Eliza Twitchel & The Haunted Forest

Eliza Twitchel & The Haunted Forest--Chapter 6

                                     Beware Faerie Rings

Eliza lay face down on a bed of wet, decaying leaves in a forest of maple, elm and alder. Every inch of her skin prickled with goose bumps, as if she'd just tobogganed through an ice cave on a turbocharged sled.

She opened her eyes and squinted at a clump of bright orange mushrooms under her nose.  The sweet scent of rich humus filled her nostrils. 

"What happened?"  She pushed herself up onto her knees and looked around.  "I feel dizzy."

Grizzle scoured the ground, sniffing for gobbling scent.  "The first trip through the gateway is always the hardest." 

Eliza shot the brownie an irritated glance. "You could've warned me."

Grizzle shrugged. "I suppose I could have.  The gobblings’ scent is still strong.  They were here not more than an hour ago."

Eliza studied the ancient maple tree.  Its bark was a sickly gray. Brown leaves curled and branches drooped lifelessly.  Black sludge oozed from grapefruit-size cancerous burls along the tree’s trunk.

"How can anything heal this?"

Grizzle vanished and reappeared on a bough of the tree.  He poked his finger into oozing sludge and smelled it, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "There is powerful dark magic in the Black Book."

"I thought it was dark magic that poisoned the tree." Eliza looked around at the dense forest.  Red, blue and yellow flowers dotted the ground, the colors so vibrant it hurt her eyes.  She took a deep whiff and identified a hundred different scents.  Every tree, flower and shrub filled the air with its own redolence.

Grizzle put an ear to the trunk of the maple tree.  "Sometimes, the only way to fight the dark is with the dark. I can hear her heartbeat. It is slow but steady."

"You hear her heart; through the tree." Eliza put her ear against the tree and listened.  Her eyes widened in surprise.  "I hear it! Thump-thump . . . Thump-thump. It's a heartbeat; inside a tree!"

"Did I not just say that?" Grizzle vanished from the tree bough and appeared on the forest floor.  "Mairwynn is growing weaker.  It may already be too late."

"I gave Aelwynn my word."  Eliza gently patted the tree.  "We have to try." She suddenly cried out in pain and covered her ears as the forest came alive with a thousand sounds, amplified ten times normal human levels.  The crunch of leaves under her feet, worms churning the soil, flowers budding and trees creaking, all became a cacophony that pounded her eardrums mercilessly.

She leaned against a tree for support. Energy from the tree rushed into her body like a hundred energy drinks.  "What's happening?" She breathed in hundreds of scents: Every tree, flower, shrub, bird and insect had their own smell--and she knew each and every one of them.

"I feel funny."

Grizzle appeared on a low bough of the alder tree and studied Eliza’s face.  "The dryad in you has awakened.  You must learn to control your senses or we’ll never reach the Haunted Forest and rescue your sister."

Eliza felt giddy.  Her head spun with so many different scents and sounds that she couldn’t process them all.  She laughed as she spun in circles. "I’ll be okay . . . just give  . . . me a . . . second."  The heartstone glowed bright green.  She looked up at a giant alder’s canopy of green leaves.  "Mama was right . . . everything has a name."  She closed her eyes and fell backwards, her head bouncing on a thick pillow of moss.