Merry had been thrilled to have students in the house that she could teach, and she had enthusiastically answered my million and one questions, shown me how to use spells, and gave me a crash course in potion making, which was one of her specialties. I’d hardly slept, using Merry’s potion to keep myself awake and alert. It was better than coffee, and I don’t say that lightly. I’d had an illicit affair with coffee since my teens.
“Okay, so where is this trail?” I asked as we started toward the trees.
“It isn’t a trail so much as it is a… let’s call it a path.” She smiled. “Don’t worry, Thána. I know where we’re going.”
I was skeptical, but I followed her. The ground was fairly level and the trees around us were a mix of what I took to be maple, or maple adjacent, and some sort of evergre
