The book of clues

7 - The Oak Tree Forest

"I didn't expect you would let me go through with this. And I really didn't expect you'd come with me!" Alex said exited, kicking some sticks and leaves of the ground. He was leading the way through the forest with his backpack over his shoulder as usual, followed by Lilly who was eating her chocolate cookie. "Yeah" she mumbled with her mouth full, "you made me curious with that story of yours, I want to see what you saw this morning. I know there's a 90% chance it was just an animal, but I also know you won't let it go until you see it for yourself." She took another bite, some crumbs fell on the ground, "Besides," she swallowed, "I have nothing else to do today, I finished reading all of my books." She could hear Alex sigh silently when she said that, but chose to ignored it. She inhaled the fresh morning scent of the forest and softly exhaled with her eyes closed.

It was a bit dark, the trees were standing closer to each other in this area of the woods then near the house. A little further away, the trees were more separated again, she could see rays of sunlight shining through the leaves of the big trees. It was beautiful. Most of the trees seemed to be big old oaks. They must have been more than a hundred years old. The wind made them swing slowly and crack softly.

"I found some old journals on the shelve if my room, they look pretty interesting." Lilly said to break the silence. Alex picked up a stick from the ground and started making sword moves with it in front of him. "How in the world could that be interesting?" He asked while he jumped on rocks over a small stream. "Well, maybe the journals are from our grandparents, or someone else who ever lived here," Lilly followed Alex by jumping on the same rocks as he did. The rocks were slippery, so she had to be careful with every jump. "And maybe," she continued, jumping off the last rock into the muddy ground, "they're some stories written inside which could explain why that guy Ed and apparently everybody else is so mysterious about this place." Alex turned his head and looked at her "Okay, that does sound a little bit interesting." He smiled at her and looked back in front of him. "Alex, are you being sarca-"

"shhhht" Alex suddenly stooped and signed her with his hand to do the same. So did Lilly and tried to look in front of them to see what was going on, but she couldn't see anything strange. "What is it?" she whispered as silent as she could. "I think I saw something over there, something small and really fast. But I think it's gone." He whispered back and carefully stood up, "Yes it's gone, come on, let's follow it!" Lilly stood up and followed him, she noticed her brother was taking bigger steps now and walking faster. "Why the rush?" She asked while she ran next to him. "I'm pretty sure that thing wasn't a rabbit or a squirrel. It looked like that thing I saw this morning. I want to see what it is, don't you? So come on, hurry up!"