Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 87: Tree Hunting

"Should we investigate the court faeries first?" Roe asked as they walked into the woods, Edie in the lead. "Maybe find Ever? She should be able to tell us something, even though she didn't say anything about Leila in her note."

Edie shook her head. "I don't think we should talk to her until we have to. We don't want to get her in trouble, after all, and there's the alarm. We have to be careful not to set that off."

"So where are we going?" asked Naomi.

"Leila's tree, right?" Corrie asked.

"Of course," Edie said. "If she's there, we'll be able to talk to her. If not, we might be able to figure out where to start looking." She hoped Leila would be at or in her tree—maybe just sleeping or something. She was probably just too exhausted to hold up the memory block.

She led the way confidently through the trees, the others a step or two behind her at all times. She'd been to and from Leila's tree so many times that she didn't have to think about how to go. She half-consciously noted familiar landmarks, trees with unique bark and interesting arrangements of bushes, but didn't notice when they faded away. Until Corrie said, "Shouldn't we be there by now?"

Edie stopped, realizing with surprise how hard she was breathing, and that there was a little sweat on her forehead. She was in much better shape than she used to be, and she'd never worked this hard looking for Leila's tree before. She looked around in confusion. Suddenly nothing looked familiar. "How long have we been walking?" she asked.

"Almost half an hour," said Rico.

Edie shook her head. "That's way too long. It takes me twenty minutes to get there normally, and I don't walk this fast." She turned around again, making a full circle as she looked for familiar things, but there was nothing. "How did we get turned around?"

"Faeries are known for confusing people walking in the woods," said Naomi. "Maybe that's what happened to us. We got caught in an illusion or something."

"I don't think so," said Corrie, touching her iron bracelet and then reaching into her pocket. "Everything looks the same with my clover."

"I would have noticed if we'd gone past a glamour," said Dawn.

Edie began to shiver, her sweat drying on her skin in the chilly air, and a sick feeling emerging in her stomach. "Does anyone else recognize where we are?"

"These woods all look the same to me," said Roe.

Edie bit her lip and looked around for a good tree to climb. There wasn't one close, but a few yards away was an oak with nice, sturdy-looking branches. "Rico, would you give me a boost up? I'm going to climb that tree and see if I can find anything from above."

Rico nodded and walked with her to the tree. The others followed. Corrie grinned at her as she jumped from Rico's hands to the tree branch. "It's awesome how good you've gotten at climbing trees."

Edie nodded and swarmed up the tree as quickly as she could. She may have lost her way in the woods but at least she hadn't lost her climbing ability. She forced herself to only look at the tree, not down or around, until she'd gotten higher than many of the trees around her. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to find Leila's tree—that it had been moved, or torn up, or simply disappeared somehow.

But when she got into the top branches and looked around, she felt a wave of relief sweep over her. Leila's tree had lost its leaves like all the other trees in the winter, but it looked more vibrant and healthier than the rest of the forest, as it always did. It stood out to her like a green leaf among autumn reds. "There," she called down to the others, pointing. She didn't come down until she saw Dawn in her red coat turn and point the direction as well, so they would know which way was right even when she came down.

Corrie was frowning when she reached the ground. "How did we end up going too far north?" She tugged her hat down so it covered her ears more completely.

Edie tried to remember how she'd gotten here. She'd been so confident in her path that she had hardly even looked around. "I must have missed a turn I was supposed to make," she said. "I just didn't notice when we passed it and kept going because I was so sure I was on the right path." She took a deep breath, trying to keep from getting too upset. "I've never done that before."

"It's okay," said Dawn quickly. She pointed again. "It's that way. It can't bee too far, if you found it so quickly."

"No," Edie said. "It's not far. Let's go." She hurried in the direction that Dawn pointed, shoving her hands deep into her pockets, wanting to get there before anything else strange happened.