Riddle Me This

FOURTEEN - CONNOR

I made sure to keep a close eye on my siblings as we were led through this strange city thing. I did not really trust these people very much, as nice as they seemed. I did not want anyone to get hurt.

They had told us to dismount the horses and tie them to a big tree. I did not like leaving them, but I complied with their instruction.

With the horses safely tethered to the tree. They led us up a rope ladder, that was actually made of vine. It was hanging from one of the lower branches on the tree, which was lower, but definitely not low, seeing as we climbed almost twenty feet up. 

Good thing I was not afraid of heights.

From the branch, there were spiral stairs around the tree that led up to a smaller tree house, but we didn't go up those. Instead, Ashley walked across a wooden bridge that connected the tree we were standing on to another tree not too far away. 

I cautiously stepped onto the bridge, and it swayed dangerously as I slid across it slowly, Adelaide and Alex trailing closely behind.

At the end of the bridge was another branch, which connected to a staircase around that tree that led to a small tree house. Again, we climbed up the next bridge, connecting that tree to another. This went on for long enough for my legs to ache, and my lungs to hurt because of my heavy breathing and constantly moving higher and higher.

We must have been a hundred feet off of the ground, or maybe even more, when Ashley came to a sudden stop at the end of the bridge we were on, which, I realized, was the highest bridge there was. The tree it led to was in the middle of everything, and the tree house at the very top was the tallest and the biggest. I had noticed before that the houses got progressively bigger as you climbed higher and higher, but the size of this one was not even comparable.

It was a beautiful sight. So beautiful that it made me forget about my aching muscles and my difficulty to breathe.

It had vines draped from the ceiling in a way that appealed to the eye. It was made from perfectly cut and placed wooden logs, which made it look like a cabin out of a fairy tale. Obviously it was not the size of a regular house, but it was much larger then you might deem possible for a tree house. It had only one tree to hold it up, and that tree was huge. Its giant trunk stuck straight through the middle of the house. The laws of physics were definitely being defied by this house, that somehow stayed perfectly sturdy, despite having nothing to actually stabilize it.

"This is it," Ashley said, looking up at the house that as only a spiral staircase away.

"What is it?" Alex asked. 

"A tree house," Griffen said matter-of-factly.

"Duh," Adelaide said, "but like, why is it so big and grand?"

There was no answer for a while. When there finally was one, it come from Ashley. Griffen only responded to Alex. Who knows why.

"That is where they live." Ashley shuddered.

"Who?" I asked. I knew I would not get an answer. I had been asking that question ever since we had started our ride here. The best response I had gotten was, "you'll see."

"You'll see."

Ugh.

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Author's Note

Hello! I kind of hit a blank here, so sorry if this chapter is not as good as they usually are. Thank you guys for all of the support on this story. It has been so fun to watch the analytics change. I love coming home and looking at the demographics. Shout out to my readers from the United Kingdom! And you people from Finland! That's so awesome!

Okay, I hope that the double update this weekend made up for my missed chapters this week. See you guys tomorrow, and this time I won't mess up the publishing, I promise.

Happy mothers day!