a tall chain-link fence. Large signs
spelled out the hours for the park.
We were clearly outside of them.
We got out slowly. We were all
in a hurry, yet not. Although we
were in a rush to find answers for
Daisy, the journey didn’t seem
particularly enjoyable.
“We’re not supposed to take you
through this way.” Violet spoke
calmly.
“But you’re going to anyway.”
Daisy closed her eyes.
“Yes. I really don’t care about
the rules anymore.”
“Please tell me you’re not on a
suicide mission.” That thought had
already occurred to me, but I really
hoped it wasn’t real.
“No. Not a suicide mission.”
“It’s closed right now, huh? You
guys like breaking into places when
they are closed.” Daisy looked all
around her.
“We aren’t breaking in here. It’s
ours. We just can’t use it when
tourists are around.” Violet
hesitated with her hand on the door
handle.
“Gotcha.”
“Please tell me you’re going to
return this car.” Daisy made no
motion to move once Hugh parked.
“Why are you always so
concerned with people getting their
cars back?” Hugh studied her.
“Because people pay hard
earned money for their cars,” she
answered immediately. I knew it
was for the same reason she cared
so much about upsetting Allie. She
had a guilt complex. I knew the
feeling. I’d occasionally suffered
from one myself.
“It’s just an item.” Hugh pushed
the door open. “All items can be
replaced.”
“Only if you have the money to
replace them.”
“But they can be replaced.” He
got out and went right over to the
chain-link fence. He effortlessly
scaled the fence and landed on the
other side.
Violet got out to follow, but then
leaned back in. “What he’s trying to
say is that you should worry less
about people’s things and more
about people.”
“But you guys mess with people
too.” Daisy got out and slammed
her door. I hurried out through my
side.
“We don’t hurt them.”
“Of course you do!” She threw
up her hands. I didn’t immediately
move to calm her down. She had
every right to say her piece. “You
hurt people by getting them in
trouble with the people they care
about, by taking things from them,
by making them feel or think things
that aren’t really their thoughts or
feelings. That hurts them.”
Violet pressed her lips together.
“We do what we have to do in order
to survive. That’s all we can do.”
“There has to be another way.”
She walked toward the fence.
“We’ll see what tune you are
singing—”
“Enough!” Violet glared at Hugh
through the chain link. “We need to
move. No more arguing.”
“I’ll second that.” I’d held back
so Daisy wouldn’t feel like I was
trying to get involved in all her
fights, but arguing about whether
Allures hurt people or not would do
absolutely nothing in the effort to
keep her human.
“Agreed.” Daisy touched the
fence. “Do we really have to climb a
chain-link fence again?”
“You did fine with it last time,
what’s the problem?” Violet scaled
the fence.
“I’m glad I changed into pants.”
Hugh laughed. “Think a dress
would get in your way?”
She didn’t answer. “Let’s get this
over with.” She climbed up and
over.
Violet was right. Daisy had no
trouble scaling the fence. I followed
closely behind, choosing not to use
my wings in case there were
security cameras. It would be easier
to get our faces deleted from the
footage than to explain a giant set
of wings.
I joined Daisy inside the fence
and walked with her toward the
giant oak tree.
She gazed up at it. “Beautiful.”
The tall tree was beautiful. Its
most striking feature were its low
branches that stretched out in every
direction and seemed to go on
forever. There was something
surreal about the tree.
“It’s been here for over four
hundred years.” Violet stood right
next to it. “It’s grown a lot, but it’s
still the same tree.”
“Were you around when it was
planted?” I asked.
“Didn’t you hear Georgina?”
Violet wagged her finger in the air.
“You never ask a woman’s age.”
Hugh laughed. “I don’t know
why you are so hesitant to tell them
your story, Violet. It’s a good one.”
“Why don’t you tell them yours,
huh, Hugh? If telling stories is of so
little consequence.”
He paled. “My story isn’t nearly
as interesting as yours.”
“What’s Roland’s?” Daisy asked.
“It’s his to tell.” Violet touched
one of the low hanging branches.
“This is the part that is going to
make you nauseous.”
“Touching the tree?”
“Traveling through it.”
“We’re really traveling through a
tree?” Daisy’s eyes widened. “You
have got to be kidding me.”
“With everything else going on,
it’s the tree travel you can’t
accept?”
“I can accept it in theory. I just
can’t believe we’re going to do it.”
“You are both going to have to
close your eyes.” Hugh put his
hands behind his head. I couldn’t
tell if he was stretching or flexing
his muscles.
I ignored his display. “Why?”
“Because tree travel isn’t for
humans or Pterons. It’s meant only
for us.”
“And I’m practically an Allure.”
Daisy put a hand on her hip.
“But practically doesn’t mean
anything. You’re still human.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll close
my eyes, but this had better not be
a joke where you pretend we’ve
been transported someplace but in
reality we haven’t moved at all.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that.”
Violet strode toward the tree. “I
guarantee you’re going to feel it.”
“Why?” Daisy asked with alarm.
“Does it make you sick?”
“Slightly.”
“Really?” I wanted to make sure
she wasn’t messing with Daisy.
“Why are you surprised?” Violet
watched me with curiosity. She
seemed to like to study our
responses.
“I’m surprised you’d subject
yourself to something unpleasant.
You can avoid anything you don’t
like.”
She gently touched the trunk of
the tree. “It’s one of the only way
to get back home.”
“When we close our eyes, what
happens?” Daisy slipped her hand
into mine.
“We touch the tree and touch
you guys. We all travel.”
“How do I know you won’t leave
me behind?” She’d been almost too
willing to bring me along with them.
It made me suspicious.
“Because you’re holding hands.
She’s not going anywhere without
you.”
“So you say.”
“At this point, you are going to
have to take our word for it.”
“I’m tired of people saying
things like that.” I was used to
being in control.
“Join the club.” Daisy leaned
into my side.
Violet glanced up at the dark
sky. “We need to do this.”
“Fine.” Daisy shut her eyes.
“We’re ready.”
I closed my eyes and felt the
ground begin to shake underneath
us. I held onto Daisy’s hand as
tightly as I could. I tried to open my
eyes, but I couldn’t. It was as
though gravity was pushing down
on us at ten times the usual force.
My body felt inside out, my ears,
nose, mouth, and eyes burned, and
I needed it to be over. The shaking
died down, and it was replaced by
the sudden sensation of falling. I
felt sick to my stomach, and I
worried about Daisy. She’d been
sick even before this experience.
Before I could fully process it,
our bodies made contact with the
ground.
“Ouch!” Daisy cried.
“You okay?” I opened my eyes
to find her sprawled out next to me.
I still held her hand in mine.
“Is it over?” She blinked rapidly,
still lying down.
I sat up. We were on a sandy
beach lying underneath a palm
tree. I had no way to know how far
away we were from Angel Oak.
“Violet?” I called out. A
seemingly endless mass of dark
blue water stood on one side of us,
while a thick jungle stood behind.
“Where are they?” Daisy sat up,
and I helped her to standing.
“I don’t know.” This was great.
Fantastic. They’d transported us to
some unknown place and dumped
us.
“Where did they go?” She
glanced around. “There’s no way
they ditched us.”
“Right now it looks like they
did.” I wanted to be positive for
her, but realism was more likely to
help us out of our current situation.
“First things first. We have to figure
out where we are.”
“You make that sound easy.”
She dusted off her pants.
“We may only be a few miles
away from where we started. Violet
might have been making the whole
transporting to another realm stuff
up.” We’d definitely moved though.
We were on a beach and not one I
recognized.
“Do you really believe that?”
Daisy gazed out at the dark water.
“This doesn’t look like the
Charleston beaches I remember,
and look at that.” She pointed up at
the sky.
“It’s the most logical answer.” I
followed Daisy’s gaze and noticed
an odd glowing red ball of light set
in the darkening sky.
“What is that?” She pointed.
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Do we wait here or start
exploring?”
I needed to come up with a plan
and fast. Daisy was relying on me.
I’d put my trust in the hands of the
wrong people, and now we were
wasting time. Maybe that was
Violet’s plan all along. She wanted
to distract us so we couldn’t stop
the change in time.
Before I could formulate
anything useful I heard something
moving in the jungle behind us. I
grabbed hold of Daisy’s hand.
“You heard that too?” she asked
nervously.
I nodded. “Unfortunately, I did.”
“Maybe it’s just a squirrel.”
“Could be.” I doubted it. I had
great senses. I always knew what
was going on around me, but I
couldn’t place it this time. I didn’t
recognize what it was. Something
was messing with me. Nothing felt
normal, I was turned around.
The shuffling got louder, and it
was joined by loud laughter. It was
cackling that started in one spot,
but then it continued all around us.
We were surrounded.
“What’s going on?” Daisy
trembled beside me. “Is this a joke
or something?”
I turned so my back faced away
from Daisy, but I held on to her
hand. I transformed, allowing my
large black wings to rip through my
t-shirt.
I felt the familiar surge of
strength as I fully transformed. I
could handle anything that came
our way. I’d protect Daisy no matter
what happened.
“Look, we made him mad,” a
tiny voice called out. “He has his
wings out.”
“And his eyes are black.”
I hadn’t realized how complete
my transformation was. I needed to
hold onto my human side
somewhat with Daisy close by.
A petite girl with a pale
complexion and wild red hair
walked into the clearing. She held
her hands out in front of her. “We
won’t hurt you.”
“Where are we?” I tried to stay
calm, but my Pteron side was in full
attack mode. If it weren’t for the
girl’s small size it would have been
worse. I was nearly certain she was
some sort of Dryad, and they
weren’t known to be violent, but I
wasn’t willing to put my guard
down.
The laughter grew louder.
“Hello. Could you stop laughing
and tell us what’s going on?” Daisy
sounded so calm and collected. I
was impressed.
The laughing stopped, and at
least a dozen people walked out of
the woods from around us. They
were all dressed in green tunics and
brown pants. Although their skin
tones varied, each one of them had
the same shock of red hair that fell
around them in wild waves. The
Dryads I knew weren’t all quite so
wild looking, but that’s what they
had to be.
Daisy cleared her throat. “Uh hi.
We’re lost and are looking for some
friends.”
“You are an Allure?” One of the
girls walked toward Daisy. “I
haven’t seen a new one in years.”
“No. I’m hum—” Then she
seemed to think better of it. “Do