Flashback ( PDFDrive )

When the Grove’s twisted branches came into view, Flori paused
and turned back to Bo. “My people have accepted your presence at
Havenfield. But they are not yet ready to accept you near our homes.
So I need you to stay here.” Her gaze shifted to Tarina. “And it would
be better if you stayed back as well. We have no quarrel with the trolls,
but there are stories of scattered attacks that make some uneasy.”
Bo scowled, but didn’t argue. Tarina simply nodded.
Which left only Sophie, Tam, Linh, Marella, Wylie, and Sandor
following Flori into the Grove—though Sophie had a feeling Nubiti
was trailing them underground—past the rows of swollen, hollow
trunks that turned each tree into a tree house of sorts.
Sophie assumed Flori must be leading them to her home, but they
wound through the entire gnomish neighborhood, aiming for a
shadowy thicket at the end, where the trees were so tightly interwoven
that very little sunlight crept in.
Shadows shifted, branches creaked and crackled, and the air turned
cold and musky. But Flori’s soft humming soothed Sophie’s nerves.
The melody grew louder with every step until they reached a wide,
gnarled tree, and Flori dropped to her knees to examine something
tangled around the roots.
Sophie squatted beside her, and the rest of the group formed a half
circle around them as Flori trailed her fingers across a wispy vine with
dark green pointed leaves and tiny clusters of pearl white buds.
“This is vesperlace,” Flori whispered. “It only grows in the darkest
parts of the quietest forests—and it only blooms at night, so right now
its melody is mostly silent. But I can still feel traces of the same pulse
thrumming through the stems that I feel when I listen for your echo. I