New Age

Chapter 15-Mossy houses, Mushroom treehouses, and a cottage core clearing

"Wha-how do you, what is this place?!?!" I say in aw, as I try to wrap my head around what just happened. "I already told you silly, the Mystic Clearing! Now come on, I got some friends to introduce you to." She said with a smile on her face as she skipped off to the center of the clearing. I just stood there looking around to see if I could make sense of this. The ground had fresh lime green grass that sparkled no matter the weather, with small yellow and white flowers dotted around the trees, big and small. The houses looked like they came from a fairytale book, with roofs of all shapes and sizes and lanterns that lined the sides of each door on every house started to glow a light orange/yellow as the sun started to set. The majority of houses looked like they had 2 floors, the only ones that didn't were the houses with the small and slanted roofs. The houses were light brown with dark brown and white accents, with moss and flowers on almost every one of the houses. "So um this place is really nice and all but, why are we here?" I called out to Milinda as I caught up to her at the center. I mean I couldn't lie the place did make me feel safe but I just had way too many questions. "Oh well I thought this place would, I guess, help you in more ways than one." she said, shrugging as she went up the spiral staircase. "Hey wait up, you're the one who can fly!"

It took me a second but I finally got to the top, and let me tell you, it was breathtaking. You could see the entire forest from above, hell you could even see Wisteria high! You could look down and see the pixies and centaurs going to the houses for the night. The closer I looked through the more they seemed to be panicked and frantic to get inside before the sun went down. It wasn't going down quickly but the creatures and people made it seem like the sun was exploding at any second. "Nice view isn't it?" I looked and, low and behold, there was Milinda. "It's always the best at night or sunset." she said as she looked up at the purple sky. The clouds where a misty pink scatter across the sky. "Anyways let's go, I don't wanna be caught out here at night." Milinda turned to one of the bridges and gestured to me to come with her. As soon as I started walking I felt a sharp pain in my side. It felt like a side stitch but way worse. "Hey Zena you coming?" Milinda called out. "Yea, just tired." I ignored it and walked across the bridge.

"Where finally here!" Milinda said proudly as we stopped in front of a house near a waterfall. Now that I mention it there were a bunch of waterfalls in the area and I'm surprised I didn't notice them sooner. While I was thinking Milinda had already knocked on the door. I looked over and the door creaked open. I could see a pearly blue I from the whole and someone said "who is it? If it's a door to door sales pixie for the last time I already have a vacuum!" Milinda smiled and got into view of the crack. The eye widened with excitement and in a heartbeat the door was open. "Milinda!" "Alissa!" "RAWR" next thing I know a small pink axolotl girl is biting my arm with everything she can. *SLASH* I stared at the kid before realizing what had happened. I looked back at my hand and saw for a split second claws retreating back into my hand. "What the-" Alice came over to the child and picked her up by the scruff of her neck "Mochi, what did we say about biting guest" The kid sniffed "to not too..." Alissa placed her down "good you remembered" she said before turning to me. "Are you ok? She usually doesn't do that, but I guess she just got excited." I looked at my arm, she hadn't broken the skin thankfully. "Yea I'm fine just surprised" Alissa sighed and said "good, alright so, I'm Alissa and the small's name is mochi. What's your name sweetheart?" I looked up from my arm. "Oh um I'm Zena" She smiled and said "Well come on in Zena! It is getting dark, you know. You don't wanna be caught outside after sundown around here." I was starting to wonder why that was so important but went inside anyway. I saw the kid looking at me again and she gestured for me to come down to her level, and as I did she whispered something in my ear. "I think you're cool," she said with a big old smile on her scratched face. She giggled and then ran off inside. This is gonna be a weird night for sure...

As I stepped inside the tree house Alissa swiftly closed the door and as she did she paused. She looked out the window and whispered. "Is anyone outside looking" Milinda looked outside and said "Nope you're safe!" Alissa sighed and said "thank god." Her pink color shifted to a dark shade of grey. She stretched out and said in a tired voice "God I hate doing that, anyways I'll be in the bathroom fixing that scratch your freak friend gave my sister. I could feel my whole body twitch as she said that. "Huh thought that would make her snap. Anyways I'm out." She said as she walked upstairs. Despite the size on the outside, it actually looked like a decent sized home for the inside for a treehouse. The room had a bunch of things a modern apartment would have ,which is weird since where in the woods: guess it's just magic I haven't wrapped my head around yet. It had stuff like a T.V, working lights, and a fully functioning kitchen. The living room was a decent size with a couch and said T.V in front of it. There were 2 hallways behind the left end of the couch facing the T.V. The first hallway went to what I think were the bedrooms and the second to the kitchen. Behind the couch in the living room was a table and 4 chairs all with placemats in front of them and a vase of lilacs in the middle. "So um why are we here again?" I was still confused on why Milinda took me here. "Oh right! Well um this is actually where I spent most of my time when I was a little kid. My parents would just drop me off in this clearing and soon enough I learned how to get in on my own. There are a bunch of places on earth that pixies, such as me, can enter and this is one of them. There are 3 actually the-" I cut her off "ok cool this is your childhood home, but why did you bring me of all people here?" She looked a bit embarrassed. "Oh uh yeah sorry for rambling. Um I brought you here as a little safe place. You can call it a home away from home!" A home away from home, those words made me feel safe in a way. Out of nowhere my head felt like it was being stabbed with a thousand needles. "Ow what the hell?!" I yelled without even knowing it. Milinda rushed over. "Oh my gosh are you ok!? Are you going to pass out again?!" I tried to calm her down "no I'm not passing out anytime soon. It's just my head decided to start hurting for no reason at-" Next thing I knew it all clicked together. The body aches, the headaches, weird reactions to the woods it all makes sense now. "Milinda...what day of the week is it? I asked cautiously, and slowly. "Um It's October 9th why do you need to know? And most importantly are you ok? Do you need some water or-" I started looking around for some sign of a calendar. Over by the window I saw one. I dashed over there, leaving Milinda still confused. "Hey you guys ok down there, I heard screaming, did I miss a fight or something?" Alissa yelled from upstairs. Milinda yelled back "Um I think so" Sure enough my suspicions were right. On the calendar on October 9th 2021.

Full Moon.