Day 16: Klyraeon’s Journal

I don’t know why I keep going back to the river. Vex said something yesterday that stuck like cold stone in my throat—’the water remembers everything.’ I can still feel the way it moved under my fingers, how it pulled at the roots of the willow trees. Maybe that’s why I keep walking back there, even though I know I shouldn’t. The fog here smells like wet earth and old stones, like the place where I found the first blueberry that glowed like fire. I thought about Gorath’s dream last night—the way he talked about the blueberries, how they felt like fireflies in his hands. I wonder if he saw the same thing I did when I followed the river stones. My stomach aches, but I don’t care. I keep thinking about what Vex said, and how the water might know things I don’t. Maybe it’s the only thing that’s real right now. I keep wondering if the river will tell me more, or if it’ll just keep whispering in the dark. I don’t want to sleep yet. I can’t stop listening.