A curling gray smoke hung where brambles had once formed dark walls. Where twisted oaks had stood, now thirteen tangled black knots loomed up. Like crooked fingers opening from huge fists they unfurled the way the simple letters of Calixto's diary had opened. But these trees were far more complex. Every twig and branch twisted into forms of script. Roots erupted and surged forward like black eels, all of them swimming straight for Javier's extended hand.
A blinding white symbol glowed from beneath Javier's fingers. As Kiram watched it grew more intense, turning Javier's flesh luminous as a paper lantern and casting shadows of the bones of his hand. A trembling, electric sensation shot up from Javier through Kiram's arm. Kiram jerked out of reflex but kept his hold on Javier's hand. The sensation grew painfully hot but Kiram hung on.
Cold, black roots slithered over Kiram's feet and ankles as they swarmed up over Javier's outstretched hand. They writhed up his arm and for a horrifying moment Kiram thought they would engulf Javier, but as they touched his skin, light scorched along their tangled lengths and shot up into the surrounding trees.
In moments all thirteen trees were ablaze with light. Their writhing branches traced glowing golden script into the air and the symbols seemed to take flight, spreading over the brambles and woods, then filling the sky. The symbols shone like stars and then fell like snowflakes.
One drifted down to Kiram's arm. It looked like the symbol for protection. It felt like the lightest kiss against his skin, and then it melted away leaving Kiram feeling somehow safer and stronger, despite the fierce heat rolling over him.
All around the symbols settled, illuminating the surrounding wilderness, and suddenly Kiram realized that this was the White Tree: the entire circle, lit and luminous with blessings.
Still kneeling at his side, Javier didn't seem to see anything. He still gripped the ground and Kiram could feel tremors of exhaustion rocking his muscles.
"Javier, I think it's done. We should go." Kiram tugged at Javier's hand. "You can stop now."
When Javier didn't respond, Kiram jerked his arm hard and Javier suddenly looked up at him. The black shadows of his skull and teeth showed through his luminous, pale skin. Blinding white fire filled the hollows of his eyes. It was as if the face of death leered up at him.
Kiram jumped and almost lost his hold on Javier's hand.
"Javier!" Terror lifted the pitch of Kiram's voice. "Close the white hell! Close it!"
The jaw of the skull dropped as if to speak but only white vapor rose from the gaping mouth. He was burning away before Kiram's eyes.
"Stop this! Stop it now!" Panic flooded Kiram and he struck Javier hard. Javier fell back, pulling Kiram to the ground with him, and suddenly all the light and fire receded. Kiram smelled the blackberry leaves and soil beneath him. Wild grass tickled his cheek.
Kiram turned his face out of the mulch-strewn ground and for a moment he simply stared up at the tree branches and sky above him. Thousands of tiny lights flickered like golden fireflies, illuminating the grove in a diffuse glow. Green leaves and spring flowers lit up as the lights settled upon them. In the sky the gleaming lights soared in banners of blazing script.
There was no sign of the jays that had previously swarmed over the grove. Now turning constellations of delicate lights filled the sky. He wondered what immense incantation whirled above him.
"Javier, do you know what it says?"
Next to him Javier groaned and then shifted.
"Did you punch me?" Javier's voice was rough and dry as if he'd just awoken. Leaves and pieces of bramble clung to his clothes and hair. He looked exhausted but alive and human and a little vexed.
"You did punch me, didn't you?" Javier lifted one hand to his jaw. "Why the hell did you do that?"
"Because you scared the shit out of me." Kiram sat up and Javier followed suit, though Kiram could see that even that was tiring for him.
"You wouldn't close the white hell," Kiram explained. "And I was worried that you were getting lost in it."
"So you punched me?" Javier smirked. "Very romantic."
"You had a flaming skull for a face, you-" Kiram went silent at the sound of other voices nearby. He was sure he recognized Vashir demanding to know how this could have happened. A woman growled that she didn't know. And somewhere in the midst of a dozen more arguments, Kiram recognized Alizadeh's laughter.
"We have to go." Javier rose unsteadily to his feet and to Kiram's amusement offered him his hand as if Kiram were the one who would need help.
Kiram took his hand and then rose up close to him so that he could steady Javier as they fled from the grove.
As they broke from the brambles and trees Kiram was stunned to realize that half the population of the Haldiim district was up and out. Crowds of men and women in their nightclothes stood at the edges of the grove, all of them staring at the display of dancing, swirling gold lights.
Kiram prayed that somehow no one would notice him and Javier as they worked their way into the crowd.
"Kiram?" A woman's familiar voice called. "Kiram Kir-Zaki!"
He looked to see both Mother Kir-Naham and her son, Hashiem, watching him.
"Oh lovely," Javier murmured.
"What on earth were you two doing?" Mother Kir-Naham demanded.
"We…ahm…" Kiram tried to look innocent. He could feel the sweat on his face. "We tried to get a closer look in the grove, but we didn't see anything. I mean not anything other than those lights."
Beside him Javier just smiled as if he couldn't quite follow the conversation.
Mother Kir-Naham scowled at Kiram so angrily that Kiram wondered if she could somehow tell that they had been responsible for all of this. Then he realized what he and Javier looked like, stumbling out of the woods, dirt and leaves in their hair and clothes, holding hands and leaning close.
The last thing Mother Kir-Naham would suspect was that they'd ignited the White Tree. More likely she and Hashiem-and the dozen other people who'd taken note-assumed the two of them had gone to the grove for furtive sex and now had been caught because of the brilliant disturbance.
Kiram thought of claiming that the two of them had become lost in a bramble and fallen in the mud. He could claim Javier had hit his head and was injured. But it seemed pointless and Kiram had neither the energy nor the interest to remain and make excuses to placate Hashiem and his mother.
Hashiem gave Kiram a cold glare and then very purposefully turned away from him. Kiram almost laughed at how childish the gesture seemed, especially after everything else that had happened tonight. Hashiem's snub meant hardly anything to him.
"We must be going, Mother Kir-Naham," Kiram said. "Good evening."
Mother Kir-Naham refused to even respond.
Kiram shrugged and led Javier through the press of the gathered crowd. A few people greeted them but most were far too engaged in speculation about the illumination of the Circle of Red Oaks.
"All the lights from the Solstice have come home!" A child suggested. An older boy wondered if the lights were all just bugs but the wrinkled man beside him shook his head and pointed out the whirling symbols the lights formed.
"That's the Bahiim symbol for life," the old man said, "and all that is sacred. That's impressive writing for bugs."
"It's beautiful," one woman whispered and she gazed at the sky as if she were falling in love.
Javier smiled and the pride of his expression seemed to lift even his exhaustion. Still Kiram wasn't about to shove him onto Lunaluz's back and just hope he made the trip home. Nor did he feel like returning to his own house.
The ambient golden glow made it easy to wander the streets and find a hostel. Kiram rented a room where Javier fell asleep before he'd even gotten both his boots off. Kiram lay down with him but didn't sleep right away. In the dark of their little room the symbol that had fallen upon Kiram's arm gave off the faintest light. Kiram watched it shine and slowly fade as the lights outside dimmed and at last gave way to darkness.