The Girl in the Woods

Chapter 10

Everyone laughed at his words, but I squeezed his hand as hard as I could. Only I knew that he was making fun of me about Jed.

"Well, we best be going quickly then." Edilara winked at me. "You don't want to have to fight everyone off you much longer, do you, Lilah?"

I wasn't sure what to say to that, so I just shrugged.

Edilara clapped her hands like an excited school girl. "Alright! Off we go then!"

I blinked in surprise. Right this instant? I thought of Renbow and wished I'd said goodbye before he ran off. He was like the brother I never had, and it made me sad to have to leave him so quick.

However, it was clear that he'd deciphered our immediate departure before I had. When we reached the entrance to the tunnel, his little green harmonica was sitting neatly on the floor of the cavern inside the hill, the swinging lamp shining on it beautifully.

I was the only one who seemed to notice it. As Mognem opened the earthen door, urging us to return whenever we needed to, I picked it up discreetly and slipped it into my pocket. The weight of it was comforting, and I silently bade the little boy goodbye as we stepped out into the fresh air and sunshine.

---

After the windy vortex spat us out of it's windy grip, it took me a moment to take in our surroundings. A heady, beautiful golden light filtered through thin, tall trees, and everything seemed to be drenched in amber particles that sparkled. The trees and the light went on forever, and it looked like a fantasyland; somewhere you dreamt about as a little child. As I turned to Edilara and Apollo, I swore I could hear a little girl's tinkling laughter floating through the sparkling air.

"Where are we?" I asked Edilara in awe.

She seemed barely perturbed by her surroundings; I guess she was used to it, having lived her for who knows how long. "We're in the Twilight Isles, my dear."

"You're dren is beautiful." I told her as the three of us began moving forward.

Her long inky hair swished as she turned to smile in amusement at me. "Oh, this isn't our dren, Lilah. This is just the space outside of it. It would do you well not to stay here for very long; it was grown so that our enemies would get lost and disoriented before they found us. You can only find our dren with an elvish guide."

I brooded this silently as we made our way through the trees. It made sense what she was saying; we'd only been here a few minutes, and the edges of my mind were already growing hazy. It was a brilliant defence tactic.

I wasn't worried about going crazy, though. Apollo's hand was solid and real in my grip, and as if sensing my unease at Edilara's words, he brought my hand to his lips and left them there. The touch of his searing skin was enough to keep anyone sane.

I was wondering how long we would have to walk through this glittering trap - my eyes were staring to see things - when Edilara walked through the gap between two trees and promptly disappeared. I blinked in confusion, thinking I was seeing things, but Apollo pulled me firmly but gently after him as he followed.

I knew instantly that we'd entered the elvish dren. The light here was completely different from the Twilight Isles; it was pure and bright, and it illuminated the lush green foliage and ancient, thick trees. Everything here seemed significantly more substantial - I could see where the moss was eating away at an old tree trunk, and the feathers of a beautiful hummingbird that zipped passed were in striking detail. There was the roar of a shining waterfall directly in front of us - at its base was a wide, crystal clear pool that divided into streams and twisted and twirled around the earth like veins. I looked up to the top of the waterfall to find a magnificent stone palace - I could see perfect archways and delicate bridges connecting spired towers like a giant connected city.