To The Forest - Part Eighteen
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
Bursting out of the tent and into the forest - it feels like leaving a warm, underground den and running out into the winter it was supposed to be shelter from.
The temperature outside has fallen sharply. The moon and stars are hidden behind the clouds, and the forest is dark. The darkness of the wild, so indescribably deep. I may as well be out on the open ocean, for all I can see.
I force myself to stop right outside of the tent, panting with fear, then click on the flashlight and hold it up, scanning the dark forest for Aiden.
“Aiden!” I whisper-shout. I wait a second, then add, in a much louder voice - “Aiden, seriously! If you don’t answer me right now, I’m gonna start freaking out!”
No answer. Not even the sound of a footstep breaks the silence. Just the smooth rush of the water, coming from streams I can’t even see in this light.
My instinct is to sprint right out into the forest and not stop until I’ve found Aiden, but even in the haze of my overwhelming panic, I can see the imperfections in that plan.
Stop. Think. You came prepared for this, didn’t you?
My shaking hand lifts automatically to my shirt, and feels the little bump beneath it.
“Okay,” I whisper frantically, trying to keep my jangling heartbeat under control. “It’s all good, because I knew it, I knew I wasn’t being stupid-”
I reach up to my neck and catch the slender leather necklace around it, then yank the pendant out from under my shirt.
It’s a tiny container, a corked glass bottle that looks like it would fit on a kitchen shelf in a dollhouse. I hold the tiny bottle between my thumb and my forefinger, then shine my flashlight on it.
The beam lights up the tiny little cutting with the adolescent leaf from the malachite tree that I put in there. It floats gently in the water, wobbling as my trembling fingers shake the bottle.
I take a deep breath, willing myself to hold still. This doesn’t work at all, not with Aiden missing, so instead I clench my shaking fingers around the bottle until I’m holding on so tightly that the bottle goes still under the sheer pressure of my fingers.
“Where is he?” I whisper to the cutting.
A few seconds pass, and then - the malachite cutting turns delicately in the water, its leaf face following its energy source.
As soon as it stops its movement, I sprint pell-mell down the hill, striking out into the pitch-black woods.
I sprint through the woods with my heartbeat crashing in my ears, my feet staggering over hidden things on the forest floor. I’m not trying to light it up with my flashlight - that’s for keeping on the trees, to find Aiden. I desperately want to shout for him, but I don’t know if that would help or hurt, because I have no idea what’s going on. Why would he leave our tent alone? Nothing could have taken him, could it?
The moonlight finally splits through the clouds, giving some shape and form to what’s around me. Still, the yellow beam of my flashlight is the only light strong enough to really see by.
I stop for a second to catch my breath. Panting frantically, I rove my flashlight over the trees, the glimmering nebulous paths of the of waterways - then freeze where I am.
The glow of my flashlight just slid across a pair of broad, muscular shoulders, and a head of luxuriant chestnut hair.
I drag in a sharp, jagged breath, ready to collapse with relief. I rush forward a few steps, then stop again, blinking hard at Aiden.
He’s got his back to me, and he’s very slowly stumbling deeper into the woods. The strange, staggering steps he’s taking make it seem almost like he’s sleepwalking. He doesn’t respond at all to the fact that he’s suddenly caught in the glow of my flashlight. And it doesn’t seem like he hears my footsteps as I go racing to him, closing the distance between us.
“Aiden!” I call, trying to keep the tremble out of my voice. “Aiden, what - what are you doing?”
No response, so I rush in front of him and drop the flashlight so I can take him by his shoulders.
His head is hanging slightly. He starts to push forward like he’s going to brush right past me. I tighten my grasp on his shoulders, then give him a forceful shake.
“Aiden!” I take his face in my hands, trying to force him to look up at me. “It’s me, Sugar Maple, can’t you hear me?”
Aiden slowly, slowly looks up. His eyes are swimming with magic, but it all clears away as he lifts his head.
My heart plummets. I could have sworn that wasn’t the normal icy-blue color of his magic, or the resting blue of his eyes. That was another color entirely.
Aiden blinks hard a few times, and gives himself a shake.
“Jamie?” he murmurs, rubbing his eyes.
They’ve gone back to their usual shade of blue. His deep voice sounds bewildered, and - thick with rich huskiness, the same it gets when he’s just woken up from a sexy dream.
Makes no sense to me, but I don’t care. I’m nearly in tears of relief just to have my hands on him again. I lean up to press a kiss onto his mouth, clinging tightly to him.
“Jesus, are you okay?” I stammer, falling back onto my feet and gazing searchingly up into his eyes. “What are you doing? Besides scaring the hell out of me?”
Aiden stares down at me, then gazes around at the dark forest in total confusion.
“I… I don’t know,” he rumbles, with growing alarm in his voice. He catches my hand in his, his eyes widening as he takes in the situation. “Oh, shit - what are we doing out here?”
“You tell me, dude! I woke up and you were gone, so I tracked you here. With this.”
I catch the leather cord around my neck, then hold up the bottle with the tiny malachite cutting. Aiden’s hand comes up to gently cup the pendant, his blue eyes wide with surprise.
“This from the malachite tree?”
“Yeah, for once I came prepared. I was worried about losing you, Sugar Maple. I’ve been wearing it to sleep just in case.”
Aiden slowly breaks into a warm smile.
“Good thinking, Linden.” He cuffs my chin approvingly, the sweetness in his deep voice making my heart flutter. “When’d you make that?”
“Right before we left.” I let the leather necklace fall to rest against my chest again. “It’s not the ideal set-up for a cutting, though. And that’s barely even a cutting, it’s so small... it’ll probably only last until the end of this trip. But I figured better safe than sorry.”
Aiden’s eyes flicker with swirling, icy blue brilliance, glittering like liquid diamonds.
“Think we can make it last longer than that,” he murmurs, and taps a glowing finger to the bottle.
I draw back in surprise, then seize the pendant and lift it for closer inspection, but whatever magic Aiden did left no visible trace.
He keeps firm hold of my fingers as he lifts his other hand, his palm facing the forest. A bright rush of golden fireflies floods out from his fingers. They rise to float around us, casting a gentle pool of light, but the rest of the forest is infinitely dark.
“Goddamnit.” Aiden winces deeply, turning back to me. “We’re laying the foundations for a disaster, right now - we don’t want to face these things at night! When they’re at their most powerful!”
“Well, clearly that’s why this illusion waited until night to strike!” I press myself up close to Aiden, bending to hastily retrieve the flashlight. “I assume that’s what’s happening, anyways? I seriously doubt that you coincidentally went sleepwalking for the first time ever, here and now!”
“This wouldn’t be the first time ever, actually, but - that’s not what I was doing. Can’t have been sleepwalking. I remember waking up in our tent.” Aiden pushes a hand through his messy hair, staring off into the distance as he struggles to remember. “I woke up because I thought I heard something, that much I know. But after that, I honestly don’t remember what - what - what the fuck…?”
I take one look at Aiden’s thunderstruck expression, then spin around to see what he’s staring at.
The clouds have shifted again, letting more moonlight spill down. The pale, misty glow of it is lighting up the lush waterways, which are in gentle movement all around us.
Straight across from us is a wide stream, almost a small river. It’s absolutely beautiful, just like all the other waterways around this part of the woods. A splashing waterfall spills into a wide pool before flowing on over the smooth stones of its bed. The banks are overflowing with thick profusions of flowers and ferns and fungi, and I can see little fish darting around under the water. The pool is full of lily pads, their softly blossoming flowers glowing with moonlight.
And there, at the center of the pool, is what must be another of Rose’s six illusions.
She’s laid out seductively on her side, on a cluster of mossy boulders in the center of the pool, with her cheek resting on her arm. She’s wearing a very sheer, white dress. It fits her loosely, but it’s wet, so it’s clinging to her body. Flowing masses of dark, shining locks tumble down her back and curl gently around her face. Little white flowers are woven into them. Some of them are long enough to tumble right down into the water.
Her foot is resting in the water, idly stirring it, causing little ripples. Her eyes are bright and wild, blazing with moonlit brilliance.
At first glance, she’s a strikingly beautiful woman. It’s difficult to make out anything more than that in the misty darkness of the forest, especially from this distance.
On second look, though, she’s - something else.
Her wrists have coral-pink and seafoam-green and iridescent silver scales, delicately set in the shape of bracers. The slopes of her neck have them, too. Her hair isn’t black, but a rich, dark green. Her skin is a softer, paler shade of green, but she has a gentle pink blush to her cheeks.
The white dress she’s wearing isn’t made from fabric, but woven of the same little flowers also dotting her hair.
Her ears are poking far out from under her hair, long and slender and sharply pointed. Her entire face has unusual bone structure, I can tell even from here. And her whole body glows softly, a beckoning light in the darkness.
She’s the Sea Creature. And she’s looking right at us.
She trails her fingertips over the water, opens her mouth, and takes a deep breath. Like she’s about to start singing.
The instant I realize that, several thoughts flash across my mind in rapidfire succession.
Rose said she’d adapted some scary, mythical sea creature for the forest. Team Ghost Office has had several lengthy debates about which one that might be. There are a lot of options to choose from, according to our team historian. Now, though - a clear forerunner has just emerged as the most likely candidate.
A siren. Rose made a forest siren.
Right before our thunderstruck eyes, she begins to sing.
Her voice pours out softly through the dark woodlands in a wordless melody, slow and silky. I throw my hands up over my ears, but it doesn’t help. The siren’s song passes right through them.
Her voice is like honey, all sweet and sultry and melting. Her song is spell-binding and alluring, an undisguised beckoning call. I process all of that in my panicked mind, then slowly realize…
It sounds very pretty, but - I mean - I can easily resist that. I don’t even have to try, actually.
“Oh.” I let my hands fall from my ears, staring at the siren, taken by surprise. “I thought it was gonna be some irresistible pull that we couldn’t hope to fight, or… oh - oh my god.”
I trail off in disbelief as a possible explanation hits me.
The siren also looks puzzled that her song doesn’t seem to be working on me. She sits up some more, still singing, but now frowning at me.
Nothing happens. I break into a giant grin as the understanding sinks in.
“Oh my god!” I stare in delight at the affronted siren, half-laughing with relief. “You’re a lady siren, so your seduction magic doesn’t work on me! I’m safe from - oh-”
I break off sharply, having looked up at Aiden. His wide eyes are glowing with aquatic blue light, fixed completely on the siren, enraptured. He takes a slow step towards her, moving like he’s sleepwalking again.
“Oh, shit, right - Aiden - no, no no no!” I move in front of him and fling my arms out, then spin around to look imploringly at the siren. “Hey - would you stop that, please? There’s no need for it, I promise! We just want to talk to you!”
She stops singing, staring at me in obvious confusion. Aiden’s eyes clear of the glowing aquamarine light, and he gives his head a hard shake.
“What - what happened?” he stammers.
The siren looks like she’s wondering the same thing. She sits up on the smooth boulders, staring at us, her delicate brow knitted in growing consternation.
She gets to her feet and slips down to stand in the water, which comes up to her knees. She shrugs one sleeve off of her shoulder, tosses out her hair, and poses very seductively against the rocks, then begins to sing again.
Aiden’s eyes immediately shine with her light. He starts trying to push past me, and I sink my heels into the forest floor, holding him back with both arms.
“Excuse me!” I look sternly at the siren, struggling to keep Aiden where he is. “Okay, that’s more than enough of that! He’s taken, sis! And the song is never gonna work on me, so - can you please stop?”
The siren stops singing again, then breaks into a frustrated scowl. She stamps her foot in the water, her hands balling into fists.
Aiden rubs his eyes, more than a little bewildered. “Can someone please tell me what’s going on right now?”
“Well, I figured out why you left the tent and I didn’t,” I tell him over my shoulder, holding onto him in case the song starts up again. “She’s using some kind of seduction magic, and it doesn’t work on me. My gay ass slept right through the siren’s call.”
“Wh- a siren?” Aiden stares at her in disbelief, then frowns indignantly. “Oh, c’mon, are you serious? I’m vulnerable to siren attacks just because I’m bi? That’s not fair! Wait a second - I’m basically vulnerable to all seduction magic!”
I let out a helpless little sound. “Okay, that one sounds like a conversation for another time, doesn’t it?”
The siren is looking back and forth between us in mounting confusion, her hands planted on her hips.
“Um - sorry,” I manage, turning back around to face her. “This probably isn’t how things usually go when you do this. I imagine we’re supposed to come up close to you, and then you’ll turn scary all at once? Or you’d lead us around until we got lost. Is that more like it?”
She glances at me suspiciously, fidgeting with a flower tucked into a strand of her long green hair. But really she’s looking at Aiden, like she just noticed something about him she’d missed before. Her angular brow is crinkled with a puzzled frown, her eyes slowly searching him.
Aiden carefully, slowly holds out his hands.
“We’re not your enemies,” he murmurs. “We’re friends of Thorn.”
The siren blinks hard, but goes otherwise motionless, staring at Aiden with huge eyes. She lifts her fingers to her mouth, startled. I’m not sure, but - I could swear she looks brighter and more colorful, all of a sudden. Just at the mention of Thorn’s name.
Maybe we just gave her a memory back?
Thorn…? comes a very soft, bubbling voice, like the song of a little brook.
The siren takes an eager, involuntary step towards us, then stops, observing us with obvious anxiety.
Aiden hesitates, then takes a slow step closer to her, too. “If you hear us out, we can explain-”
The siren startles backwards, glancing between us with frightened eyes. I get the feeling it’s just now dawned on her that her power isn’t going to work against us, because all of a sudden she looks seriously alarmed.
“No, wait!” I blurt out desperately, as she takes a few rushing steps back. “Friends of yours sent us to find you, we promise! They want us to-”
She makes a gesture like she’s bending to gather her skirts, but instead of grabbing her dress, she seizes hold of the sparkling waters around her, as if they’re fabric.
Then she turns, and vanishes. Taking the pool, the stream, and the bubbling waterfall with her.
Along with - with all of the - the whole entire -
“What the fuck?” Aiden whispers, turning slowly to look at the forest around us.
We exchange a wide-eyed look. Without a word, Aiden catches my hand and leads us back the way we came, until we reach our campsite.
We emerge from the treeline and hike back up the hill that our tent is perched on. We gaze down on what had been a lush, blossoming stretch of forest, full to overflowing with radiant greenery and nourishing waterways.
We stare down at the sight before us for a long, silent moment, then look at each other again.
“Okay.” Aiden runs a dazed hand over his face. “We need-”
“Kasey,” I agree firmly.
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