Riddle Me This

THIRTEEN - ADELAIDE

It was certainly a surprise to wake up to faces looming over my head. I may or may not have screamed. They jumped back when I did that, and I heard Connor's voice tell them that they should leave me be until I had time to process things.

Alex told me that this was their hut, but they were not mad hat we had stayed there overnight, which was a relief.

That was this morning. Now, we are back on our horses, this time joined by our two new friends, Griffen and Ashley. Ash talked the whole time, telling us all about the trees and the wildlife and the clouds and the dirt while she led us through the woods. Griffen stayed completely silent. I didn't like that. I didn't trust him.

Though, I must say, he was good looking. He was tall and muscular and had these bright blue eyes that contrasted so perfectly with his dark brown hair.

We were riding through the woods for hours, and it was getting pretty boring. Ashley somehow had not run out of things to say, and Connor could not stop coughing. I think that he has asthma or something like that, and pretty bad too. It started showing after Mom left, but Dad never really noticed, or cared, enough to get it checked out. And, of course, Connor would never say it if he was having trouble, because that is not as important as sparing my and Alex's hope or whatever.

"Here we are!" Ashley said suddenly, slowing her horse who, knowing Ashley, was named Rainbow or Cupcake or something.

I looked up at the scenery in front of us, and my jaw dropped.

It was a beautiful series of wooden tree houses, strung among the many trees. Some were positioned at the heights of the woods, and some were but ten feet off the ground.

There were lanterns hanging on the houses, which I assume made it look gorgeous at night. The tree houses were all connects by bridges and vines.

Beneath all of the trees, at the floor of the woods, the grass was distinctly greener, and flowers more vibrant, and it was as if this was the only part of the woods that received sufficient rain.

The only things that the structure was lacking, though, was people. No animal, person, or any kind of mythical creature in sight.

"What is this place?" Alex asked as we approached. He had stayed behind with Griffen, probably to avoid the biology lessons coming from Ashley.

"The center of the woods," Griffen said. That was the first thing I'd heard him say. His voice was not as intimidatingly low as I might have imagined.

"Wow," Connor said.

"Do people live here?" I asked Griffen, but he did not respond, Ashley did.

"Yes," she said quickly, "well, no, actually. Not necessarily. Come, we'll show you."

"Wait," Alex said, "if people don't live here, who does?"

"They do," Griffen said, rather unhelpfully.

"Who is they?" Alex asked.

"You'll see," Griffen responded.

And that was not reassuring.

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Author's Note

Hi guys! I am so, so sorry for not posting on Monday or Friday this week! I had the chapters scheduled to publish, but they must not have saved correctly, and I did not realize until today. I promise to update today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday), as well as the usual update on Monday because of the missed chapters.

My deepest apologies.

See you tomorrow!