The Forest of Sleepers (Nowhere Book 2)

t h i r t y-f i v e : t r a p p e d

 Birdie woke up on the forest floor, the memory of her vision vanishing as the mist in her head cleared. All she remembered was running into the forest to find Marigold, a blinding white light, and then she was here, staring up at the trees above.

He could barely make out Wyatt bending over her, his hair flopping forward with the motion.

"Is this heaven?" Birdie asked groggily.

Wyatt gave a relieved half-smile. "No," he said, then glanced at something beside him. "Marshall was able to come too."

"Oh, so this is hell," Birdie muttered and sat up with a groan. Her head rang and she wished she could remember the vision she'd had. She didn't know what it was, but she knew it had been something different. Something important.

Once she got her bearings, she noticed that the forest looked wrong.

Wyatt took her elbow and helped her to her feet.

No--the forest didn't only look wrong, it felt, even sounded wrong too.

"There's no energy," she realized.

Everything was absolutely still. None of the tree branches shivered with the breeze. There were no birds or the sound of a creek running nearby.

Then she remembered that before they'd entered Gwydyr, it had been disappearing. That's when she realized that not only was everything frozen in place, some of the trees were half-faded. There were leaves hanging in midair. Branches were missing and there were large gaps in the ground like sinkholes.

"What happened here?" Ophelia whispered, clinging closely to Marshall, who looked equally as uneasy as she did.

He caught Birdie unintentionally glaring at him and they both looked away from each other.

"We need to find Marigold," Birdie said. "Something's not right and if she's here..."

She didn't need to finish, so they started walking, making sure to avoid the holes in the ground.

Birdie found that she kept wanting to yell Marigold's name out loud, but something told her that it was a bad idea.

It's like when your mother is sleeping and you're trying to make a snack in the kitchen. Every sound, every creak of the cabinet, every closing of the door is like a thunderclap in the silence.

Birdie found herself inching toward Wyatt. She never liked to admit fear, but there was something undeniably terrifying about the forest then.

When she got close enough, their fingers brushed against one another. Wyatt went to move away, but Birdie's pinky looped around his and she felt him stiffen.

He glanced at her with a furrowed brow. "You alright?"

Birdie gave an unconvincing nod. "Yeah. I just...I don't know..."

Wyatt followed her gaze to Marshall and Ophelia, who were a few steps ahead. They were all but leaning against each other, Ophelia clinging to his arm like a koala bear.

Wyatt gave her an understanding look before lacing his fingers through hers. Birdie felt herself relax at his warmth.

She could barely stomach the sight of Sal Hickory and her sister like that, but there was something about this place that made one feel the need to be protected. From what, she hoped she never found out.

But like Ophelia, Birdie wanted to be close to someone as they trekked through the forest. She was surprised to find that she was glad it was Wyatt.