She turned away from us, but I took a few steps forward and caught her arm. “Wait a sec. Before we go on a fun little hike, do you have a name?”

  She tilted her head back a little and furrowed her brow. “Name… ah yes! What you use to differentiate yourselves from one another. Yes, I have a ‘name.’ The man gave it to me. He called me ‘Fortia,’ because I survived my tree being cut down.”

  Chris studied the stump with a furrowed brow. “How did that happen to get cut down this far in the woods?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I invited a human into the woods by beckoning with the petals of my tree. A man followed the trail, and when he found me, he cut my tree down to use for…” She paused and frowned, “what was the name? A ‘pretty table?’”

  I inspected the weathered ground around the trunk. “So, he took the tree and dragged it away, all without the forest stopping him?”

  Fortia smiled sweetly, but there was a devilish glint in her eyes. “I wouldn’t say that but come on.” She grasped one each of our hands and tugged us down the trail. “Let me see how the woods have changed in that long time and you can follow your little light!”

  We stumbled along behind our guide and raced head-long into the mist. Unlike in past times, the fog didn’t part for our coming. We were swallowed whole by the cold leviathan, and in the midst of its belly I could hardly see my nose in front of my face. Without Fortia’s hand on mine I would have been completely lost and, more worrisome, separated from Chris.

  That last thought left a chill down my spine, and I looked to my left where I’d last seen him. “You still there, Chris?”

  Much was my relief when his voice replied back. “I think so, but I’ll have to assess if I’m missing anything later when I can see more than an inch in front of me.”

  I squinted into the fog but couldn’t see our guide. “Fortia, how can you see anything in this fog?”

  Fortia’s laugh echoed around us. “Of course, silly! The forest is telling me where we’re going!”

  I sighed. “Of course, it is…”

  Something warm and soft tickled my nose. I felt the oncoming storm and tucked a finger beneath my nose, but there was no stopping the carnage. Sneeze after sneeze erupted from my schnoz. I accidentally dug my heels in the ground and my hand slipped out of Fortia’s grip.

  “You mustn’t let go!” Fortia cried out as I stumbled to a stop. “You’ll be lost in the woods forever!”

  “Alex!” Chris shouted, but his voice sounded far away, like I was hearing it across a chasm.

  “Chris!” I yelled as I whipped my head to and fro. “Fortia! Where are you?”

  “Alex…” I could hardly hear his voice now.

  “Chris!” My cry was mixed with a sob as I stretched out my hands and felt the empty air around me.

  My outstretched fingers touched something soft, and as hot as the sun. I yelped and stumbled back. My heel tripped on a treacherous root, and I fell backward.

  And clear out of the fog.

  A starry sky greeted me as I dropped butt-first out of the mist and into the clear woods. The ground gave me a less comforting greeting as its hard surface knocked the air out of my lungs.

  Kedie’s fiery face appeared over mine with its wings beating quickly behind it. “Are you resting? Do humans often rest in such a painful manner?”

  I sat up and winced as my back popped in a couple of awkward places. “Only when we don’t have a choice.” I swept my eyes over the area with its young trees and hard-packed, scorched ground. It looked vaguely familiar. “Are we close to your home?”

  Kedie fluttered in front of me and nodded. “Oh yes, quite near. I was out on patrol when I spotted this.” The elemental flew over to the wall of fog and brushed their hand over the front. “I tried looking into it, but I can’t see or smell anything.” Kedie zipped back over to me and pursed its lips as its eyes settled on the light that emanated from my chest. It pointed a tiny finger at the stream. “What’s that?”

  “My lifeline,” I replied as I climbed to my feet. “Which sounds like a really bad joke, and I’m starting to think someone just pulled one on me.”

  Kedie flew up to hover in front of my face. “Has something happened to Greylock?”

  “Greylock, and Silva.” I waved a hand into the mist, but it didn’t so much as flutter for me. “And Chris and Fortia.”

  Kedie wrinkled its nose. “What’s a Fortia?”

  “She called herself a wood dryad,” I told my friend as I brushed my hand through the mist. I came away with a cold hand and no way of knowing how to navigate the area. “We met her in an old part of the woods.”

  Kedie laughed. “Wood dryad! What a silly joke!”

  I blinked at the tiny creature. “Why is that funny?”

  “Because there’s no such thing as wood dryad!” Kedie insisted as it flitted about my head, forcing me to whip my head to and fro to keep up. “Those are fairy tale creatures meant to scare the young ones!”

  I snapped my arm out and wrapped my hand around Kedie’s tiny body. “Hold still, or I’m going to throw up on you.” Kedie frowned, but nodded, and so I opened my hand and dropped my arm to my side. “Now why do wood dryads scare you guys?”

  Kedie shrugged. “Because they eat us for breakfast, of course.”

  My heart dropped into my stomach. “Do they eat people, too?”

  The elemental shook its head. “Oh no. They only like tasty creatures that have magic on them. And speaking of magic,” Kedie brushed its hand through the light line that sprung out of me. “I’ve never seen you have this before. How can I get one?”

  “Risk everything,” I quipped as I looked back to the mist. “There has to be some way to get back to him.”

  Kedie landed with a soft plop on my shoulder. “Can’t your pretty light lead you to wherever you want to go? It’s magic, just like you.”

  A horrible thought struck me, and I whipped my head about so fast that my nose almost collided with my tiny cargo. “What did you say?”

  Kedie leaned away from me and frowned. “You almost hit-”

  “What did you say about my light and me?”

  The pixie shrugged. “That it’s magical like you are.”

  The color drained from my face. “And you said dryads eat magic?”

  “Yep, especially after they’ve got a taste of it. That’s why we warn the younger ones not to leave their dust everywhere. Besides, it hurts the plants.”

  My eyes widened and I grabbed my tiny friend about the waist. Kedie yelped and squirmed in my hold. Their body was hot, but not too hot that I had to let go. “What are you doing? Let go of me!”

  “In a second,” I assured the tiny fire as I rushed around the small clearing shaking their flaming head about the bushes. The leaves of the trees and brush were singed, but there were no flames.

  Fear spread across Kedie’s face, and it squirmed harder. “Stop that! The dryad might smell me!”

  I grinned as I gave Kedie’s body another shake over a large bunch of bushes. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”

  “I’m not bait!”

  “You are now.”

  14

  Kedie clenched its teeth and cranked up the temperature in its body. I yelped and was forced to release my sprite friend. Kedie flew out of my reach and spun around to glare at me. “That’s not nice!”

  I pursed my lips. “Neither is what that dryad is going to do to Chris if we don’t stop it.”

  Some of Kedie’s fury slipped away, but it still crossed its arms and turned its face away from me before lifting its chin. “Next time just ask nice, okay?”

  I snorted. “I really hope there isn’t a next-” A noise in the distance made us both freeze.

  Kedie flew onto my shoulder and scurried behind my head. Its tiny hands grasped my hair as it peeked out. “W-what was that?”

  I shook my head, making the pixie swing from side to side. “I-I don’t know, but-”

  A shout came from the distance but grew louder with every word. “I don’t care what you smell!” My heart leapt as I recognized Chris’ voice. “We need to find Alex!”

  Fortia’s reply made Kedie shudder. “But it’s too delicious to pass up!”

  I scurried back behind a bush and we both watched the fog bank. Fortia swooped out and dragged Chris with her. She practically danced about the area, smelling every branch and twig I’d sprinkled with Kedie’s scent like a dog who had walked into a poop park for the first time.

  “So tasty! So delicious!” she cooed as she inhaled the scorched plants. “And so fresh! Our little friend must not be far off!”

  Chris yanked himself free of Fortia’s grasp and rubbed his wrist. Her hand had left red welts on his skin, and he rightfully glared at our ‘guide.’ “We need to find Alex.”

  Fortia dropped to her knees and looked under a nearby bush. “But it must be somewhere around here. Such a tasty little morsel will give me a nice snack after my long imprisonment.”

  Kedie let out a tiny squeak. Fortia whipped up her head and looked straight at our hiding spot. Her brown eyes glowed with a horrible light as she crept toward us. She lifted her hands in front of her and her fingernails stretched out to supernaturally long dagger-like claws.

  “Here, sweet little thing,” she cooed as she eased her way over to us. “I just want to play with you. It’s been so long since I had a playmate.”

  I wrapped my hand around Kedie’s quivering body, gently pushing my tiny friend against the back of my head, before I leapt out of our hiding spot. Fortia shrank back and sneered at me, revealing a large set of sharp fangs. Her look of disgust, however, quickly changed to hunger when she noticed the shivering body behind me.

  She pointed a wooden finger at my terrified friend and her brown tongue flicked out to slide across her lips. “What have you got there, little mortal?”

  “Alex!” Chris shouted as he raced past the hungry dryad and enveloped me in a big hug.

  I returned the gesture only briefly and then pushed him behind me. “Celebrations later. First, we’ve got to deal with this thorny problem.”

  He frowned as he looked between the dryad and me. “Why do you two look like you’re about to duel?”

  “Because we are,” I replied as I kept my eyes on my opponent. Fortia wiggled her fingers as she kept her focus on my tiny friend. “I was told by a little bird that you dryads have a funny appetite.”

  A sly smile slipped across Fortia’s wooden lips as her brown eyes narrowed at Kedie. “Is that little bird on your shoulder whispering things to you?”

  Kedie shuddered and its small hands clung to my hair strands. “D-don’t let it eat me!”

  Fortia threw back her head and laughed. “I won’t eat you, little one! I just want that tasty juice that’s in your body!”

  Kedie jutted its head out from behind me and glared at our woody foe. “That’s the same thing!”

  Fortia held out her arms on either side of her and strolled toward us. “Come, come, little one. There’s no use fighting this. You know you can’t stop me, so just let me get a taste of you.”

  Chris stepped in front of us and splayed his hands out on either side of him. His fingers transformed into claws and hair sprouted out of the back of his neck. “Kedie might not be able to stop you, but I can.”

  Fortia stopped and looked at him before she burst into laughter. “You? You’re just an appetizer! What can you do to me?”

  Chris grinned. “I’ve whittled wood before.”

  Fortia’s humor dropped off her face and she glared at him. “You mock the death and mutilation of my siblings?”

  He shook his head. “I’m only pointing out that you’d make a good chair.”

  Fortia leapt at him with her razor-sharp wood talons. Chris fended her off with his own claws, and the two clashed around the small area. I backed up beside our hiding bush and the brambles tugged at something attached to me. Instinct told me to move away, and something fell out of my pocket. I looked down and saw it was the strange rope root I’d picked up at Fortia’s stump.

  Kedie let out a squeal of delight and stabbed a finger at the rope. “That! Where did you get that?”

  I picked it up off the ground and looked up at my small friend. “From the dryad’s stump. It was what was holding her to it.”

  “We can use that to get her under our control!” Kedie insisted as it snatched one end of the rope in both hands. “You hold on tight to your end and I’ll get this around her!”

  I frowned. “That might work, but I’ll be shish-kabobed by her claws before you finish the wrapping.”

  Kedie leapt into the air to hover a few inches above my shoulder and grinned. “Just watch!”

  Kedie zipped away and I held tight to my end. I was expecting a comical ‘poing’ where Kedie was yanked back to me, but instead I got a surprise as the rope lengthened as though some invisible rope-maker was hard at work making new lengths. Kedie flew around the heads of the pair as they dueled, and in a brief pause it dove and wrapped its end around Fortia’s throat. A small spark of fire appeared from behind Fortia’s head and Kedie leapt back.

  Fortia let out a screech and stumbled backward away from Chris. I hurried up to his side with my end tightly clasped in both hands as Kedie flitted back. Fortia grasped the rope in both hands and tried to yank it off, but all that happened was she ended up jerking on her own neck.

  Kedie fluttered up close to the side of my face beaming with pride. I raised an eyebrow at my small friend. “What kind of knot did you use?”

  Kedie shook its head. “No knot necessary. All I did was burn the two ends together. Now then,” Kedie snatched my end from my hand and grasped the rope tightly in its hand. The tiny pixie gave a tug on the rope and Fortia let out a yelp as she was yanked toward us.

  Fortia stumbled but kept her footing and glared up at the tiny pixie. “Release me at once!”

  Kedie stuck out its tongue. “Not on your life because you wanted to take mine!”

  Fortia scowled back as she shook her head. “I only wanted a taste!”

  Kedie scoffed. “A taste, a bit, and a swallow!” The pixie turned to face us and held out the rope to me. “You won’t have any more problems with her.”

  I took the rope back and raised an eyebrow. “You’re sure this will hold her?”

  Kedie grinned and nodded. “Yep! You won’t have any more problems with her! You can even lead her on a short leash just by wishing it!”

  I examined the rope and furrowed my brow. “So, if I wished it was two feet long-”

  Fortia screeched as the rope retracted to the length I mentioned. She was literally dragged kicking and screaming up to me. I jumped back and the rope increased in length again, adjusting for the new distance.

  Chris chuckled. “We could make a fortune on dog leashes.”

  15

  Fortia dropped to her knees and clasped her hands together in supplication before me. “Please let me go!”

  I frowned at her. “That depends on if you told us the truth. Do you really know how to lead us through the mist?”

  Fortia slightly lifted her head and shrugged. “Well, I sort of know a route that might get you along the light line.”

  I glanced at Kedie and held up the root. “Do I have to hold this for it to remember my commands?”

  Kedie shook its head. “Nope. You stick it somewhere and it’ll stay like that forever.”

  Fortia narrowed her eyes at me. “What are you talking about?”

  I looked around for a moment before spotting what I wanted. It was a nice, fat old tree with gnarled branches and rough bark. I strolled over to the fine specimen of pokiness and wrapped the ‘leash’ around the trunk.

  Fortia frowned at me. “What are you doing?”

  “This,” I replied as I stepped back, but kept a finger on the rope.

  Fortia’s eyes widened and the next moment she was sent flying through the air to the tree. She swung her hands up and grasped the tree in her hands, but the leash forced her forward so that her nose hung an inch from the rough bark.

  Fortia glared up at me. “What in the world is this?”

  I knelt beside Fortia and tapped the end of the leash that hung from the trunk. “This is your new home. Chris saved you from your old stump, and now we’re putting you back where you belong, roped to a tree.”

  Fortia’s jaw hit the roots. “You’re going to leave me here?!”

  I clapped a hand on her shoulder and grinned. “Yep. Have a fun time staring at a trunk.”

  I stood and turned to my friends, but Fortia’s frantic voice called me back. “Wait! Wait a minute! We can make a deal!”

  Chris crossed his arms and frowned at our captive. “The only deal we want is a way through the woods.”

  Fortia winced. “I know the way, but it’s not very easy…”

  I nodded at the white wall of fog that stretched out in all directions in front of us. “We’re not asking for an easy route, we just need to get through that mist.”

  Fortia hung her head but nodded. “I’ll show you the way.”

  I tapped on the rope and her face was pulled a little closer to the tree. “You swear it?”

  Fortia nodded and her forehead bonked against the bark. “I swear it on the grave of my stump.”

  Chris looked at Kedie. “Is that legally binding in these parts?”

  Kedie shrugged. “For a dryad, I can’t think of anything more important than their tree.”

  Chris strode behind me and stopped on my far side away from Fortia. He faced the dryad and pointed at the rope. “And their tree will bear witness to the promise.”

  He tapped the rope with a finger. A soft glow appeared from the leash where he had touched the root, and I stumbled back into Chris’ arms. The light swirled down the entwined rope, creeping ever closer to Fortia.

  Fortia’s eyes widened, and she thrashed in the hold of her new and old chain. “No! I won’t do it! I refuse!”

  The light reached her and slipped into her body. The glow traveled down her strange attire and stopped at her heart. Fortia grimaced as the light illuminated that spot before sinking out of sight.

 

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