cousin turned and looked down at her. She held a finger up to her lips.
The gesture sent chills down Enid’s spine. This was a secret. Emily was going to show her a secret. She was gunna let her in on something important, something she hadn’t been able to know about in the past. Her eyes went round and she nodded.
Emily appeared content with this and led her through one more patch of grass. It opened up into a strange clearing with a circle of rocks in it. Emily looked down at the grass in surprise. Grass didn’t normally do this, she thought, it must have been pressed down! Emily must have made the whole little clearing.
Her cousin tugged her hand free from Enid’s and stepped over to the stones. She inspected each one and traced a finger over some strange carvings on their surfaces. Emi looked up and motioned Enid over to the stone she currently focused on.
“Look. Each of these stones is connected with spatial runes. They are bound together. That bond increases their individual powers and amplifies the strength of the spell.”
That made sense. Enid tilted her head to the side and squinted at the rocks. Well, it sorta made sense. There were a lot of pieces to this that she didn’t understand. The big one right now was, why had Emily decided to do this on rocks in a field?
“Oh. How come you didn’t do this back home?”
Her cousin looked down at the rocks again. She was quiet for longer than Enid expected. The sounds of nature poured in to fill the void of conversation. Enid scratched at her legs. They were itchy from the grass they’d walked through. It was hard to ignore how itchy they were now that she and Emily were standing in silence, not moving. She waited until she couldn’t stand the quiet.
“Emily, how come you didn’t do this back home? We got rocks there, too!”
Emily looked away from the rocks and met Enid’s eyes.
“I started this to fix something. I was not comfortable doing that at your home. It ended up being too complicated for me. I continued my research here in case I had a breakthrough. Besides, it feels safer out here. I can work in peace.”