Maddie woke up as she looked around, and of course, not to her surprise, everything that happened yesterday was not a dream, they were actually in a forest.
Maddie sat up straight as she sighed and she yawned, she wondered just how long they would do this journeying, it was starting to get tiring.
Maddie was just relieved that she did not have any dreams about that monster Ollie mentioned yesterday night, or else, if she died, she would come back to haunt him and kill him.
Maddie could not help but think how much better things would have been if Ollie did not follow them, she was sure that things would just be peaceful with the four of them, her, Curtis, Annie and Matt, they were the team, and not Ollie, there was no place for him at all.
Maddie got out of her sleeping bag as she looked up in the sky, it was early in the morning, and yet the sun was out, she had to admit that the Forest looked way more peaceful and beautiful in the morning.
"Good Morning Maddie" said Annie as she smiled and Maddie turned to look at her.
"Good Morning Annie" said Maddie as she smiled and she ran her fingers through her hair.
"You seem happy… happier than usual" said Maddie as she looked at the smile on Annie's face.
"Well Prince Oliver and I were talking, and he said something funny" said Annie as she laughed.
"Mhmm" said Maddie as her face contorted with disgust once she heard Ollie's name.
"Where is Matt?" asked Maddie as she removed her hair from her ponytail.
"Well he went with Curtis to the stream" said Annie.
"And that annoying blondie?" asked Maddie.
"I'm right here Maddie" said Ollie as he smiled and he walked to where Annie was standing as she was talking to Maddie.
"Of course you are" said Maddie as she scoffed, it was too early in the morning for her to be irritated, so she was not going to say or do anything.
"You were the last one to wake up today, did you have any nightmares?" asked Ollie as he laughed.
"Don't start Blondie, it's too early in the morning for this" said Maddie as he shook her head, and they thought that she was the annoying one, he was the annoying one.
"Hey, hey stop it" said Annie as she looked at Ollie.
"Alright, okay, fine, fine" said Ollie as he stopped, he did not know why he liked to anger Maddie so much, maybe because he was used to it, but it was weird, he was usually a very gentle person, but when it came to Maddie, he just like to annoy her the same way that she annoyed him, but that was often very hard to do, considering that Maddie was like some sort of master, and nothing scared her, but de coboli seemed to be something that she was scared of.
"Thank you Annie, you see, and you say that I am the troublesome one, this blondie prince over here is showing his true colours" said Maddie as she scoffed.
"You two just like getting one each other's nerves" said Annie as she laughed and she shook her head, Ollie and Maddie were one in the same, or maybe it was Maddie who was negatively influencing Ollie, but anyway, they loved to step on each other's toes, Annie wondered if it was fun for them or something.
"No, correction, he likes getting on my nerves" said Maddie.
"Lies" said Ollie as he shook his head.
"Mhmm" said Annie as she shook her head.
"The two of you just better be careful" said Annie.
"I am always careful, anyway, Matt and Curtis should come back soon, so we can get going, I don't like the idea of us being in this forest one bit" said Maddie as she looked around.
"It's creepy" said Maddie as she shook her head.
"I have to agree with you there Maddie… I mean it's even worse since there are animals here at all" said Annie.
"I wonder if something chased them away?" asked Annie.
"If they were chased away, then what chased them away?" asked Maddie.
"I don't know, and I don't want to think about it" said Annie as she shivered at the thought of some monster being here, they did not come here to be chased by monsters not at all.
"Well I estimate that we will have about 6 more days before we get out of the forest" said Ollie.
"Why do you say that?" asked Annie as she looked at Ollie.
"Well I took a look at the map, and the next known place on the map are the rock formations, and even though the forest we are in is not showed on the map, I calculated the distance from the highlands to the rock formations, and I estimated that it would take us three week to get there, we have already spent over a week, and now we are in this forest, so it should take us about 6 days, give or take, to make it out of this forest" said Ollie as he explained.
"I see" said Annie as she was thinking, 6 days, that was a lot.
"*Ughhh*, No way we are spending six days in this forest, that is just… tiring" said Maddie as she groaned, well there went her dreams of them getting out of this forest as soon as possible, that looked impossible now.
"Relax Maddie, this is a very long journey after all" said Ollie as he was stating the obvious which Maddie already knew, and it irked her even more.
"You just be quiet, you can't tell me to relax" said Maddie as she snapped at Ollie, he really was getting on her nerves.
"Alright, enough, let's make breakfast, we should get going soon, Matt and Curtis should be back any minute from now" said Annie as she could not think straight when these two were always fighting with one another, it was getting annoying at this point.
"Okay, fine" said Maddie as she walked to get started on breakfast, leaving Ollie and Annie alone.
"Hey Annie" said Ollie as he called out to Annie.
"Yes" said Annie as she turned to look at him.
"I have a question" said Ollie as he walked closer to Annie and he whispered.
"Okay, what is it?" asked Annie as she wondered why he was whispering all of a sudden, in fact he looked like he was watching out for someone.
"Why does Maddie not like talking about her mother?" asked Ollie as that had been bothering him since yesterday, he found it weird the way Maddie did not seem to like talking about her mother at all, as if it was a taboo.
"Ahh… that" said Annie as now she knew why Ollie was whispering and being cautious.
"Yes, what's her reason? When I asked her about her mother yesterday, she got meaner than usual, why?" asked Ollie.
"Well Maddie's doesn't really like talking about her mother… they didn't have a good relationship, that's all I can tell you" said Annie.
"And why is that?" asked Ollie as he was surprised, he never knew this.
"It is not in my place to tell you the real reason why that is so, if you want to know more, then you have to ask Maddie" said Annie as she respected her friend's privacy.
"Come on Annie, you know that if I do ask Maddie, she will kill me, and if she doesn't she won't tell me anything" said Ollie as he wanted to know more, because to him, it seemed like Maddie hated her mother.
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anything else, Maddie is my friend, and I respect her" said Annie.
"Alright fine, I get it Annie" said Ollie as he sighed, he just guessed that he would never know why Maddie did not like her mother.
"Thank you" said Annie.
"Oh and one more thing, please don't bring up things like Maddie's mother… or Azazel… Maddie gets really upset if you do" said Annie as she had to give him a warning, there were certain things that he just should not say around Maddie.
"Why?" asked Ollie as he wanted a reason for that.
"Well like I said, she doesn't have a good relationship with them, and besides, she hates Azazel, so talking about him makes her in a bad mood" said Annie.
"But he's her Father" said Ollie.
"No, don't ever say that in front of Maddie… she doesn't consider him her father, look for your own safety, just don't mention anything that has to do with Maddie's parents, okay?" asked Annie.
"Okay, fine" said Ollie as he nodded his head, this made him ever more curious, sure he knew that Maddie was on their side, but it would seem that she loathed her parents even more than any other stranger did.
"Hey, what are you two talking about over there?" asked Maddie as she walked back and she looked at Ollie and Annie.
"Trees" replied Ollie as he smiled.
"Whatever" said Maddie as she scoffed and she continued what she was doing as Ollie smiled and Annie looked at him as he wanted to laugh, he was getting better at acting.
"The trees are very lovely today aren't they?" asked Ollie as he looked at Annie.
"Mhmm" said Annie as she shook her head at him, since when did he start to lie so good?