Chapter 27 The Gearshift
They climbed back into the cab of the Mountain Climber, the air inside now thick with tension. Finnegan didn’t start the engine immediately. He watched Leela for a moment, noticing the way her fingers kept drifting up to touch the cold iron collar, as if checking that the lock was still holding.“Listen to me,” he said, his voice cutting through her worry.
He rested his right hand on the stick shift, his grip loose but steady.
“We’re getting closer to the source. The Stone is doing its job but the Grove is…it’s a lot. It’s going to try to bypass the filter.”
He looked at her hand, resting nervously on her knee.
“If that hum gets any louder,” he instructed, nodding at his own hand on the shifter, “if you start to feel like you’re losing the quiet. I want you to place your hand on top of mine. Right here.”
Leela looked at the gear stick. “Will that help?’
“I’m your anchor, remember?” Finnegan gave her a small, reassuring smile. “My energy is heavy. It’s grounded. If you touch me, I can pull some of that static off you. I can help hold you down until we get there.”
Leela nodded, swallowing hard. “Okay. I will.”
Finnegan turned the key. The beast roared to life, and they began the final ascent.
The terrain changed rapidly. The trees grew thicker, their trunks widening until they looked like ancient pillars holding up the sky. The sunlight struggled to pierce the canopy, turning the afternoon into a perpetual twilight.
And the vibration grew.
At first, it was just a buzz in her teeth. Then, it became a thrumming in her chest. Despite the Earth Stone pressing its cold weight against her throat, the song of the forest was leaking in. It wasn't painful, but it was overwhelming–like standing in front of a speaker stack at a concert.
Leela squeezed her eyes shut, her breathing hitching. The world outside the window was blurring, the green shapes merging into a single, pulsing entity.
Too loud, she thought, it’s too loud.
She reached out blindly.
Her hand found Finnegan’s on the gear shifter. She pressed her palm over the back of his hand, lacing her fingers through his.
The effect was immediate.
Finnigan didn’t pull away; he turned his hand slightly to grip hers back, squeezing tight. A wave of solid, warm calm washed up her arm and flooded her chest. It didn’t silence the forest completely, but it turned the volume down. It gave her something real to hold onto in the shifting sea of green.
She let out a long, shaky exhale, opening her eyes.
Finnegan didn’t look at her; he kept his eyes on the treacherous path ahead, navigating the truck over a huge root system. But he didn’t let go. He shifted gears with her hand still clamped over his, moving as one unit.
“I’ve got you,” he said over the roar of the engine. “Just hold on.”
The further they drove, the less it felt like a forest and more like a fortress. The trees were no longer individual trunks; they were a solid wall of woven bark and moss.
The light turned strange—a filtered, emerald twilight that made it hard to tell if it was day or night.
And the Hum became a roar.
The vibration rattled Leela’s teeth. It wasn't just noise anymore; it was pressure. It felt like the air inside the cabin had thickened to gelatin. The Earth Stone around her neck grew icy cold, freezing against her skin as it tried desperately to absorb the onslaught of ambient magic, but it was reaching its limit.
Leela gasped, her chest seizing. She felt that familiar bubbling sensation in her fingertips—the precursor to a flare.
No, she panicked. Not again. I can't light the beacon again.
One hand on Fennigan’s gear shift wasn't enough. The connection was too thin.
"Fennigan," she choked out.
She let go of the "oh-shit" handle above the door. She twisted in her seat, reaching across the center console with her free hand and grabbing his bicep. She dug her fingers into the thick muscle of his arm, anchoring herself to him with everything she had.
She clung to his arm and his hand, using his body as a grounding rod, pouring the excess energy into him before it could explode outward.
Fennigan grunted as the energy hit him, his knuckles turning white on the steering wheel, but he didn't pull away. He leaned into her touch.
"Hold on, Leela," he shouted over the engine and the ringing in her ears. "We're at the perimeter! Just another minute! Don't let go!"
"I'm trying!" she cried, squeezing her eyes shut. The world was spinning.
The truck engine roared, straining as the incline grew impossibly steep. Tires spun against slick roots, finding purchase, and launching them forward.
They were driving straight into a wall of brambles and ancient vines that looked impenetrable.
"Brace yourself!" Fennigan yelled.
He didn't lift his foot off the gas. He floored it.
The Mountain Climber slammed into the wall of green. Branches whipped against the windshield, screeching like banshees. The world went dark for a split second as they tore through the dense vegetation.
And then—
Pop.
The pressure vanished.
The truck burst through the other side of the thicket and rolled onto a flat, carpeted surface of soft moss.
Fennigan slammed on the brakes. The truck skidded to a halt, the engine idling down to a purr.
Leela’s eyes flew open. She was gasping for air, her hands still death-gripping Fennigan’s arm and hand.