Maeve was awakened by something heavy landing on her. It felt too early for school, she groaned and tried to turn over.
"Good morning Sissy," Zoey sang.
Her eyelids fluttered open only to see blurred green. She shook herself but was unable to knock her sister off.
"Get off me," She sputtered.
But Zoey only giggled.
Maeve needed a new plan.
With all her strength she turned over, dumping her sister off.
"Got you," Maeve couldn't help but smile slightly.
Maeve knew what was coming next, Zoey was going to tickle her. She pushed herself up and jumped to her feet. In her rush, she stumbled. That's when she remembered they were in a tree.
A hand grabbed her arm, "Careful," Clem mumbled, setting her upright.
"Thank you," Maeve breathed a sigh of relief.
Maeve watched as Zoey turned her attention to Wyatt.
"Good morning," She chirped, Zoey launched herself onto Wyatt.
"ARG," He groaned, "Zoey get off!"
It was too late. Zoey began to tickle Wyatt.
Everything was fine until he rolled over.
Maeve saw the disaster coming, and couldn't get there in time. Zoey slid off of Wyatt, tumbling over the edge.
"Zoey!" Maeve cried, running to where her sister had gone over.
Maeve searched the ground below, dreading what she might see. Then a low whistle filled the morning air.
Maeve felt her heart sink.
"Ha ha ha. You should have seen the looks on your faces!"
The three siblings spun around. Zoey was standing there, her arm cut but a smile nonetheless on her face.
"Zoey, that wasn't funny," Maeve chided, but she wrapped Zoey in a tight hug.
"Are you planning to hug me to death?" Zoey muttered.
Maeve sighed, she unwrapped herself from her sister.
What were they gonna do now?
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry!" Wyatt said, stretching lazily.
"Me too," chimed in Zoey.
"Well we don't have any food right now," Clem replied, he had, since the Zoey incident, stayed away from the edge.
"Food hunt!" cried Zoey, jumping up and down.
"Absolutely not," Maeve retorted, thrusting her arms out to regain balance, "You are not going on a hunt!"
Zoey didn't seem to hear. She never seemed to hear anything if it was remotely important. Maeve grumbled to herself.
"First one to the bottom wins!" Zoey yelled.
"Oh, it's on," Wyatt said, both sprinted for the edge.
"They can't be serious," groaned Maeve, shaking her head slowly.
"They definitely are," Clem laughed lightly, "We better catch up now."
Maeve clambered to the side, lowering her feet down to the first limb she tested it. Seemed stable enough, hopefully.
Maeve was extremely slow down, below her she heard Wyatt moping about losing, and a few branches down the skittering of Clem's feet against the bark.
"Come on you two, we don't have all day," complained Zoey. She was lying in the grass enjoying the show.
When Maeve finally reached the bottom she felt dizzy. She lowered herself onto the wet forest floor to rest for a moment. Breathing in and out, to relieve the spinning feeling in her head she traced her hands on the rough bark.
Back and forth, back and forth.
"Are you alright?" Clem asked, crouching beside her. She nodded meekly, feeling a bit better.
"Where do we look first?" Wyatt buzzed with enthusiasm.
"The clearing?" Clem suggested.
"Yeah! Let's go," Zoey shouted, she began to run along, humming very loudly. Wyatt strolled with her followed by Maeve, Clem brought up the rear. This order didn't last long with Zoey repeatedly stopping to look at things.
On her most recent stop, she exclaimed, "Look Maeve, a tiny white flower."
Maeve smiled at her kneeling down to the ground.
It was soft and elegant, her fingers closed around the stem pulling. The beautiful flower rested in her hand.
"Stay still," She said to Zoey. She ran her hands through Zoey's hair, braiding it and at the top, she weaved in the flower.
"How does it look?" Zoey twirled around.
"Beautiful," Maeve smiled.
A smile stretched across Zoey's face. She then skipped off to the other side. That's when the whistling started.
Low and eerie.
Maeve, Clem and Wyatt all spun around to face Zoey. She had gone pale.
"It's one of them Maeve, take Zoey and run," Clem whispered.
"No I won't leave you," She begged, but she wrapped her arm around Zoey.
"Where is it?" Zoey said, wiggling away from Maeve.
"Hide Zoey," Maeve whispered, she shoved Zoey toward a tree. Zoey scrambled up quickly.
The sound was near now. The three of them backed together. Around the base of the tree, Maeve could feel the rough fabric of Wyatt's sweater on her arm.
"Little children, you cannot hide," A low whistling voice whispered.
It emerged from the trees standing at its huge height. It's eyes flashed wickedly.
"Who are you?" Wyatt demanded.
"I am Lendence," He cackled, "You are coming with me."
"We're not afraid of you," Maeve stuttered, standing as tall as she dared.
"You must be Maeve, my dear, you lie terribly," He laughed, a hollow ringing sound, "Now come along, there's no need to fight, I won't hurt you."
No one moved.
"Liar!" Growled Wyatt, "I saw what happened to my parents."
"Your parents are in the King's castle" Lendence soothed, "Waiting for you, I'm sure at least, Zoey would like to see them."
Maeve was torn, if they fought they would definitely be harmed. If they surrendered they had an unknown fate.
"Now where is Zoey?" He mused.
Wyatt gave Maeve a side glance. Nodding so slightly, his hand hovered on his belt. She saw the gleaming metal and knew what he was planning. Maeve shook her head. Lendence watching, straightened up.
"You little children, think you can beat me? Stand down," he roared. From above her Maeve heard the branches part.
"Hi! I'm Zoey, the little girl who can't beat you," Zoey leapt, landing on Lendence's upper body, she clung on with vengeance. Maeve gasped, but her legs wouldn't move.
"Now!" Screamed Zoey.
Wyatt pulled the knife. Rushing forward, with a war cry he sunk the blade into one of Lendence's long arms. Lendence screeched, throwing Zoey off, Wyatt pulled the knife free.
Maeve watched horrified as Zoey sailed through the air and hit a tree, falling with a sickening thud.
Maeve rushed over to her, bending down, she was relieved to hear breathing. She gathered her in her arms.
Lendence had recovered, purple substance leaked from his arm.
"You children think this is a game," Lendence pointed accusingly, "But you will soon learn!"
Then he did a half spin and disappeared in a cloud of purple.
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today," Zoey's eyes were open.
Maeve would normally scowled but instead, she felt giggles bubble at her lips. They erupted in a cacophony. The boys turned to look at her evidently concerned.
"Please put me down," Zoey whined, Maeve shook herself a bit. Then she let go of Zoey.
Zoey made a show of brushing herself off.
"What was he?" Clem said, "Why could he speak to us?"
"Maybe he's been practicing," suggested Zoey, shrugging like it was no big deal.
"Maybe Mom and Dad taught him," Wyatt suggested.
"In one day? Can anyone learn that fast?" Clem replied.
"If they can then we are in major trouble," Maeve said abruptly.
Maeve had listened to her sibling's suggestions but she was sure there was a deeper meaning. A scary one probably too, Lendence wanted them, badly. She wondered to what lengths Lendence would go to get what it wanted.
Being the eldest was harder than she would ever openly admit, all she wanted to do was curl up in an alcove and never come out.