Gone Again: World Hoppers {book two}

Leaves

Cas was making progress. "Look, I can summon a few leaves-" Ollie stared at him, "And?" Cas threw the book against the wall, "Whatever. I'm doing the best I can with what we have."

"Come on out." Atti cautiously stood in the doorway, there was a bonfire. A large group surrounded it. "We hear one of you have learned something. Come now, show the group." They hesitantly stepped into the darkness, immediately hands whisked them away from each other. Ollie was pulled over to the left side of the fire while Atti and Cas were put in different groups on the right.

A ritualistic ceremony followed. One by one kids from Cas's group were taken to the center to show off what they'd learned. Cas was pulled up the the front, he held out his hands, speaking quietly and stumbling over his words, two leaves appeared. He sat back down.

One of the older kids in her group stepped back and knocked her to the ground, they made no acknowledgement of it. She glanced at the woods around her. She could leave. No one was watching, now was her chance. She bolted into the trees and within minutes was lost among them.

She could hear the camp distantly but even closer were footsteps, she scrambled through the leaves until she was pressed up against a tree, heart racing. Something glowing was approaching, she preferred not to come face to face with it. It passed the tree, the light it was giving off revealed her immediately.

She screamed as it's nose hit her forehead. "You're alright little witch," she looked up slowly, the deer was a dusty white with grey flecks dotting it's slender body. "Talking, I'm- I'm not a witch. I just want to go home."

The deer nodded and transformed right before her eyes, "I do not have much time in his form," she was a small woman now, dressed in a short white dress, crowned with leaves, patches of her dark skin were paler. One of her paler fingers touched her tentatively, "but, I may lead you home child."

Several of the ladies rushed into the woods, casting spells as they walked while others led them back to their cabins. Ollie and Cas realized who had screamed as soon as Atti failed to return. Ollie slammed on the cabin door as Cas worked to figure out a spell to open it.

Hour three was close approaching. "Think she's dead?" Cas gasped, "Ollie, that's awful, I- I-" Ollie nodded knowingly, "I don't know." Ollie tried to remember where he'd known Atti from. Had she been with them the whole time? Had they met her at the camp? "Do we even know her all that well? How old was she again?" Cas frowned, "I don't- Noan." He scribbled down the name on the wall, "Something, something, Noan. I see a group of people, we're there too but- but I don't recognize any of them. We're missing something. Somebody."

Cas made more leaves, mostly to keep his mind occupied. "They smell weird," Ollie mumbled, "You should taste it?" Cas frowned, took the leave, and put it in his mouth. Within seconds he fell on the floor.

Ollie panicked. He jumped off the bed, shaking him and trying to prop him up, take the leaf out of his mouth, after about two minutes he gasped. "Ollie? What the hell are we doing here?" Ollie stepped back from him, "You doing okay? I wasn't really asking you to eat that leaf-" Cas stared at him for a moment, "Why would I eat a leaf that's stupid. Where is everyone?" He got up and tried to open the door, as always, it was locked.

"Cas I think you need to sit down, the only other person was that little girl Atti." He turned, "Atti? Where is she?" Ollie moves him away from the door, "She ran off into the woods, they haven't found her yet." Cas froze, "Did we- did we not go after her?" Ollie shook his head, "No one really saw her go," He nodded, "It's real sad but I think she's dead. A scream and nothing else, that's goner talk." Cas was staring at him now, one thought in his mind, this is not Ollie.

"Come now-" Atti stopped short of the edge, "I'm scared." The woman nodded a held out her hand, "I will keep you safe." Atti shook her head, "I don't know you," The woman nodded and knelt to her level. "My name is Aba, I am the guardian of this forest. I am not a witch either, I am neither spirit nor human, I am a goddess." Atti nodded, "Okay, where are we going?" Aba looked into the distance, "My home, from there we can get you back to where you belong. Before we head out though, what is your name darling?" "Atticus."

"Atticus," Atti looked up, Aba had told her to sit tight on the cliff, she'd been staring down since. "You can come in now," Atti nodded and slid inside with a breath of relief. "This way,"

Atti followed her down a tunnel leading deeper into the cliff, they passed a room several animals were inside, laying on the ground, while a group of them in their human form sat around a single open book. "What are they doing?" Aba pulled her away from the doorway gently, "They're sick. They're trying to figure out how to cast a spell that could heal them."

She stared at them for a minute, none of them looked up. "Could I try?" Aba sighed, "I don't see why not." She carefully led her to the circle, "This is Atticus, she'd like to have a look at the spell." The group nodded and retreated into the hallway.

She stared at the book for a while, quietly looking trough the pages. "It says something about a mixture." Aba looked at where she was pointing, "What's there? I can't see it." She squinted at the blank side portion of the page, "An ointment or something. It's made of some sort of mushroom, a witch's leaf, and tears of the being." Aba nodded, "That's incredible." Aba mumbled, "Alright, let's get you settled in and then in the morning we can work more on this," she began walking toward the door, Atti didn't. "I thought I was going home?" Aba nodded, "You will in time but you've made an important discovery tonight. Come now, let's go."