Chatoyant College Book 7: Upon What Soil

Chapter 47: The Path

Dawn and Rico went left, Roe right behind them. Edie, Corrie, and Annie went right. It was a pretty big tree, after all, and Leila was a skinny woman. But when they met on the other side, none of them had any news.

Edie looked up into the branches, frowning. "Corrie, would you give me a boost up?"

"Of course," Corrie said, moving quickly to the trunk and pressing her shoulder against it. "But I thought you were afraid of heights."

"I still am," said Edie, grinning. "Unless it's a tree. Especially this tree—you know, in a sense, it is Leila, and I know she wouldn't let me fall."

Corrie bent and cupped her hands. Edie stepped up into it, but couldn't get high enough to reach the lowest branch. Corrie grunted and dropped her. "Rico, you want to help with this?"

"Oh, sure," Rico said, letting go of Dawn's hand and walking forward to assist Corrie with the boost. Between the two of them they managed to get Edie into the tree. Dawn walked up to the tree where Corrie and Rico were standing, staring up at the branches. Despite the few leaves left clinging to them, they were thick and somewhat woven together, and it was hard to see Edie after she'd gotten a few feet further up. The branches rustled and creaked against each other, and a few leaves detached themselves. Dawn shivered slightly. At least it wasn't Halloween anymore.

After a few minutes of branch-rustling, Edie reappeared and hung by her arms from a low branch. "Uh... okay, getting down is a little scary." She stared down at the ground, her eyes wide.

Corrie quickly turned and went to her. "Here, I'll... uh... not sure, actually."

"I know," said Rico. He bent down and went on his hands and knees under Edie. "There, now there's not much space under your feet. Go ahead, jump down."

"I don't want to hurt you!" Edie protested.

Rico laughed and winked at Dawn. "I'm a big boy, I'll be fine."

"I'll catch your hands," said Corrie, holding her arms up. Edie took a deep breath and let go.

Rico grunted when she hit his back, but Corrie had Edie's arms and was hauling her off and to the ground. Dawn hurried to Rico and helped him up. His hands were dirty with bits of twigs and leaves stuck to them; she brushed at them. "You sure that was okay?"

"Yeah. I'll just have to get you to rub my back later." He grinned and leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead.

She smiled back and turned to Edie. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," said Edie. "Don't worry. It was just a little freaky. Thanks for the help, Rico."

"But what do we do now?" Roe asked. "Is there any other way to get in touch with Leila?"

Dawn turned to her, thinking to suggest (reluctantly) that they try Tom again, but her eyes widened when she saw what was behind the others. There was a break in the trees—a rather neatly-maintained break, it looked like, going quite straight into the woods and with very little debris or even lumpy tree roots marring the dirt floor. "Doesn't anybody else see that?" she asked, pointing.

"What?" said Corrie, her hand immediately going to her pocket. "Is someone standing there?"

Roe turned around and frowned. "I don't see anything."

"Try your clovers," Dawn suggested.

"I have my clover," said Roe.

"Me too," said Corrie.

"Me too," said Edie. "I'm not seeing anything interesting."

"Did you already know there was a path here?" Dawn said, turning to Edie.

"A path?" Edie shook her head, then walked forward, stopping just where the path Dawn could see stopped. "No, there's never been a path here."

Dawn frowned, letting Rico's hand slip out of hers and walking forward. "You're all touching iron, right? And clovers. And you still can't see this?" She stepped off the leaves that surrounded the tree and onto the path, then turned around, holding her arms out to the sides. "I'm standing on it now."

Corrie gasped. They were all staring right at her. "Dawn... we can't see you. It's like you just walked straight into the trees."

"Well, come and join me," she said. "Maybe you can get on the other side of this illusion, or whatever it is."

Corrie swallowed, then, holding her arms out in front of her, stepped hesitantly forward. Dawn let her take several steps, but when Corrie passed her, she grabbed her arm to stop her. "Dawn?" Corrie asked, obviously startled.

"Who else would it be?" she said, a little impatient. "You can't see me?"

"I can't see more than six inches in front of my face," Corrie said. "It's like there's a really thick forest, trees and bushes, all around me. I can see your hand where you're holding me, but you're behind a tree."

"This is quite a sophisticated glamour," Dawn said. "Which makes me say we should avoid it, because we could get in trouble for going down the path, but also makes me say there's definitely something interesting at the other end."

"I think we should follow it," Edie called, a bit louder than was necessary. "It leads to Leila's tree. It's probably hers."

"Okay," Dawn said, sighing. She walked back to the tree, pulling Corrie with her. "Then let's follow it." She held out her hands.