The Evermore Forest

Chapter 9: The Plan:

I wake up, laying on the warm rock. I can hear sizzling in the background, and smell a strange odor.
I sit up, looking around my surroundings.
I'm still here.
That completely debunked my previous thoughts.
This is real. Not some dream, Priscilla.

I sigh and look up at the sky, it looked as if it was almost noon. Did I sleep that long?
I climb down the rock to reach solid ground, and sniff out the odor. It was like someone was cooking some food.
'Speaking of food, I haven't eaten anything, except that coffee yesterday.' I pause at my thoughts. God, yesterday feels like a century ago. So many things happen.
Can't stop thinking about it.

I clear up my thoughts before finding the source of the odor. Willow is cooking up a dead squirrel.
I don't know what came over me, but that squirrel looked amazing, and my mouth began to water.
"Good afternoon!" Said a tiny voice behind me, clearly Cedar.
I jumped at his voice, not hearing him sneak up behind me. "O-Oh! So I did sleep in." I said in reply.
"It's rude not to say it back." Fagus said out of the blue. He was next to Willow now, and I wondered why I don't seem to hear them.
Oh right.
They float.
"Good afternoon to you as well." I reply back to Cedar. It's a good start to redeem my rudeness.
"How was your sleep?" Willow asked, tending to the squirrel and the small fire she made.
"It was good, what about yours?" I answer, suddenly wondering how they sleep.
She answered my question. "We don't sleep, haven't since we were alive."
With that statement, a shiver ran down my spine.
"W-what?"
It went silent, with only the crackling of their flames filling the space.
Surprisingly, Cedar is the first one to speak. "It's a long story. We used to be humans, but we'll forever be siblings. Then, the accident happened." He said, with his cheery tone gone.
"We were killed off, ravenously, by people we didn't see coming. We never did find out who did it." Says Willow, her voice sounding as if she was trailing off into old memories in her mind.
"Our souls weren't laid to rest. They never were caught for their crimes, and we never found them. There was nothing we could do other than follow each other's voices in the woods." Fagus continued, solemnly.
I stood there, listening to their story intriguingly.
"We followed people and creatures around silently, learning shot out surroundings. Then, a person made of fire noticed us, it was like they could see us, and hear us." Willow explained.
"They led us to their kingdom, which was like in another dimension! Filled with fire and light...! I remember it so vividly. It was so cool! I wish I can visit it once more. But..." Cedar side tracks himself, but Fagus picks it back up.
"We found out that every fire being was once a human that have passed away. Their souls were burning so brightly that the King Of Fire turned their souls into fire, letting them live freely. The one we met led us to the king for our souls to burn brightly."
"He so kindly granted us as our own beings of fire, seeing how we were going no where with our lives as souls. It was like we were immortal! Although, there was a catch--" Willow stopped once she noticed Fagus' death glare. She slumped back nervously, like she was about to anger him.
Cedar continued, "We lived there for quite some time, and there were plenty of things for us to do! There were kids there, too! Though, it was cut short. I snuck out one day and..." Cedar trailed off into his own glumness.
I finally said something. "What happened? How did you end up here?"
Before the other two could answer, Fagus spoke. "We aren't telling you the rest. It's too risky..."
"Why?" I push.
"Don't question my decisions, girl!" He retorts back.
I gulp back my thoughts nervously.
Then I sniff the air.
"The damn squirrel is almost burnt!" Willow exclaims. She takes it off the fire, and onto a clean leaf. "Here, it's all we got for you." Willow hands me the leaf.
"T-thank you." I reply back.
My stomach growls unsettlingly. 'It's all we got for you' rings in my head. I shouldn't expect a full course breakfast in a forest.
But yet again, it feels like a knot in my stomach.
These people have been through some... experiences, but they clearly don't want me to know what that 'catch' was. It doesn't make me so eager to trust them that much.