Winter Falls Read online

  Lidia brushed a loose hair away from my face. “Every day is a gift,” she said softly.

  I met her eyes. “I know.”

  She gave me a small smile. Across the kitchen, my toast popped out of the toaster, and Lidia went to fetch it. “Butter for your toast?” she asked, trying to bring us back to our everyday life. “Or I have an open jar of mostarda, if you want.”

  “The mostarda sounds good.”

  She set the jar in front of me. As I dipped my knife into it, I suddenly remembered the little amulet I had found in the basement. It seemed like forever ago. I bit into the toast and let my curiosity about the Benandanti take my attention away from the recurring images of the bridge.

  I finished my breakfast quickly and turned around in my chair. “I think I’ll do some work in my room. For my creative writing class. Unless you need my help.”

  “No, you rest today. I’ll be in the Cave if you need me.”

  Up in my room, I settled on the bed with my laptop balanced across my knees. When the browser opened up to Google I squinted, trying to remember the correct spelling, then typed in Benendanti.

  Did you mean Benandanti? Google asked me.

  “I guess so,” I murmured and clicked on the link. Apparently the Benandanti had its own website. If I had just done this two days ago, we could have avoided losing a basketful of eggs.

  The page loaded, and I pulled the laptop closer to read.

  The Benandanti is an ancient order of warriors who have the power to separate their souls from their bodies. While in this transformed state, their physical form remains as though dead, and their spiritual self takes on the shape of an animal.

  My throat felt dry. On the bridge my body had laid in the bus like a corpse while something else—my spiritual self?—had become a falcon. I swallowed several times and told myself to stop being ridiculous. It couldn’t have been real. I read the next paragraph.

  The origins of the Benandanti are believed to be rooted in the Friuli region of northern Italy.

  I sucked my breath in. Friuli was where Lidia—where I—came from. Before my nerves failed, I read the next sentence.

  Benandanti are born, not made; only those born with the caul are fated to join the ranks of the Benandanti.

  I scrambled backward on the bed. The laptop fell onto the mattress with a single bounce. Heart pounding fast, I leaned over and opened the top drawer of my nightstand. I drew out the locket inside and held it up to the light, the silver casing glinting under the lamp.

  My mother had given me the locket when I was a baby. It was fragile with age; there was a mark on the back from a silversmith in Venice dating to the sixteenth century. I turned the locket over in my hand, feeling the light etching of a girl’s face on the front with the pad of my thumb. Lidia told me that the necklace had been in her family for generations, and I liked to imagine the other girls who might have worn it—maybe my grandmother, whom I had never met, and her mother before her.

  I never opened the locket; I didn’t need to, because I knew what was inside. Not a picture of anyone, like normal people would have. No, the gift inside from my superstitious Italian mother was a leathery, dried-up piece of skin.

  Some people might think that was gross, but it wasn’t, really. The skin was part of the amniotic sac I was born in. My mother said that when I was born, the amniotic sac didn’t break completely, and I came out of her womb with this thin membrane, light and sheer as a veil, covering my face. Old midwives, Lidia told me, called this being born with the caul, and it was considered a sign of great fortune.

  I stared at the locket swinging hypnotically from my clenched hand. On the bed, my upside-down laptop dropped into sleep mode. I looked back and forth from the computer to the locket. I had a connection to all three things that I had just read about the Benandanti. I came from Friuli. I was born with the caul. And last night—not for the first time—I had felt my soul separate from my body and take on the form of a falcon. Not to mention the amulet I had found. This house is under the protection of the Benandanti. Who had put the amulet there?

  “This is ridiculous,” I said. The words seemed to echo off the walls of my room. I shook my head, my hair tousling in front of my eyes. The Benandanti couldn’t be real. They were like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. Maybe some people believed in them, but I lived in the real world.

  And yet . . . I tucked the loosened strands of hair behind my ears. The memory of what happened on the bridge flooded my mind. The larger-than-life animals that glowed with an otherworldly aura . . .

  Taking a few deep breaths, I tried to steady my beating heart, but the room suddenly felt too small and close to contain me. I fastened the locket around my throat, slid off the bed, and grabbed my boots from the closet.

  The house was quiet when I got downstairs; Lidia was still in the Cave. I slipped out through the kitchen door and headed for the hen trailers. I thought the normalcy of chores would calm my nerves, but everything inside me was still jumpy. I felt like I was going crazy. Nothing that had happened over the last few days made any sense.

  The rickety stairs shifted under my weight as I climbed into the first trailer.

  Inside, the hens rustled and squawked, flapping their wings in agitation.

  “What’s wrong, ladies?” I cooed and worked my way through each nest. Pink sunlight streamed in through the tiny window in the center of the trailer. I glanced out through the grimy glass. In the low brush that lined the adjacent forest, I saw what was upsetting the hens.

  A huge white wolf, its blue eyes fixed on me, crouched beneath the brown and bare branches. The edges of its figure shimmered deep blue, as though it were enveloped in a halo made out of sky.

  Just like the white wolf on the bridge last night.

  Goose bumps rippled my skin.

  The wolf turned and walked a few feet away from me, stopped, and tilted its head. Although it seemed insane, I knew it wanted me to follow. I came out of the trailer and fell into step behind the wolf as it trotted into the woods.

  After a minute, the wolf stopped, lifted its head toward the sky, and let out a long, low cry.

  I clutched the front of my jacket, my knuckles white. I had heard the same cry the other night on my way home from the town meeting.

  The wolf lay down on the ground, and I saw what it had led me to. A familiar figure lay motionless in the shelter of an oak tree.

  I rushed forward and dropped down next to the body. “Heath? Heath!”

  I reached out to touch him, but quick as lightning, the wolf leapt onto his chest and faced me.

  “Get away from him,” I screamed, waving my arms at the wolf. The air glimmered all around me. I put one hand up to shield my eyes. The light was so brilliant I thought I would go blind.

  And then it was gone, and the world was normal again. Next to me, Heath gasped and sat up.

  “Are you okay?” I looked around wildly. “There—there was a wolf—what was that?”

  Heath gripped my hand, forcing me to look into his blue eyes. “That,” he said, “is the gift of the Benandanti.”

  Chapter Seven

  The White Wolf

  Wind blew through the trees, scattering red and gold leaves. I stared at Heath. “The Benandanti? I was just—”

  Heath’s fingers tightened on mine. “Alessia, listen. We don’t have a lot of time before your mother comes looking for you. Last night on the bridge, you had what you probably thought was a dream. A dream about turning into a falcon.”

  I felt like someone was pressing on my chest with a very heavy stone. “How did you—?”

  “Because it wasn’t a dream.” He leaned in, his eyes searching my face. “I was there with you.”

  I shook my head as though to get rid of the memory.

  “Don’t you remember? The white wolf?”

  The memory was still there, clear and vivid. I couldn’t deny it. Their physical form remains as though dead, and their spiritual self takes on the shape of an animal . . .
“The wolf. That was you?”

  Heath nodded. “I am a Benandante. And so are you.”

  The bare branches above us clacked against one another in the chilly breeze. I squeezed my eyes shut, but when I opened them again, Heath was still there, his hand still clutching mine. “But that’s impossible. People’s souls can’t turn into animals.”

  “How did you know that’s what we do?” Heath asked, his voice sharp.

  I squinted, trying to organize my thoughts. “I looked it up. The Benandanti. After I found the amulet.”

  “What amulet?”

  “The amulet I found in the basement. I asked Lidia about it.”

  Heath stiffened. “What did she say?”

  “Nothing. So I looked it up on the Internet—”

  “The what?”

  Despite myself, I snorted. “The Internet, Heath.” I made a face. “What, they don’t have computers in Provence?”

  “Someone wrote about us online?” Heath exhaled hard, air whistling between his teeth. He tapped his finger against his lips. “That’s not good.”

  “Why not?”

  Heath grimaced. “It’s not like we walk around saying, ‘Look what I can do’ to everyone we meet.”

  I yanked my hand away from him. “What can we do? What are the Benandanti? Would you please start explaining things before I scream?”

  Heath looked around in all directions, but there was only the wind and the distant clucking of the hens to keep us company. “I’ll show you.” He closed his eyes, his lips moving silently.

  My chest tightened, pain radiating around my heart. It was the same pain I had felt twice before, and now I knew that I was indeed being split in two. I gasped as my soul left my body and I became a falcon once again, my enormous wings lifting me high into the air.

  Down below, light beamed out from Heath. He fell backward, his body limp as the wolf appeared beside him. I stared at our two bodies lying next to each other on the ground, two empty shells now without our souls.

  Heath raised his wolf’s head to me. You see now? That’s what we can do. That’s our gift.

  I blinked. How are you talking to me?

  The Benandanti communicate telepathically. He trotted toward the woods, checking over his shoulder to make sure I was following.

  So that’s how I heard the other animals last night? They could read my mind? I glided from tree to tree, rising higher and higher through the branches.

  Sort of. We can’t ‘listen in’ on each other’s thoughts, but if we need to communicate something, you’ll hear it. He disappeared beneath thick brush, then reappeared an instant later.

  I dipped low, skimming through bare branches in order to keep him in sight. Where are you taking me?

  To the place that is at the center of all this.

  I could feel his nervousness in my mind. It was an odd sensation, feeling someone else’s thoughts and emotions inside my head.

  The reason the Benandanti are in Twin Willows. There’s magic here—

  Magic?

  He must have heard the skepticism in my voice because he tilted his head up to look at me. You just tore your soul out of your body and took the shape of a Falcon. I think you can stop wondering if magic is real or not.

  I fluttered my wings. If I said—or thought—it out loud it would make the fairy tale real. But I couldn’t deny what was happening. I guess.

  Look, I know this is a lot to take in—

  Understatement of the century.

  —but I need you to listen and stay sharp.

  I took a deep mental breath. I could sort it all out later, after I had the facts and I was alone with my own thoughts. Okay.

  Good. As I was saying, there’s magic all over the world, but there are seven sites in particular that contain extraordinary power.

  I soared through the thick branches of an oak tree. There’s one here, isn’t there? In Twin Willows?

  Yes.

  Are you kidding? This dumb town where nothing happens?

  Do I sound like I’m kidding? This dumb town is actually host to an ancient magic. He leapt over a fallen tree, his long white form graceful as a ballerina. And the Benandanti are here to protect that magic. There are seven Benandanti Clans, one to protect each site. Each Clan has five members.

  Who are you protecting the magic from?

  The Malandanti.

  The word sent a cold wind through my feathers. I turned it over in my internal translator. Bad Walkers? In my mind’s eye I saw the bobcat with its silvery aura. That bobcat. And the raven. They were the Malandanti?

  Yes, two of them. There are five members of each Malandanti Clan too. In the shadows of the forest, Heath glowed more vibrantly through the brush.

  I rose higher in the air, keeping his blue aura in sight as I stretched toward the sky.

  We’re almost there. Fly low and as quietly as you can. We cannot alert the Malandanti to our presence.

  What will happen if they see us?

  They will kill us.

  The air around me shivered, as though the temperature had suddenly dropped. I glided down until I was just inches above Heath and followed him through the brush. As we emerged out into the open, a shaft of afternoon sunlight broke through the trees, and I recognized where we were.

  The waterfall.

  Chapter Eight

  The Waterfall

  I spun in the air, my vision blurred. Oh, my God.

  Do you know this place?

  I— I stopped myself before I could answer. I didn’t want Heath to know how I knew this place. I stared instead at the rock where I used to sit with my dad. It looked foreign to me now, like an alternate-universe version of the place I loved. Over the entire waterfall, a weird silvery black mist hung, like a veil made out of black diamonds. The water no longer looked crystalline; it looked dirty, mottled, and murky. What happened? I asked Heath. It wasn’t like this the other day when I was here.

  It was, Heath answered. You just couldn’t see it. Now that you’ve been Called, you can. Just like you can see my aura now too.

  Inside the veil, the Raven that had attacked me on the bridge sat perched in a tree. It launched into the air and descended to the water. Waves rippled outward to the shore as it dragged its talon across the surface.

  Heath’s fur bristled, his ears pinned back against his head. It makes me sick, to see them using the magic like that.

  That’s the magic? The water?

  Yes. Whoever touches the water inside the barrier will have visions of the future.

  I fell so fast out of the air that I barely had time to catch myself on a branch above Heath’s head. Are you serious?

  Heath lifted his head. Deadly serious.

  I stared at the Raven as it drew lazy circles on the water’s surface. The tip of my wing burned, as though it were my human hand, reminding me of something. I touched the water. The other day when I was here.

  Heath blinked, his wide eyes soulful. And less than a day later, you had a vision. Am I right?

  The vision in the office. It was so real . . .

  I wouldn’t know. I have never touched the water. He stepped out of the brush. Sunlight broke through the trees and illuminated his aura.

  The Raven shot into the air, droplets of water falling from its talons. With a loud caw that echoed through the trees, the Raven barreled toward Heath. But when it reached the misty barrier, it stopped short.

  Heath stepped right up to the barrier, raised his head to the sky, and let out a howl that filled all the crevices in the woods. His nose was practically touching the silvery mist.

  On the other side of the barrier, the Raven beat its wings so hard that wind ruffled my feathers. The Raven struck the mist with its beak, and the barrier crackled, like a stone thrown against an electric fence.

  Heath lowered his head and backed up until he was right under my branch. Let’s go.

  I followed his white form through the woods as he raced toward the clearing. What was that all about? />
  There’s always at least one Malandanti here, guarding the site. And as long as their magical barrier holds, we can’t go in.

  The panther I had seen the other day wasn’t just a panther. It was a guardian of the site, a Malandante. The enemy. I shook myself. I couldn’t think like that yet.

  We reached the spot where our bodies lay, and the sight of my helpless human self made me shudder. An instant later I lay on my back, staring at the deep blue sky. I gulped, trying to fill my lungs with air.

  Heath grabbed my elbow and pulled me to my feet. “Come on. I didn’t realize how late it was. Your mom’s expecting me in the Cave.”

  “But why do the Malandanti control that site and not the Benandanti?” My breath came out in little gasps as I jogged to keep up with him.

  “We used to. But then we lost a member, and that weakened the Clan enough for the Malandanti to take control.” We reached the stone wall. I scrambled over it after Heath. When we neared the edge of the pasture, Heath rounded on me. “Come find me in the Cave in fifteen minutes. I’ll figure out a way to get Lidia out of there.”

  “Wait—”

  But he was already striding away.

  I stumbled backward, feeling my way to the nearest tree. I sank to the ground at the base of its trunk.

  On the other side of the pasture, Heath disappeared into the Cave.

  What was going on? Was this really my life now? All because of that stupid amulet. No, it started before that, when I had gone to the Waterfall to spread my dad’s ashes. Briefly I wondered if he had known anything about the Waterfall’s true purpose, but I shoved that thought away. I could only handle so much information overload in one day. I touched the locket around my neck. The metal was warm from my skin. This whole thing hadn’t started that day at the Waterfall. It had started the day I was born with the caul.

  The Cave door opened, and Lidia emerged, her shadow lengthening across the grass. She paused to say something to Heath and headed over the hill to the barn. At the Virgin Mary shrine she knelt and bowed her head for a few moments. I beat my hands against my thighs. Lidia rose, crossed herself, and continued to the house.