As she looked around, she could at least see that the forest was not the one that Petals had made. It was clear that this was not a connection to Petals' forest for one thing, the crystals looked like they were smaller at their base, almost like they were trees themselves or were ornamental streetlights that didn't light up.
Yet, despite that, there was a hostile air to the forest. Not that others weren't welcome, but rather that they would have to prove they weren't hostile. While it wasn't anything Charlie could quantify as to how oppressive it was, she did have a hard time breathing in there. Like the air itself was resisting her as well.
Despite that all occurring in a matter of seconds, to Charlie it felt like she'd ben in there several minutes. When she stumbled backwards out of the forest, she couldn't catch her balance and fell down and laid on her back, trying to not only get her breathing under control as her mind raced, as it attempted to understand what she'd just experienced, while she also waited for her heart to stop pounding like she'd just run the Boulder Bolder marathon.
She knew she'd never be able to run the ten kilometer marathon straight though and was certain these were her last moments alive. That her heart was about to burst because of that and all that she had wanted to do in her life, irrespective of this expedition, were just going to have to all remain unfulfilled.
As darkness overtook her, she couldn't help but feel relief. That she wasn't going to die slowly and in pain, but rather would be allowed to enter into oblivion either right now or while she was unconscious and could do it peacefully. Even the feeling of a hand being placed on her head felt more comforting than anything else.
The last thing she remembered before darkness engulfed her was Amelia's voice saying, "She'll be okay."
_
Ralph was shocked. He'd seen Charlie enter into what had seemed like open space and disappear like had always happened when they entered a gate or Petals' forest. He couldn't say what it was, just that it shouldn't be here.
Not that he was an expert on anything like that, just that he had no idea what was going on. Charlie hadn't really explained anything to them, as far as he was concerned. Maybe she had to Tim, but if so, Tim wasn't sharing with them.
"What was that about?" he asked Tim as Amelia checked to make sure Charlie was alright.
Tim merely shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine," he answered. "But, this isn't a gate, so I think it might be a unicorn's forest."
"Really?" Hannah asked, looking excited at the idea.
"It should be, but it might not be safe," Tim cautioned. "I mean, look at what happened to Charlie. She was in there for what? Two seconds? And now she's completely out."
"It might be best to wait until she wakes up before we check it out ourselves," Beth commented. "We don't need this to happen to anyone else."
"Couldn't she have just said that she found a unicorn's forest entrance?" Ralph asked, feeling a little annoyed by all of this.
"What's a 'unicorn's forest?'" Zepha asked.
Ralph sighed. It was clear that he was the only one that she understood, which meant that he was going to be the one who would have to translate until Charlie was awake again. He'd pretty much forgotten about that point. Which meant he knew he needed to leave Amelia alone. The faster Charlie was awake, the faster he could go back to letting her do the translating.
However, first he had to figure out how to explain a unicorn's forest to this girl. Which actually wasn't something he'd ever thought that he'd need to do.
"Well, uh," Ralph hesitated. He wasn't sure where to take this, but felt he needed to come up with something, even if he had to pull it out of his rear. He could only hope that it sounded like it made sense. "You know what we told you about other worlds, right?"
Zepha nodded. "That you travel through gates to get to them, right?"
Ralph nodded. "Yeah, well, a unicorn's forest is similar to a gate, but it's not as easy to find as a gate is," Ralph answered. "Uh, think of it as a bridge. A gate will directly take you to another world, but a unicorn's forest has five entrances, each on a different world. Those entrances I think anchor it to wherever the forest is floating in the air and keeps it in place. Then you can travel from one of those worlds into any of the other worlds that the forest lets out on."
"That was a lousy explanation," Beth remarked.
"Hey! I did what I could. I'd like to see you do better," Ralph complained.
"Let it go," Hannah advised. "It's not like it was the worst explanation ever heard, so if there was something Zepha didn't understand, she can ask Charlie when she's back up."
Ralph glanced at Zepha. She had a pensive expression and he wasn't sure what to make of it. Though, what he cared most about was that she wasn't pushing for a better explanation. At the very least, that was one problem down. Now he could only wonder how long Charlie would be out. He really didn't want to walk back to Zepha's home before Charlie regained consciousness. He wasn't sure how well he'd be able to interact with Zepha's father with what happened.
"Any idea when she might regain consciousness?" Ralph asked Amelia.
Amelia shook her head. "Not really, but it shouldn't be too long. I'm not sure what happened inside the forest, but from what I can tell, she was just overwhelmed and her body overcompensated, causing her to lose consciousness," Amelia answered. "Though, when she does, I think we should head back to Zepha's house. She's probably going to need to rest from what happened."
"Any idea of what did happen?" Wes asked.
Amelia shook her head. "No, no idea," Amelia answered without missing a beat. "It could have been a big surprise, something that really scared her, or something else. Unless I go in there I'll probably never know, but until she wakes up, it's probably not a good idea to go in unless we have no other choice."
"Well, if it's a unicorn's forest, what could be dangerous about it?" Ralph asked. "I mean, unicorns are supposed to be peaceful, right? That's what I know most about what I've read about them."
"Ralph," Beth sighed, as if she was correcting one of her littlest sisters. "You do realize that what you read is largely about the myths and legends regarding unicorns, right?"
"Of course," Ralph replied, unable to keep from sounding defensive. "What other sources are there for me to find things out about them?"
"Well, I asked Arachii about them and he let me now that if a unicorn feels threatened enough that they will become aggressive and that during the war that ended when all of the gates were sealed, some had become hostile to even other unicorns," Beth answered, then glanced at the entrance to the unknown unicorn's forest. "Maybe that's what the unicorn in that forest is like."
Ralph sighed. How much longer was Charlie going to be out? Amelia said 'not long,' but that didn't mean that it would be in the next few minutes. Especially since he was sure Amelia wouldn't be happy if he created a bunch of water to fall on Charlie's head to wake her up.
"No need to be so worried," Hannah told Ralph. "She'll be just fine."
"Not worried about if she's fine or not," Ralph protested. "Just want her awake so she can deal with the translating thing. I'd rather just not deal with it. Too much work."
"It's okay to be shy," Wes remarked. "We know you're just a big softie under you hard shell."
Ralph ignored Wes' remark, only noting that he was going to have to pull a really big prank on him for that. What it was, he wasn't sure, just that Wes was asking for it right then. He merely walked over to the entrance of the unicorn's forest and looked at it closely, partly wondering if the unicorn might come out from maybe sensing Charlie's presence in her forest or if they might end up traveling through this new forest before they were done with their expedition to the world with that griffin canyon.
"Wish there was a way to detect these," Tim commented, only making Ralph jump a little from surprise.
"If we could, how many do you think we'd find?" Ralph asked, not sure he would care to know. For all he knew, there could easily be countless unicorn's forests on earth alone.
"That'd be a good question," Tim said. "Wish I could give an answer. Besides, who knows how many died in that war and since then."
Ralph shook his head. "You know I'm not that interested in history. I mean, if it was important to learn, you'd think the politician's would pay more attention to the important lessons and not keep repeating the same stupid shit they always seem to do," Ralph said, feeling his annoyance grow, but more because he was thinking about the stupidity of others.
When others were being stupid, he really had a hard time keeping his temper in check, and not just from being stupid. Rather when they were doing something stupid that they should know was stupid, but were doing it anyway. Of course, the people in the news programs his parents watched were much the same. Although, his parents kept telling him that it was his opinion. Not that he knew enough to disagree with them on that matter.
"Well, too bad," Tim informed him with a smile. "You might not like history, but have you ever considered that history might like you?"
Ralph merely rolled his eyes. Part of him wanted to feel that he owed Tim a prank because of that, but couldn't find a way to justify it to himself. After all, Tim wasn't saying that to mess with him. Ralph could tell that Tim believed what he'd just said, and so, he couldn't think of how he could justify it. Yet, that was life. Sometimes the pranks just weren't calling for some people, even though they called for others.
_
Charlie was getting annoyed with herself. This was the third time in the past week or two that she woke up after having lost consciousness due to something other than falling asleep. She could only hope that her friends didn't tease her about this like they did with the spores. Yet, as she saw their faces when she opened her eyes, she had a feeling that wasn't going to happen.
"You okay?" Amelia asked, as she seemed to have a light coming out of her finger as she checked Charlie's eyes, blinding her for a moment while after images of the light danced in her eyes.
"I will be when I can see again," Charlie remarked, not sure what else to say.
"So, what happened?" Beth asked, her voice coming from Charlie's right.
"Well, when I stepped into the forest to show you guys what I found, since you couldn't see my hand go in, it felt like I suddenly couldn't breathe. Lie something in there would attack anyone who entered. Like the presser of that anger was going to crush me just for being there," Charlie answered, unable to keep herself from starting to hyperventilate as she recalled being in that oppressive atmosphere.
"Easy, easy," Amelia urged, as she held Charlie's shoulders with her hands before she started taking exaggerated breaths, silently telling Charlie to breathe with her.
Charlie did that, letting her mind focus on the breathing and out of the past with that atmosphere that threatened to smother her.
"Anything else you can tell us about it?" Wes asked as Amelia let go of Charlie's shoulders.
"Uh, It is a unicorn's forest," Charlie said. "Oh, the crystals are a little different than from Petals' forest, For one thing, some of them looked like streetlights."
Anything else?" Beth asked.
Charlie shook her head, not thinking of anything else that she could add to what she'd already said. Though after a moment, she tried to sit up, Amelia didn't try to stop her, which Charlie appreciated.
"Well, now that you're awake again, we can head back to Zepha's house," Ralph said. "And you can be everyone's translator again."
"Don't worry about him," Hannah said. "I think he prefers when he isn't the one everyone looks to for translating things." She paused for a moment before adding with a smirk, "Or anything else, really."
"Ha ha," Ralph replied dryly. "Laugh it up. See what prank I pull on you next."
"Better be better than the last one," Hannah said. "I'm still getting likes about the pic I posted on Facebook from it."
Charlie could only shake her head in amusement as Hannah and Ralph started to go at it verbally. While the argument was heated, it didn't last long.
Amelia and Beth helped Charlie to stand and assisted in being there to catch Charlie if she fell again. While she appreciated the concern, she did feel it was a little over the top. Especially since she wasn't unsteady on her feet and she was feeling a little better with every step she took.
Charlie noticed Zepha was quiet, but couldn't bring herself to focus too much on it. There was just too much otherwise going on in her mind and she doubted that whatever was preoccupying Zepha was any of her business anyway. Although, she suspected that it had to do with the unicorn's forest a bit, but couldn't say for sure. After all, it could have at least part to do with whatever Ralph had to translate for her.
When they made it back to Zepha's house, her father smiled at his daughter when she entered, though he scowled at Charlie and her friends. Not that she was too concerned about it. After all, this was a bit of a different kind of problem.
"Pa, they said that they might be able to get you back the way you were before the plague," Zepha said softly as she approached her father before just standing in front of him, arms length away.
"I'm not interested in selling my soul just to feel better," he replied, though his tone didn't have the bite it did when he addressed Charlie or her friends.
"It won't cost anything but a minute of your time," Charlie assured him.
The man glanced at Charlie then back at his daughter before he sighed. "Fine, I'll let you do what you will," he replied, sounding a little defeated.
Charlie was immediately suspicious. So, before she relayed what he said to Amelia, she quickly looked into his mind. While she didn't see any ill intent towards them, she also didn't see any reason why he'd suddenly capitulate and let them heal him. Even his thoughts didn't seem to indicate anything about it.
At which point, she realized that she had to take his words at face value. At the very least, she was confident that he wasn't trying to keep them there for a trap or something. So, Charlie turned to Amelia and nodded.
"Uh, Zepha?" Charlie asked, as Amelia did her thing with Zepha's father. "Where would be a good place for us to stay for the night?"
"I'll show you right away," Zepha said, motioning for them to follow her.
Zepha showed them to a room that had held three twin sized beds on the ground floor. Though, the beds pretty much took up the entire room. Charlie recognized the house was small, but she couldn't imagine staying in a room like this for a prolonged period of time.
"Three of you can stay here," Zepha said. "This used to be my brothers' room."
"We'll take this one," Ralph said suddenly. "Not much smaller than the tents, after all."
Charlie glanced around again. She had to admit that Ralph had a point. The tents pretty much gave the same amount of room. Although, the sleeping bags didn't take up as much room as the beds.
Leaving Tim, Wes, and Ralph to determine who got which bed, Zepha led the rest up the steep stairs and into another room. This one also had three twin sized beds in it, though one had a blanket on it.
"This is my room, but when we have guests, I generally stay in the barn," Zepha said, then hesitated as she glance back towards the stairs then back at Charlie, Beth, and Hannah. "Ah, uh, hmmm…"
Charlie could only assume she hadn't thought about how many beds there were. Though, she wasn't sure if she should say anything as she suddenly recalled Beth's interest in getting a date with Zepha. Not that she could be sure that Beth intended to get in bed with her, but she couldn't rule that possibility out, given how much grief she'd gotten about that subject from Beth.
"If you need, I should go to the barn with you," Beth offered. "That way everyone can have a bed here."
Zepha looked uncertain. "She's offering," Charlie urged, not sure why she was helping Beth out. It made her feel like a little bit of a hypocrite on the subject, but couldn't be sure what else she could do.
"Alright, I'll let my father know," Zepha said, as she turned back towards the stairs.
"Is this your blanket?" Charlie asked before she left the room, indicating the blanket on the bed.
"Yes, my mother gave it to me years ago," came the reply, as Zepha left.
Charlie glanced at the blanket, not sure if she shouldn't ask Zepha if she didn't want to take it out with her. After all, it sounded like it was something important to her, yet she seemed to be willing to leave it here with them. She wasn't sure what to make of it.
"Don't worry about it, Charlie," Beth advised, as she started to make her way towards the door. "I'm sure it'll be fine. If she doesn't take it out with her, just make sure you take care of it."
Charlie sighed and nodded. She couldn't think of what else she could do. Especially since she wasn't sure what exactly she should do otherwise.
Charlie lost herself in her thoughts for a minute before following Beth out of the room. Looking around, she saw that there looked to be a kind of study or office on the second floor as well as another bedroom, that Charlie assumed was Zepha's father's room.
She then made her way down the stairs, feeling rather uncomfortable with how steep they were. Almost like she was close to climbing a cliff. Then, as she looked around the ground floor, she couldn't help but see a living room, where Amelia was finishing up healing Zepha's father, a kitchen, and the room that used to be Zepha's brothers' room.
In all, it was a rather small house. She couldn't imagine how they could be comfortable in it. Especially with how Charlie recalled that her room would have taken up the entire second floor alone. Or at least two of the rooms. She couldn't say why, but this world felt so much farther than her world than just through distance. The living styles were so much different that she couldn't imagine what could be similar.
The only real comfort she had was the fact that she and her friends would be going through the other gate in the fungaloid's world after this. While she was happy to have met Zepha, she couldn't help but feel eager to get back on their expedition.