The Sacred Thievery

Chapter XXV: Return.

Despite us all having gone through the similar effect of Circe's magic, we all felt different.

Leroy was almost fine. He was half-goat anyway, and him eating a complete can on his favorite beverage didn't seem to bother him as much as the rest of us. He burped at least three times after we got out, and I could smell tomato on his breath.

I wasn't a snake as long as the rest of them were animals, but the sensation was still terrible. It gave me chills just thinking about reptiles. And I had almost died against Circe, despite my ammunition of Aloe Vera, so I thought I deserved to feel bad.

But Jesse had it worst. She seemed to be gutted at the idea of her, the daughter of the sun god, being turning into a meer insect. And I wouldn't be surprised if her ego would be stuck that same size for a while.

"Me?" she called, turning the heads of a few people walking. "A butterfly. Every time I tried to move, my tiny wings flapped. Flapped. It was terrible."

Jesse took a sandwich from my hand, despite me not feeling hungry for anything except the faint urge to eat rats, but I did my best to push that away. Leroy took the wrapping of hers and the plastic of the chocolate bar I decided to eat, just so I'd have energy for whatever was next.

Speaking of what was next, I didn't really know. We were supposed to go deeper into Inwood Hill Park to find the silver forest where the Golden Hind was stolen, but that was only a clue we had from my dream. We didn't seem any closer to doing anything. We'd escaped metal bulls, met some nymphs, most not cool, and just escaped a store that was managed by a sorceress and overrun by mortals who were turned into animals.

I told everyone this. Leroy's face soured.

"Do any of us really want to go back in there?"

I sighed. "Where else? We can't just go back to camp, shrug, and say, 'We tried,' right?"

Jesse nodded solemnly. "Yeah, we have to find the silver forest. Timothy, do you have the map?"

I'd completely forgotten about it. I didn't even remember putting it anywhere, but, somehow, I felt my pockets and pulled it out, folded and everything. Jesse and Leroy didn't question anything, so I unfolded it and once again, led us right back to our destination.

It felt like a place I'd visited years ago, but I'd been there the exact same day, only an hour ago, maybe. I didn't see any familiar faces, so Bryan (the plasmaiad) and Ava must have already taken care of the bound Maenads.

Now we didn't make any detours. We went straight to where we were supposed to go, and no one said anything as if trying not to jinx us. I remembered the paths, and simply followed them towards the direction of the silver star.

I did notice activities and other things going on as we walked. Some people were looking for bald eagles on benches with binoculars and cameras and others biking past us. One kid by us on a playground at one point who almost swung full-circle on the swing began crying when he was at the swing's peak, and his mom began to look embarrassed as she had to calm him down.

The silver star was getting larger and closer by the second. And when I turned and bypassed a tree, I realized that the star disappeared. It was just gone.

I turned to address my friends. "Um, guys, we have a prob-"

I never finished the sentence. The tree I'd passed was tall and glowing silver. Like the main color of the forest we were looking for. Jesse and Leroy were already being mesmerized by it when I noticed. When I took a step back, the star was back on my map.

We all spoke at the same time. "This is the entrance."

Leroy seemed to have to pry his eyes from the tree before talking. "So, how do we, um, open it?"