She had lied, she wasn't going home, but she did need to check on something. After running out the library doors she made her way to the little grove of trees she had seen the strangers meet the time before this one, it wasn't far from the library, only a block or two.

Branches cracked and dead leaves rustled under her feet as she stomped her way through the foliage which was surprisingly thick for the small number of trees. When she got to the old meeting spot she looked around for anywhere they could have left her a message, she wanted to know how long they had been trying to contact her, and if they had known she was there, hiding, spying on them, why not just talk to her in person?

The only reason she could think of would be that only one of them knew about her, and wanted to keep it a secret.

When she had spied on them in the forest she had a direct view of where they each were standing, unlike today in the building, if they had left her a message here then she would have a guess as to which one of them she would be meeting with tonight based on where the message was left.

She first checked all the trees for carvings but none had any, She was about to check stuff on the ground when she glanced up to see if the sun was setting yet. At the top of the tree she stood below was a piece of paper tied delicately to a branch with a blue ribbon.

Kora looked around, as far as she could see no one was around, and it's not like climbing a tree is wrong, she assured herself, but she still slightly felt like she was doing something unsavory as she grabbed on to the rough bark of the lowest branch. She swallowed, and glanced back and forth one more time, and then pulled herself up, trying to swing her leg over the first branch but missing. Kora forgot how bad she was as climbing trees, maybe she had overestimated herself and wouldn't even be able to get the paper if she wanted to. She dropped to the ground and brushed off dirt and bits of bark from her now slightly red hands.

No, she was just looking for excuses now, she grabbed back onto the lowest branch, pulling herself up and wrapping her arms around it, she tried swinging her leg over again and caught her foot on the edge of the branch. Once she got up on the first branch she looked for the best path up, there was a branch not that much farther up from the one she was on that might let her reach the paper without going any higher.

She reached up to the next branch figuring she should just try to get onto it the same way she got onto the first one. She grabbed up and now swinging in the air, tried to pull her arms around it, her arm scraped across the rough bark, but she ignored it and started swinging back and forth to gain enough momentum to swing her leg over, she pulled herself up and caught her breath, She looked up at the paper, now only a few feet from her head.

She stood up hugging the tree, she swallowed and tried not to look down. She wasn't very high up, but she wasn't a fan of heights. She reached up extending her arm as far as she could trying to untie the ribbin with one hand, for once she was glad she was tall. She fumbled for a minute or so before it came loose, she stuffed it in her pocket and glanced down for the first time checking her options for getting down.

If she jumped from this height she might twist an ankle and there wasn't a great spot to land, she looked to the branch she had used to get up, if she was able to drop onto it she could probably jump to the ground from there.

She lowered herself back into a sitting position and stalled for a minute before push off from her branch, she grabbed out at the trunk desperate to hang on, further scraping up her hands and arms, but she had made it without falling all the way to the ground and she counted that as a success.

She dropped to the ground, careful to aim for a spot padded with leaves but still landing pretty hard. She took a deep breath glad to be back on the ground and sat on a fallen log grabbing the paper out from her pocket, and unfolding it.

It was the same message that was carved on the door,

Korastine,

Come back here tomorrow night. I can't let them find you first.

Trust me.

Disappointed she read the note over again, she wondered how long had they been trying to meet her, and who else was trying to find her?