Young Writers Society

Cassie glared, her fingers tightening around a branch and snapping it.

Why are they here? What are they standing around for?

It had been a an hour and yet still these four people sat, hunched over in careful planning. She wondered briefly if they were here for her. She'd been here, what? Six months now? If they were here for her, wouldn't they have come a long time ago?

She carefully shifted her position, and the leaves, too soft to crunch, instead slid under her shoes. She grit her teeth at the idea of the white soles of her Converse are getting dirty, but at least she managed to catch herself.

Taking a controlled breath, she faced the strange people again. Her heart faltered. One of them was looking at her. No wait- they weren't looking at her. They were looking at something behind her.

"Hey, look! Over in the bushes!"

Cassie twisted her head to see what caught their attention. A flash of red flies by her just as she did. She smells smoke and sees a small flame born on the side of a tree.

"Careless creature."

The humans, in pursuit, didn't even notice her nestled in the bush. Cassie doubted they'd see her even if she tagged along. A small smirk grew on the side of her face.

They never noticed her following them.

As their group ran off in pursuit of red flies - which Romi was curious about but not seriously concerned by - Romi couldn't shake an all-too-familiar feeling. She was sure that Rew hadn't tagged along this time around. He had promised he wouldn't unless he got too bored back at her shop. But she still felt like she was being watched, even though she was sure it couldn't be Rew.

Tightening her ponytail, Romi glanced back at the group.

Separating was always a bad idea, but she still wasn't sure what they would do if they did find someone who lived in the forest. She would have to check on her own first.

She stopped and leaned down, untying and retying the laces of her boot. It was time to see what their follower would do.

Rya leaped to her feet and drew her daggers.

"There's something here." she stated, looking around her. "Something dangerous. We need to find out what it is." she looked at the "heroes" to see what they'd say.

Althea nodded, and she turned back to see Romi untying her boots. She walked over to her, hoping that they would catch their follower off guard.

"Hello, Romi, I love the material on your boots," she said, hoping Romi understood what Althea meant.

Cassie grimaced. These were no fools. They obviously knew she was here and would not budge unless she did something. The thing was, they were too close to her highly-coveted territory and the creature was such a perfect excuse! She took a deep breath and remembered what her 'fill-in mom', as she liked to call her, had once said.

"Casandra?"

"Yet another pearl of wisdom?"

"Don't be so rash to dismiss me. You need to learn to judge whether to speak up or not. And this, as you should learn, is not the time."

A faltering smile crept onto her lips. Unless she said something, these people wouldn't move. And who knows what they'd do if they found out she'd been spying on them without cause? No, she needed to step out and say or do something. She took a deep breath and focussed on slowing her rapid heart rate.

All eyes snapped onto her at the first creak of a branch, "Don't converge on me yet." She swallowed. "I could easily be wrong, but that thing was running pretty close to some dangerous turf. Out that way, there's a creature known as the Spindle Man. Obviously, I'm not the only one who knows you're here."

They stared at her, unblinkingly. She couldn't gauge their expressions, so to be on the safe side, she kept talking.

"You'd do best to just leave. Really, I think you're all in for a real treat if the runner snitches on you to him. I've heard nasty stuff."

Romi had hoped that none of the others would notice her pausing; she had hoped even more that if they had noticed her, they wouldn't draw attention to their follower. But Romi should have been prepared for her impromptu plan to go haywire - she spent time with Rew, and Rew had a tendency to ruin any carefully laid plan with his impulsiveness.

"Hi," Romi said with a friendly smile. She was sure there was something lurking in the forest, but she also guessed the girl before them was worried by their presence in the woods. "I don't want to bother you, but who exactly are The Spindle Man and the runner? I've never heard of either one of them before. I don't want to jump to conclusions without knowing more information."

Cassie grit her teeth. This trespasser was almost too nice. And if she knew anything, it was to never trust someone who couldn't be honest with you. She decided to repay the favor with a tight smile and sugary tone.

"You haven't heard? The rumors say he preys on unlucky visitors. You and your party aren't the first and most certainly wouldn't be the last."

These, of course, weren't true. Cassie had heard very little of the more dangerous things, but they usually resided deeper in the foliage. The Spindle Man was merely a legend to scare people from going any deeper. Could he be real? Possibly. The idea was to convince them that something bad would happen if they stayed here. She realized she wasn't doing such a great job.

"The runner was here the whole time with me - you don't speak very quietly. Feel free to not believe me, but don't wait here to find out. I have enough trouble as is."

The lies were piling up and she really hoped they didn't notice the shakiness in her voice.

Romi resisted the urge to frown. That was...vague.

Rew had vague rumors about him, too. They never amounted to much. Some of them hit the nail on the head, but they were almost always blown out of proportion. Romi knew that she couldn't compare every situation to the ones she had been in with Rew, but still.

It was food for thought.

"I'm sorry to cause you more trouble," Romi said - and she truly was - "but I have another question. What exactly is the runner like? If we're going to avoid them, then I need to know what they look like."

Cassie looked back over her shoulder nervously - the conversation was lasting much longer than she cared for.

"Fire nymph by the looks of it. Why do you ask?"

Althea narrowed her eyes at the nymph.

“As you said, we should avoid him,” she said. “Why are you so nervous? We won’t bite.”

Niko watched as the others conversed. Althea was right, something was off about the situation. His weapon remained sheathed on his back, but his arm tensed, ready to whip it out at a moment's notice. Anything could happen this close to the forest.

Cassie let out a little chuckle. "Nervous about you? Yeah right." She'd meant it as a joke but the tone of her voice made it clear that wasn't completely true.

"There's a path not far from here. It's a bit of a jungle and plenty dark, but I'd appreciate it if we took this conversation to a safer spot. I'll show you there myself if you're interested."

Althea raised her eyebrow at the others.

"We can tell that you're nervous," she said. "We're not going to hurt you if you don't plan to do anything to us. Although I don't want to run into that runner or the Spindle Man either."

Althea turned to her companions. "What do you guys think? And Rya, you're the leader. It's your call."

Romi wasn't the leader. She knew she had little say. But following the girl was the best chance they had at both seeing more of the forest and getting more information, so she knew it was exactly what they had to do. It was the only thing that made sense.

"I'd like to go with her," Romi said.

The Spindle Man cocked his head, listening. "Do you hear that?" he asked Ashen. "Do you smell it?" The stench was sharp in his nose. Climbing further up the tree, Grier leaped onto another branch. "Nymph, there are humans wandering these woods!" Humans hadn't dared entered these parts in decades. His reputation and the hostility of the trolls hereabouts had been enough to discourage any curious would-be do-gooders. "Can't have that, now can we?" He moved to another tree.