Once in a Mouse Hole

Chapter 3

The tree looked ordinary. It was big, and it seemed to be growing slower than normal trees, because everyone says that it's been here sense the beginning of time. If that was true, this was a special tree. It was definitely magical. If it wasn't, how was it still alive, and how did it know which tribe we should have? It was decided. It was magical. 

I now noticed that there were paths leading away from the town center. I hadn't noticed these paths before. I looked at one, at the very end there was a large gate. I was going to take a closer look, when a girl behind me tapped me on the shoulder.

"Hi, I'm Gracie," she said. She was quite tall, and I almost couldn't tell that she was twelve like me.

"I'm Cora," I told her.

"Let's go over there," she said. We walked over to a bench, I was surprised that it wasn't taken. "What tribe do you think you will get?" She asked.

"I don't know, maybe the plant tribe, but I also think I could get ice."

"I don't know what I will get, but my mom says that she has always seen fire in my eyes." She looked at the tree with fear in her eyes. "I'm scared. This tree will decide it all." Her eyes relaxed. "But I guess I'm not alone. There are so many kids this year. I probably shouldn't make friends yet, though. I don't want to be let down when we don't get in the same tribe."

"Yeah, I don't know. I don't have many friends, well besides Charlie. But he's like my brother."

"Can I meet him?"

"Hi! Who's this?" Said a voice.

"Gracie, I'm afraid you just met him."

"Were you gals talking about me?" Charlie asked, slyly.

"Yes, yes we were. We were talking about friends and I told her you were like a brother," I told him.

"Well, I'll take what I can get."

"Sorry, Charlie, this is Gracie."

"Hi," She said. "What tribe do you think you will get?" She asked. 

"I don't know, I just wanna be in the right place," Charlie answered. Before we could continue talking, a boy walked up to us. He had a little frosting around his mouth and quickly wiped it off.

"Hey guys, did you know there were free cupcakes?" The boy said. "By the way, I'm Cameron."

"Oh, hi," I said. "Where?"

He pointed to a small table. "At that stand over there. They might run out soon, so you better hurry," he told me. I looked where he was pointing. There was about fifteen left, and you could tell that there were a lot more earlier. 

"Also, who are you?" Cameron suddenly asked.

"This is Charlie and Cora, I'm Gracie." Gracie told him. "Do you normally walk up to strangers and tell them your name?"

"Uh, no," he said, and everyone laughed.

"Let's go get some cupcakes, shall we?" I said. I turned to the table to find a boy standing there. He had brown hair and was holding a cupcake. I continued walking towards the table.

"Um, could you move? We want to get cupcakes," I said.

"Sure," the boy said. He moved out of the way and we all grabbed our cupcakes. We walked back over to the bench and sat down, and Cameron followed.

We talked for a while until we noticed some men getting ready. Two men came up to the tree and pulled something off. I looked closely and I could see that it was a piece of bark. Where the bark had previously been, there was now a shiny layer of dried sap. It was perfectly smooth and you could look through it.

"Do you think that's how we'll know?" Gracie asked.

"What do you mean?" Cameron questioned.

"I mean, I think that's where it will tell us what tribe we'll get."

"You know Cameron, I don't think that needed much explaining," I said. I knew it would make him angry.

"Hey!" he bellowed.

"What's that?" I asked Cameron. I pointed to a necklace that he was wearing.

"My necklace? This is my tiki doll. It brings me good luck." I could now see that it was a literal tiki doll. It had a charm on it that was half the size of a finger. The charm had a face like one that you would find on a totem pole and had similar designs all over its body.

"That's cool, I guess," Charlie told him. I looked back at the men setting up. One of them looked at the stone at the foot of the tree. He muttered something to the other guy and then started cleaning the stone with a rag. It seamed unnecessary to me, but if they wanted to, they wanted to.

"Hey guys, I think the ceremony will start soon. We better get back to our families before to long," I said, making everyone sigh. I knew that Charlie, Marla, and I would say our final goodbyes right after the ceremony, but I wanted to see them again anyway. 

We said goodbye to our new friends and turned away.