The voice had called out so sudden I dropped my pencil in surprise. It took a good five seconds before I could pinpoint where the sound was coming from.

'What's the matter?' I asked when I saw Anthea coming up the hill.

'It's Hazel! She went to the Nevadoran forest… alone!'

My eyes widened, a shock went through my whole body and I froze. My breath stocked and I couldn’t even get myself to move until Anthea pulled me up, squeezing my arm a bit too tight.

She was horrified, probably about as or even more in shock than I was.

‘A… Are you sure?’ I stuttered, and Anthea nodded.

I couldn’t get myself to bring out even another sound, I was too busy blinking my eyes to fight back the upwelling tears. I’m really just a hopeless case sometimes.

But even Anthea, who was known to be quite calm, was shaking all over and holding on to me so tight my arms were hurting. I tried to take a deep breath, shivering all over.

But amidst the despair, I felt some kind of feeling rushing through my veins. I had never felt it before. It was like my whole body was filling itself with energy.

I didn't feel as afraid anymore, I grabbed Anthea's hand and started running towards the forest.

'What are you doing?' She asked, a hint of fear and confusion in her voice.

'We're going to get Hazel back.'

'We? But what can we do? We're just two pupils! Why don't we go get my parents and-'

I interrupted her before she could finish. 'No, I am just a pupil, you are a fairy. An, you have the ability to save your sister.'

Anthea doubted for a second, still running along with me.

'But... how?'

She stopped.

I turned to her, uncertain what I could do - what I could say to convince her.

Then it came to me.

I put my hands on her shoulders, repeating what she had done for me the other day, and said: 'I know you can do it, just believe in yourself.'

Anthea doubted a little longer, weighing the odds in her head, then nodded and continued running, this time overflowing with confidence.

I followed her, even though I wasn't as fast as she was - and she wasn't even that fast herself - until we came to the forest.

The Nevadoran forest…

A horrible place. My aunt had warned me about it quite a number of times. It used to be just as lively and colourful as the other parts of the Silvean forest, but ever since Nevadora had started attacking us, it had been dying rapidly.

We made it to the edge of the forest, where the roots began to crawl above the ground and you could see the first signs of the vegetation becoming… wilder.

Eyes would be lurking at us from the shadows. Eyes that, from the likes of the stories told at Silvea College, belonged to creatures hungry enough to snatch us even with clothing - and in Anthea’s case, jewelry and glasses included - if we came too close. We had to slow down in order to keep going. It didn't help much.

Every step brought us closer to the dark forest. The flora and fauna becoming more dangerous along the way.

I tried to focus on the road ahead - though I don’t think it could really be called a “road” of any kind, more like a path, or maybe not even that either - and tried with all my might to keep my breath somewhat stable.

It didn't take long before a shriek sounded through the forest.

It went fast - too fast - yet I saw it happen; Anthea falling to her knees. All because of a single wrong step, getting her trapped with her leg in a hole that had, until then, been hidden between the plucks of moss. It caused her to trip and fall over, her leg still stuck in the gap.

'An!' I shouted and fastened myself until I got to her.

'Be careful.' She brought out in pain.

I made sure to keep my eyes on the ground ‘till I was close enough, avoiding every gap on my way there.

'Hang on, I'll get you out of there.' I promised, grabbing her arm.

'It's no use, I'm stuck. Even if you'd manage to get me out, I won’t be able to make it far…  I think I - sprained my ankle.'

It took a while for her words to really get through to me. I didn’t want to believe her.

'I’m - I'm not l-l-leaving you here.' I protested. Panic wrapped around me like a cloud enclosing the sun in the sky. I tried to pull her leg out once more.

It didn't matter. She was truly stuck.

'Don't worry about me, go get Hazel. She needs you more than I do. I'm safe here, just a little - stuck.'

She tried to make it sound light, even though you could see she was in pain. I didn't want to leave her here at the edge of this dark forest, but she was right. If I truly wanted to help Hazel, I couldn't afford to help Anthea first, no matter how much I wanted to. The Nevadoran forest was filled with danger and a little girl like Hazel could get killed in a matter of minutes.

'Al- alright, I'll be - be back for you... with Hazel.'

I tried to sound more confident than I was, and it showed.

'That's the little Sunflower I know.’ Anthea said in a soft tone. A little bit of pride slithered through in her voice. ‘Now go!'

I nodded and continued my way, making sure I wouldn’t end up stuck in one of the many gaps myself.

I turned around one last time to make sure Anthea was safe and then sprinted deeper into the forest.

Roots nor branches could block my way. My legs felt like they were about to give in, but I had to go on.

The “paths” seemed to be way longer than I could recall and the roads were a lot more trouble to pass over.

I was lucky to know where to find Hazel. Or - well - where she would most likely be.

If I was correct, she had gone to the place where her parents always took her before this forest was taken over by Nevadora in the aftereffects of the war. She used to talk about it all the time, wishing she could show it to me one day.

The only problem was I didn't exactly know how to get there, only vaguely where it should be located.

I could easily get lost in this forest, dark as it was, even on a sunny day like this. The further I went, the more the branches tangled my hair and tore up my dress. It became increasingly harder to breathe and on top of that, the pain in my legs forced me to slow down even further.

How long had it been?

I tried to remember exactly how many minutes had passed since I entered the forest. At first, there had still been indicators, I could still see the sun and not only this thick fog clouding my sight. But at this point, I could see about as much ahead of me as behind me- nothing.

I tried not to think about the possible threats, the creatures I had heard about, but as much as I tried, I couldn’t shake off the feeling of being watched.

I tried rubbing my arms a bit - I hadn’t even realized how cold it had become ‘till now that I’d slowed down a little. If I had known I was going for a hike today, I wouldn’t have worn such a summery dress.

But I hadn’t known, how could I have?

“Oh, what was I thinking coming in here all by myself? I should’ve listened to An, we should’ve gotten help.” I sighed. “I guess I’ve never been good at admitting that…”

Cr-crrrreek… cr-crack

“What was that...? Better keep going.”

I sped up my pace again, looking around quite often. My heart was bumping in my chest, it almost took over from the sounds around me. I took a deep breath. And another one.

That’s when I walked into a hedgerow- and a very irregular one at that- this one had a massive amount of thick pointy thorns.

Walking from left to right and back again did me no good, there was no way around the thing. I did not exactly like the thought of it, but I had to face it, the only way to get past it was to go through.

Bracing myself, I took the first few steps in. With my arms crossed before my eyes like this, it was even harder to see through the mist. For a moment, I didn’t think I’d make it, the little cuts stung like crazy and the air became increasingly difficult to breathe in, it even started to hurt.

But when I finally made it out, I was met with yet another surprise.

It took but a second to take in - I covered my mouth as fast as I could, taking steps back in an effort to stay clear of an omen I had not expected to come across this time of the year: spores. How hadn’t I thought of that sooner? It explained the hurt in my lungs perfectly - so much for taking all those notes in college.

Right in front of me was a humongous tree, a tree that had once been the heart and life of the forest, now spreading its infection of darkness and the scent of decay, of death. Its branches reached all over the place, with leaves of black and pulsing purple to accompany its gasses - gasses that were coming my way!

I backed off as fast as I could, but the hedge had closed in behind me, trapping me like a pixie in a jar. I had to think fast, follow the row backed to the edge and…