{ELEMENTISTS OF WILLOW FOREST BOOK IV} The Day of Death

Traffic Fumes Stink

11:  Traffic Fumes Stink

 

 

 

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the smell.

When you've lived in a forest your whole life, then you suddenly wake up in the middle of a town, you really, really notice the stench of exhaust fumes and smoke, and the lack of that constant freshness in the air you have in a forest.

The sound was different, too.  The soundtrack of birds had been replaced with one of cars zooming past, and the roar of engines.

But I think the worst thing was the sight.

Grey.  Masses and masses of grey.  Grey concrete buildings, grey tarmac, grey sky and grey cars.  There was no green.  No green leaves, or green plants, or green ferns, or green grass, or green bushes.  Just grey.

I woke up leaning against a wall down a side street.  I could see the main road in front of me, through a narrow gap in the buildings.  I stood up.  I was still wearing trainers, a green hoodie and jeans.

Green.  Oh, I was thankful to see some green.

I checked if the medallion was still there.  It was.  My pockets were all empty.

So it was me and a piece of jewellery versus the world.

Things could get better.

Mama and Gama had said the medallion would speak to you.  I hoped that was true.  I had no idea where I was, where I should go, or anything.  I hadn't even been anywhere outside a forest before.  My entire knowledge of the outside world had come from books, and books don't always tell you what to do if you end up alone in a completely random town with nowhere to go.

I took the medallion off, and tapped it.  "Hello?  Hephzibah?  It's Olivia Green here.  I'm your descendant.  And I could really do with some help."

No response.  I shook it vigorously, and repeated the message.  I tried tapping all the carvings, then just the tree, but nothing.  I dropped it, threw it up in the air, yelled at it, stomped on it.  Nothing.  And some random passers-by where beginning to look at me oddly.

Sighing, I slipped it back round my neck and tucked it under my clothing again.  If the stupid medallion wasn't going to help, I was going to have to do it myself.

I walked to the main road.  It was a high street, with people and shops and cars.  I'd read lots of books, and in books, when people where completely lost, they sometimes went into a shop and asked someone there, because shopkeepers seemed to be less likely to kidnap you or be the bad guy than random people on the street.