Spit Fire [Charlie Weasley]

Chapter 14: Trapped

The forest was deep and gnarled, in some areas sunlight was allowed to pass through but it almost didn't seem real. Nothing in this forest seemed real, but at the same time, it was frighteningly alive. Not a word had been spoken since we entered. Only the rising feelings of anxiety, worry, and paranoia remained. I didn't realize my hands were clenched wrought iron tight with worry until I had to reach for my water bottle. 

"Zander," We all jumped at Charlie's voice, even Charlie. "W-What's the time?" 
"We have an hour and a half left," Zander barely whispered. 
"Already?" Charlie exclaimed, stopping in his tracks to turn around and look at him in disbelief.
"Time passes faster in the forest," I managed out. It felt strange speaking since I had been silent for so long. "A muggle girl wandered into the forest and emerged five years later in the same dress, not a speck of dirt or a sign of a rip. She was perfectly fine and had no clue what had happened to her during the five year period she had been gone."
"Okay, Zander, keep an eye on the clock, we 're going to turn around up here at the notorious circle," Charlie commanded and Zander made no move to argue. 
"The shrubs look weird," I mumbled, looking behind me at the oddly warped trees and notice Quin was pale as a sheet. "We should leave the forest soon, Quin doesn't look too good,"
"He told you he hasn't been into the field in years," Charlie muttered back to me. The realization hit me with a wave of guilt as if a pitcher of cold water had been dumped over me. The forest is feeding off of his already present anxiety to be in the field. 

The vegetation began to shrink as we approached the famed circle where no life grows. At last, we stood at the edge of the tree line and the circle, staring at it in awe. The silence was practically deafening. "I smell something charred," Charlie muttered. Suddenly, my internal alarm system went off as Charlie started to walk forward. 
"N-No, don't move!" I yelled over the silence and Charlie froze mid step. You could hear a pin drop. And then, a bleat that sounds familiarly like a sheep. 
"D-Did you hear that?!" Zander whispered frantically. My head began to ring with a headache and gnashed my teeth trying to fight it off. 
"L-Look," It was the first word Quin had spoke as he shakily lifted his hand to point across the field. There, standing in all his pride and might was a sheep. 
"W-We need to go," Zander whispered urgently. "Hoia Baciu was named after a shepherd and his flock of sheep who went missing in this very forest,"
"We still have an hour left!" Charlie argued. 

The sheep cocked his head as he stared at me. A shiver raced down my spine as another shot of pain raced through my skull, knocking me to the ground. 

"Charlie, there are no dragons here!!" Zander snapped at the Weasley who glared at him. "We need to leave while we still have the-," Zander was cut off by the sheep making an ungodly screech. We all turned to look at the sheep which began to gallop our way. 
"What on-?" Behind the sheep, a tall dark, billowing black creature stood where we had not seen it before. 
"RUN!" I screamed. "IT'S A LETHIFOLD!" It seemed upon hearing its name it swooped forward, racing toward us. 

We each turned and ran through the forest in a sporadic fashion. "Why is this Lethifold-ack! Chasing us?" Zander snapped as we ran down the path in the woods. 
"Nothing in this forest makes sense! I supposed they prefer Hoia Baciu because no wizards magic will work twice making easy prey!" I tried to make reason. I looked up and saw another Lethifold standing in the way of our path and I screamed as Quin raised his wand and bellowed,
"Expecto Patronum!" A wispy blue Panda bear crawled out of his wand and began to angrily claw at the Lethifold which flinched and soared off. 
"Don't stop! We have to keep running!" Charlie hollered as the Panda turned to fight off the Lethifold behind us. Sooner than necessary, the panda disappeared, the forest sucking it into its bosom. 

An alluring voice began to softly whisper in my ear, the words incomprehensible but willing toward the source. I cursed under my breath, knowing that the forest was trying to speak to me, begging me to get lost in its depths just as the shepherd and his flock. I was on the brink of madness, but I had to fight it.