Fairy Tale: Winter's Bite

Chapter 16: Departure from Reality (Part 2)

Beneath a starry Hawaiian sky, Simona drove her Honda down Komo Mai Drive under the speed limit to the point at which the road ended. She parked and took a deep breath.

"I'm sure we'll be fine," tiny Chris reassured her.

Simona was more terrified than everyone else combined, it seemed, and she had been on the run for less than a day, not a full week as Chris and Joe had been. She was still acclimating to her new reality, and poorly at that. "How do you know you'll be fine? If everything's okay, why do I feel like this?"

"If you're nervous, you can stay in the car. We can walk the extra distance," Joe said.

"Out in the open like that? No way!"

Chris glanced at the clock on her dashboard. 1:04. Then he looked up at her, eyebrows raised. His hand went to the hair at the back of his neck. "Let us know when you feel ready."

Simona took one last shaky breath. "All right. I'm ready."

"Good," Chris replied quickly. "We can do this. And Simona. . ."

"Yes, Chris?"

"Thanks for all your help, and for watching Ryan and Morgan."

"No problem. It's what Alana would have wanted." She checked her mirrors and saw only parked cars and dark houses.

"I'll be back to get them as soon as we get things situated," Chris added.

"Take your time."

"Thanks, and please . . . be careful."

She nodded. "Same to you."

Simona placed Chris, Joe, and Cassie in her purse and stepped out of the car. She tried to walk casually, but every noise frightened her. When she could feel danger all the way to her bones, her pace quickened into a run.

She reached the Ewa Forest gate and checked over both shoulders. The street was still. The chirps and hums of the rainforest reassured her that everything was in its proper place there, too. On the other hand, she realized how artificial her sense of security might be. Nature's symphony could easily drown out all sound of approaching evil.

Simona squatted in front of the gate and reached into her purse. She moved items out of the way as quietly as she could and lifted Chris, Joe, and Cassie into her hands. While doing so, her weight shifted into the gate. It made a short metallic grunt. Everything else remained motionless except for their wary eyes.

Nature's hum continued, uninterrupted. 

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With their traveling sacks over their shoulders, the three wingless fairies stood side by side and looked upon the towering rainforest. Five thousand paces seemed like an incredibly long distance in the dark and at their size.

Enemies or predators could be lurking anywhere—behind rocks, beneath plants, or in the muggy airspace. And though Chris had spent the better part of the evening making a miniature spear for himself out of a chip of volcanic glass, they were otherwise without weapons.

Simona was gone, Chris noticed over his shoulder, and there was no turning back. So he aligned himself with the center of the gate and started his paces.

They walked on a well-worn dirt path for the first hundred steps. The path soon veered to the left, though, and "due east" led them into long grass and then thick jungle foliage.

Chris grabbed Cassie's hand, and Cassie took Joe's. The ground was soft and slick from a recent downpour. When Chris tripped, they all seemed to stumble.