“I’m saying it’s time to take care of ourselves, for a change. To allow people who want to leave—or even people who want to return—to make that choice.”

“The Forest won’t allow it,” a woman called.

Murmurs of agreement rose up, but to Leelo’s surprise, Rosalie held her knife aloft. “I will help you, Leelo.” Her husband stepped up next to her, hefting his axe. “We both will.”

Vance’s parents exchanged a glance, and then they, too, stepped forward.

Leelo looked to Pieter’s parents. “Will you help us?”

For a long moment, she was sure they would say no. And then they nodded as well. “We will help.”

A few other Endlans who had been listening nearby joined them. But as Leelo’s plan began to disseminate among the islanders, shouts of anger went up as well.

“You can’t do this!”

“The Forest will kill us all!”

“Endla is our home!”

She waited for the adults on her side to do something, but they stood watching her, frozen with indecision, and she knew she would have to strike the first blow.

She took the axe from Gant, who released it willingly, and turned to her family’s pine.

She’d never liked the grove, or this tree. A patron saint was supposed to bring blessings and good fortune, but all it had ever brought her was suffering. Still, when she raised the axe over her head and swung it at the trunk, it felt like she was striking down an old acquaintance.

The blade struck the bark so hard that it buried itself, and Leelo remembered the stories Ketty had told, of the bloodred sap and the screaming trees. But all she could hear was the sound of her own breathing. Even those who opposed her had fallen silent, as if waiting to see how the Forest would retaliate.

She pulled the axe free and struck again. It would take her hours to cut such a massive tree down on her own, but a moment later, Jaren joined her, wielding an axe he’d taken from another Endlan. Pieter’s father joined as well. Within a few minutes, the tree began to groan under its own weight, sounding as lonely and ancient as the wind itself. They stepped back as the massive pine crashed to the earth, taking a smaller tree with it.

Leelo turned to the next tree. A few Endlans stood before it, their weapons raised. “Don’t do this,” a man said. “You don’t know what the consequences will be.”

“No. But I do know the consequences of letting things continue as they have been. I’m willing to take the risk.”