This is some of the most powerful magic you've ever seen, period. How could you pass up the chance to try to get some of that power for yourself?
You take a deep breath and focus, opening up the part of your mind where your magic lives. It's just like trying to see into people's thoughts or into faraway places—except now you're trying to see into magic itself.
You've seen this magic before: that shimmery blue glow that surrounds the Timeless Circle and tinges everything associated with it. It's so familiar that it seems comfortable, and your mind almost wants to move toward it. The magic is all around you. There is a faint blue shimmer over everything, like fog in the morning or salt spray from the ocean.
You open your mind to it, letting it sink in. With every minute that passes, you feel lighter, freer, more connected to the magic and the little circle in the forest where it lives.
When you finally have to let go and come back to the real world, the forest feels dull and bland. It's like the beginning of The Wizard of Oz only in reverse; everything started out in color, and goes back to black-and-white.
But you carry a little of that lightness with you still: the memory of how it felt to be immersed in magic and to get closer to the Timeless Circle. No wonder everyone wants to stay there! No wonder they feel so sorry for Tom when he has to leave.
You emerge from the forest and back into Camp Cedarcrest as the last of the sunlight is fading from the sky.
Unfortunately, the first person you see is the last person you wanted to see: Caitlin.
She's lounging by the path that leads to the lake, casually strumming her guitar. You assume she's waiting for someone. And judging by the instant change in her expression when she sees you, she wasn't waiting for you.
The second she sees you, she breaks off her music and surges up to stalk toward you. "So. Sneaking around with your friends in the woods again?" she hisses, her voice low and angry. "I'm watching you, Pika Shimon Capela. Look out."
And with that, she storms off down toward the lake. Whoever she was waiting for here, she's willing to leave them if it means not having to be around you anymore.
So you continue on toward Cabin 12, heading back to time that passes and campers that need you.
And to Pearl. Most of all, to Pearl.
Chapter 7: For A Rainy Day