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The Horan household was half an hour away from the forest through which Ingrid and her cohorts had traipsed the day before.
She drove a little faster than usual—honestly, a little faster than she thought proper—but she didn’t care. She decided to just keep her eyes fixed on the horizon and its surroundings and hope for the best.
Finally, she saw the parking lot of the trails and pulled right into a spot, not even caring that she was a little crooked. She pulled the walnut from her backpack and held it before her eyes, admiring its texture and the way it winked in the fading sunlight.
It was then, in this moment of quiet, that she realized...
She had no idea how to do what the piece of paper asked.
That is, she had an idea—the scrap wasn’t that vague—but there were a lot of unknowns.
Was there a specific place she was supposed to go? What would happen if she was seen? Would getting there be like this every time?
A little calmer and a little confused, Ingrid exited her car and entered the woods.
As she meandered down the Beech trail, she opened the walnut and unfurled the piece of paper inside to read it again:
If you hide me away, you will find them.
Judging by the way she got back to the info center last time, Ingrid was fairly sure she shouldn’t bury the ball; the flower-haired woman probably wouldn’t like that.
Before long, she was a good hundred yards away from the center, amongst a dense, deep-red grove. As she unfurled the paper to ponder over it again, she noticed that there was a faint green glow in the center of the little moss ball.
Hm. This means something, she thought, staring at the glow. Tucking the paper into her pocket, she made sure no one was around, very, very gently squeezed the ball--
“Whoa?!”
And jumped back, nearly dropping the walnut, as the moss ball lit up and sprouted wings, just like last time. Flying up and out of Ingrid’s hand, it began a spiral dance, slowly gaining tempo and tightening its circular path.
Ingrid’s mind turned to a certain very loud, very annoying ball of light she met long ago that only seemed to know how to say two words and how to lock-on to things, but it was suddenly and forcefully brought back to the present when the moss fairy completed its dance by flying in a vertical circle, causing the trees in front of it to part and a stone tunnel to emerge from the ground.
Ingrid and the fairy navigated the dark burrow together, with only the fairy lighting the way, until it was joined by the light of the pool room.
And at the other end...was the woman with flowers in her hair, who smiled in welcome.
“I’m glad to see you again, love,” she said, proffering a hand for the fairy to rest in. “Now I can acquaint you to this place in the right way.
And for future reference...my name is Camellia.”
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