Charlie couldn't help but feel like they were walking into a museum for the nineteenth century as they entered Zepha's house. Zepha herself looked nervous, which somehow made her more alluring to Charlie. If she wasn't with Alex, she was sure she'd at least have made a pass at her.
She also couldn't help but notice that Tim, Wes, Ralph, and Beth had all seemed to be smitten with her. What it was about, she couldn't be sure. Just that it didn't seem to matter to the others that they weren't the only one who was interested in Zepha.
She tried to shrug it off, but when they were in Zepha's home, they encountered her father almost immediately. While she knew that they'd likely run into him, she hadn't quite expected that it would be this quickly.
He froze when he saw them. He looked at Zepha, an unspoken question being asked, and she blushed and looked downward. Almost like she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
"Pa, they're not what I first thought they were," Zepha said, stumbling a little over her words, although it still came out rather clear.
"So, you're not worried about them stealing your soul?" he asked Zepha.
Zepha shook her head. "No, they're not here for that," Zepha assured him. "They're the ones who were helping with the morning chores."
"I see," was all he said in response.
"If you'd like, my friend Amelia could help heal him from the effects he endure from when he was last sick," Charlie informed Zepha, feeling like she could have said that better, but wasn't sure exactly how at the moment.
"I'll let him know, but right now he's not happy. I'll talk to him when he's in a better mood," Zepha replied.
"Sorry if we made him that way," Charlie said, suddenly unsure if them coming in here was really that good of an idea.
"It's okay," Zepha assured Charlie. "He's more upset that I'd been so scared when I first saw you and your friends." Zepha sighed and looked away. "Maybe I wouldn't have acted that way if my mother and brothers were still alive. I've just been having a hard time moving on from it."
Charlie nodded in sympathy. "I can't imagine what that'd be like," Charlie said quietly. "I'm not sure how I'd react if my mom and sister died."
"Well, I guess it's good thing you don't know the answer to that," Zepha said, smiling.
"So, what's there to do here?" Amelia asked, sounding rather bored.
"One moment," Charlie said to Amelia before turning back to Zepha. "Do you expect anyone to be coming around here?"
"Not really. When my brothers were alive there would be a few who came around, but not since they died," Zepha said, sounding like she was trying to hide how lonely she was because of that.
"Well, would you then show us around your property?" Charlie asked. "I mean as long as it's away from the edges of your property."
Zepha looked in the direction where her father had left. "I- I guess I could. It would at least give my father some time to calm down," Zepha replied. "Though, I'll need to be back for the afternoon chores."
"No problem," Charlie said smiling, drawing a smile from Zepha. "We'll be more than happy to help with those."
"Speak for yourself," Charlie heard Hannah comment, but she acted like she hadn't.
"Well, there's not much to see," Zepha admitted. "You've already seen our house, our stables, barn, pens, and wheat field. I think the only place you haven't seen is the woods by our fields."
"Well, we wouldn't mind taking a look," Charlie said, relaying what Zepha just said to her friends.
"Alright," Zepha said. "I'll just let my father know and I'll be with you in a moment. Feel free to wait with the hellhounds. They seem to like you."
Charlie smiled nervously. While she didn't mind the dogs, they still made her rather uncomfortable about them. Primarily because of their two pairs of eyes. Although, she had to admit, she was feeling less and less uncomfortable around the animals on Zepha's farm. Maybe it was just that she was getting used to creatures with four eyes.
Charlie relayed what Zepha had said about what she was going to do before showing them around as she left to talk with her father. No one complained and everyone followed her outside. Much to the delight of the dogs.
While Zepha referred to them as hellhounds, Charlie couldn't fathom how she saw them as that. True, they did seem to have some fire breathing ability, but that seemed to only be when they were upset about something. Or if they saw a squirrel in the distance. However, they were incredibly friendly and not nearly as hostile as Charlie would have thought hellhounds would be.
"These guys are just little puppies," Beth cooed as she scratched one of the largest dog's ears. Like any other dog she'd seen, they loved attention. The also were just as happy to give affection by licking hands of the faces of whichever of Charlie's friends were closest to them.
Charlie stayed to the side of the group, where fewer of the dogs were. Although, one puppy came over to her, looking at her. Maybe it's wondering why I'm not sitting closer to the others, Charlie thought to herself, holding her hand out. Maybe because it was really young, it's coat a bright lilac, but she found that it didn't bother her near as much as the older ones.
Although, as it started to sniff her hand, Zepha came out of the house. Charlie and her friends shifted their attention to her, all of them standing up, ready to head out.
"My father said that he'll think about your offer to heal him," Zepha told Charlie as she approached them.
"Good to know," Charlie replied, eager to be in a forest different than the one they'd been traveling through for the past couple weeks. Even if she recognized all of the flora, she would be happy to see different plants.
Zepha led the way, though Charlie couldn't help but glance back at the hellhounds, watching them go, looking like they were being abandoned. Charlie even saw the puppy that had sniffed her finders look like it wasn't sure if it should follow them or stay with the others. Charlie assumed it stayed with the others, as it didn't catch up to them when she didn't keep watching.
"So, Charlie," Beth asked once they reached the field. "Any particular reason you want to look around this world?"
Charlie sighed. She wasn't sure how, but Beth seemed to read her mind so accurately sometimes that it was scary. Other times she couldn't, and Charlie wasn't sure if this was one of those times or not. "Mostly because I know this scenery is different than the fungaloid's world and I can't be sure the other gate we know of won't lead to a world like the fungaloid's," Charlie answered.
"Thought it might be something else," Beth said, a smirk on her face, that made Charlie just roll here eyes as she shook her head. She had a feeling she knew what Beth was getting at and she didn't want to indulge that kind of thinking.
"Well, whatever you were thinking, there's no need to trouble me with it," Charlie said, hoping Beth wouldn't elaborate on her thoughts. If it was the subject Charlie was afraid it was, she really didn't need to deal with what mental images that could produce.
"Aw, you sound like you're not wanting the juicy details?" Beth pouted, as she put her arm around Charlie's shoulders.
"I really don't want them," Charlie assured her. "I just want a quiet day to enjoy the scenery of this world."
"But where's the fun in that?" Beth asked. "I thought we'd gotten you used to the idea of having fun."
Charlie rolled her eyes. "Just because I tolerate what you guys do sometimes, doesn't mean that I care for the 'fun' that you guys do," Charlie answered, hoping this wouldn't continue for much longer. Usually, Beth only let her go when she got bored with it when it came to subjects like this.
"If that's true, then that means we're just not doing that often enough!" Beth said, sounding almost like a kid who just realized it was Christmas morning.
"You know, sometimes I wish I could let you read what I'm thinking just so you could know how much I don't care about that," Charlie lamented. "I mean, you never believe me when I say it, so if you would read my mind, maybe you'd see just how serious I am about it."
Beth laughed. "Yeah, we know. You're just too shy to admit you like hanging with us," Beth replied.
Charlie wasn't sure if Beth was serious or if she was just messing with her. Her statement could go either way. She wasn't sure what she should say in response, part of her wanted her to remain silent and hope Beth would move on to another subject or leave her alone.
Though, to be fair, she did enjoy having fun with them, she just didn't always agree what 'fun' meant. Even when they did agree on what it meant, that didn't mean she was that interested in the activities that 'having fun' involved. Here, while she couldn't say for sure what Beth meant by fun, she had a feeling it was one of those times when they wouldn't agree on it.
Beth suddenly took her arm from around Charlie's shoulders and started walking away from Charlie a little, surprising Charlie and making her more than a little suspicious about what Beth was going to say. "Well, I'm sure we can find a way for you to have a date with Zepha," she said offhandedly. "I'm sure you'll be able to get what you need from her with that."
Charlie was shocked. She may have been fantasizing about that a little, but she kept reminding herself about Alex and why she couldn't. Yet, what was most perplexing for her was how her friends, Beth in particular, seemed to be trying to push her off on others, in addition to being so interested in her love life.
Charlie closed her mouth as soon as she realized it was hanging open. "Are you sure you don't want that date yourself?" Charlie retorted, earning a surprised expression for Beth.
"Wow, nice come back," Beth said smiling. "Wasn't sure how long it'd take to get you to that point, but it's nice to see that you're getting better at this."
Charlie couldn't help but feel her head spin. What was going on? She wasn't sure she even wanted to know. It felt like it was something out of the twilight zone.
"But if you're willing to keep my mind connected to yours or whatever it is that lets me understand Zepha, I'd be interested in taking up your offer about seeing if I can squeeze a date out of her," Beth said.
Charlie could only roll her eyes. She wasn't sure if Beth was going to press on her attraction to Zepha, but also wouldn't have been surprised if Beth had decided to pass on the subject altogether. Yet, she couldn't say that there wasn't something else that Beth had in mind. Only that there was something she wasn't picking up on.
However, if she was just being paranoid or not, she couldn't help but let her mind relax when they reached the woods on Zepha's property. It almost felt like it was an endless forest that Charlie could wander into and not ever reach the end.
Logically she knew that wasn't going to happen, unless the entire world was a forest, which she seriously doubted. For one, she wasn't sure how that would work ecologically. Especially when it came to various climates and how much water it would likely require to work.
Charlie let her friends move on ahead of her, walking slower than she usually did, mostly to let her mind soak in the atmosphere of her surroundings. One thing she couldn't help but notice that wasn't what she was used to in regards to being in forests was that the ground underneath the bushes, ferns, and other ground plant life was almost clear of loose leaves, branches, and other smaller dead plant matter. There was some signs of fire on the trees, but nothing that showed the kind of forest fires she often saw on the news.
She wasn't sure if it was because of this being a different world or if there was some other factor she wasn't aware of. All she could tell was that it was so much different from what she always thought was the way it was.
She was about to catch up to her friends when she noticed a hole in the ground that looked like it might have been a sinkhole or something, though there was what looked like a natural path down it and thought she'd take a look. She wasn't sure what to expect in it, just that she thought her friends might also like to look at it, though she wanted to first see what was down there.
It wasn't that deep, maybe around ten feet, but it was an anomaly in the woods and Charlie wondered what might be growing down there, as some plant life liked different amounts of light even if they otherwise grew at the same latitudes and such.
It didn't take long to reach the bottom and at first she didn't notice anything remarkable. However, when she looked up from the plants, which were the same as she'd seen above the hole, she noticed what looked like a heat distortion in the air. She almost didn't notice it.
–Tim?– Charlie called out with her magic, making sure that only he was hearing her. She had a feeling Amelia or Beth might pick up on her mood and she didn't want them to keep her from getting what she wanted to know.
–Yeah?– Tim replied almost immediately.
–Would you see where the next closest gate is? Uh, I mean aside from the gate we used to get here.– Charlie said. She couldn't say if what she was seeing was reality, but she needed to make sure first.
–Why not do it yourself?– Tim asked, amusement clear in his mental 'voice'. –I did show you how to do it.–
–You're better at it.– Charlie stated. –I just want to make sure about something.–
–Alright.– Tim replied, sounding like he was merely humoring Charlie, which she couldn't help but feel just a little offended about.
Charlie didn't move while she waited. She merely kept her eyes focused on the heat distortion in the air, in a location the air should get distorted like that in. It was fully shady and the temperature was cool, nowhere near hot enough for what she was seeing.
–Okay, the next closest gate to us is over towards the town.– Tim said. –Ralph asked Zepha and with what she told us, it's probably on the other side of the river.–
–Okay, then I need you guys to come back to where I am.– Charlie said, stepping forward, towards the anomaly she saw in front of her. When she was close enough, she pushed her hand into it and it felt exactly the same sensation she always had felt when she was entering Petals' forest as her hand disappeared as if she was pushing it to pass through a curtain.
She withdrew her hand from the anomaly and went back to the base of the trail to the bottom of the pit before sitting down. While it was unexpected, she felt herself brimming with excitement. It was either the last entrance to Petals' forest or it was the entrance to a completely different Unicorn's Forest.
How she was able to notice it, she couldn't say. What was important was that she noticed it and could tell that it was real. Only, she didn't have the nerve to look through. Part of her wanted to, but that was dwarfed by the trepidation she felt about entering it. She really wanted it to be the last entrance to Petals' forest, but something inside her said that it was a different forest. Not that she had any idea how she could possibly know that without having looked inside, and maybe talked with the unicorn that created it.
Charlie lost herself in her thoughts so well that she almost didn't even hear her friends calling out to her with their magic. She wasn't surprised they weren't calling out to her verbally because there's no telling who might hear them. If someone did discover them, then she could only imagine what kind of treatment that Zepha might have to endure just from that alone.
–I'm over here!– Charlie called out to her friends, standing up.
Even though she was sure that her friends were near, it still took them a couple minutes before they reached the hole. Beth looked to be the only one surprised, the others merely looked like they were wondering what Charlie was up to.
"What'd you find down there, Charlie?" Hannah called down to her.
"Come down and see," Charlie replied. "It's something I bet none of you thought we might encounter."
"Playing that game, Charlie?" Ralph asked. "It better be good or we're going to have some words later on."
Charlie could only smirk as she imagined what Ralph's reaction to her discovery would be. Especially with how she was the one t find it. Her alone.
"Better be worth my time," Amelia remarked.
When her friends were almost at the bottom of the hole with Zpeha, Charlie walked over to the anomaly and pushed her hand through it. Yet, when she looked at her friends, they didn't seem to understand what Charlie was doing.
"Don't you see what I found?" Charlie asked.
"Uh, not really," Tim answered. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine," Charlie answered, starting to get annoyed. Though, it seemed that she might have done too little to show them the entrance to a Unicorn's Forest. So, she knew what was left for her to do. The only thing that would certainly show them exactly what she'd found, since they could at least deduce what it could be, with the nearest gate that was down on the other side of the river from where they were at; not that it said anything about Charlie as to which direction from her the gate was located.
So, she sighed and stepped through the entrance to the unicorn's forest. She couldn't see her friends' faces anymore, but that was to be expected. She might be the first person to have entered this forest, but she didn't know if that was the case or not.