The Forest

Chapter Fourteen

The book was just as beautiful and ornate as they imagined, they gathered around it, like a pack of wolves and stared at it`s ancient magic. So many people before them held it and wrote in it, passing their wisdom away. There was no title, no names, no credits anywhere. It was just a book. Just a simple collection of thoughts.

They wondered what could it hide. Those pages were old, some of them yellow, some of them less so. Tilia was questioning what it meant, or were there any thoughts from her grandparents. It would be amazing if she had a piece of them, just a tiny piece that could connect her to them. She always liked how people from ne family but different times could look alike and how much meaning the life of ancestors can hold to our own life.

` Well then, open it. ` said Caddie. She was impatient and ready to just take the book and leave. She read it from page to page and to her it was old news. But a thought sparked in her head - what if one of her friends left a message to her. What if they had something to tell her and it was important.

` This looks ancient. I should be careful. ` said Tilia. She loved books and apreciated their bigger meaning in the world. She trusted that they should be put high on list of priorities and that books are what will save people. She loved every page she has ever read and she never thought that a book so ancient and valuable would come to her hands. But it did and now she wanted nothing more but to devour it and enjoy it with a nice cup of coffee and some cigarettes.

` You are right. Be careful. ` said Cross. He didn`t want to talk and he mostly wanted to go back home. He couldn`t bare to be in the presence of so many people and his past which was happy and he missed it. He missed his friends even though he never showed them that he liked being around them. He was the youngest one in the group and they always left him out just a bit but nevertheless they were his friends and they always teased him, making him smile and laugh and they helped him go through some hard times.

` It`s so pretty. ` said Maria, eager to discover what was in there, what is so important, what kind of things she could find out from this adventure. She loved adventures and missed them so much in the small town like Linden. All she wanted was what she had in college - excitement, love, relationships, thrill. All she had in Linden were boredom, routine, monotonous life and all those things she didn`t like or want.

` Yeah, yeah, get on with it. `said Caddie as she walked from one side of the room to the other. ` What do we do with it? `asked Maria.

` Read it. Learn the rules. Protect the world. `said Cross, repeating what was once said to him.

` No pressure then, huh? `said Phillip.

` This is a mission of high importance. It is not something to be messed around with. The world is in constant danger. We have to find the one who is trying to find the book, figure out how to stop him and then do it. `said Caddie.

` But who would want to let them out? ` asked Maria.

` Open it. `said Caddie. Tilia opened the book and the smell of old times flew right into their faces. The pages were yellow and fragile. There were again no names. First pages were barely readable but those last few ones, those were the real deal. They contained everything that newer generations wrote and thought and drew. It was amazing to see what their opinions were and how they did things.

The Snatchers

The Snatchers are an ancient sort. They came to be at the same time the humans did since before humans dreams were not dreams but just sleep and repetition. Dreams were just something you do and not something you have. But then came humans and started dreaming, but dreaming for real. They had their wishes and hopes and these silly little creatures found an abundance of these new materials for feeding. Dreams were their new food and they developed accordingly. At firs they just stole sleep dreams but then people started daydreaming more and so did Snatchers. They started putting people in a coma and leaving them there for the rest of their lives, stealing their life plans and their hopes.

Snatchers operate by attaching to humans by their big mouth claws behind their back and on their neck. Their poison reaches nervous system quickly and the victim is helpless. Then these creatures steal from people`s brains but also hearts and souls anything of value that they can find ant take as useful in creating a toxic beautiful dream for their victims. After they are done, they leave leaving the victim just a couple of ore minutes of living after which they die. T

hese creatures move around by creeping, they have no feet or arms, they only move around one way ant that is it. They jump really high and they are hard to feel once they are on your back. To see one is a miracle and you would need a special power for that since humans can`t see them.

Sometimes humans can feel them. Children say that there`s something under their bed, but those are only baby snatchers, sniffing humans out or learning about their ways. Humans can sense them too, in the dark, although they think is nothing. It is not nothing.

To catch a Snatcher you must first have a hunter. As Snatchers developed so did humans and there`s a race of people who could see them. You need to have a Hunter in order to catch a Snatcher. It is that simple and that hard.

Snatchers mate the same way humans do but they don`t have families in a way humans do. They mate and leave each other, leave the babies alone and never see them again. They don`t like to keep in touch with their people and mostly hunt one by one.

They are really sneaky and that`s how they get out of the forest. It is hard to do but they manage to get out and find their way into the world and harm people. You can`t kill them. You can only capture them.

The Council

The Council was founded in ancient times when civilizations begun. All lands picked a representative an embedded their power into them, sending them off to find the snatchers all over the world and secure them so that there is n o more people being killed by them. These representatives had all kinds of powers which gave them security and strength to succeed. Over centuries, almost all snatchers were captured and taken to a new area where Council families made their home and stationed their families.

All councilmen and women were keen readers so the most important thing to them was a library and that`s where they locked away snatchers and made a library for them in their realm. They enjoyed their life and new people came, giving them a chance to marry and find their own families.

Every person in the Council should have their own family in order to have their own children and extend their line. Every child or grandchild should get their own seat at the Council. They should continue to take care of Snatchers and humans alike, to nurture their powers and keep the world safe.

The Forest

The Forest is an ancient realm where creatures like snatchers live and breathe. It is called a forest because every inch of land is covered in trees and bushes. The trees are mostly chikadoor and rosebush trees which have as a result of a special realm flora and fauna, blue lights called limes on their branches and tips of their leaves. That is a result of there not being any sunlight so plants have developed their own way of feeding and those lights help them.

The forest can make you feel drowsy, in love with it or like in a dream. The forest has adapted itself to Snatchers and therefore now the forest does it`s own part in drawing the people into those dreams. The forest calls you, invites you to run off away from nightingale light and towards death. The forest is beautiful, however, you should be careful when in it not to get dragged away from where you should be.

` Wow. Intense. ` said Philip after Tilia was done reading those pages of the book. They found out some very important stuff and they didn`t want to ever forget it. Well, Philip, Maria and Tilia were intrigued at least, the older ones were just bored and not amused. They wanted to inspect the book for themselves and see if there`s something new or if there is something missing.

` It`s not intense. Just complicated. ` said Caddie, rushing them to give her the book.

` Hey.` Tilia yelled after Caddie snatched the book out of her hands.

` Hey Tili, what was that with Ethan before? ` Philip asked

` Oh, that… ` she said, lost in her thinking. It seemed like it was a life away, that very world was so far away from where she was right now, and yet it was right there and neither Ethan nor that question are going anywhere any time soon. She felt like she was torn between what she wanted for a very long time and what she liked really really a lot. She didn`t know what to say so she just smiled and bowed her head.

` So, are you going to give me an answer? `

` Um… well we kind of kissed.`she said and blushed. She felt like she had cheated on Philip. He moved a bit further away from her.

` Look, it`s not like it is a big deal, I`m not even sure that I like him, it`s just…`

` So is that the problem? `he asked, wanting to know more but unwilling to show his feelings and let her know that he cares. He did care, a lot in fact, about her but he also knew that he may be jut a friend to her and to him that kiss she shared with Ethan proved it.

` Hey, it meant nothing…` she said, trying to fix what she did. He looked at her and smiled.

` Why are you telling me all this, I don`t care one bit, I just asked since, um… you looked hurt. `

` Oh, well, okay…` she said. Tilia couldn`t change what she said but she was hurt and she felt like she hurt him too, like she shouldn`t have told him. She liked him a lot, she wanted to spend time with him and be with him. With Ethan she was just someone else, but with Philip she was herself. She could say what she wanted and she didn`t have to worry. Ethan wasn`t bad, everything about him was perfect except for the feelings he made her feel. He was a dream for so long that in the end it was no longer important who he was but the idea of him, what he was in her imagination and that was not him.

Suddenly a figure opened the door and stormed in, tall and dark, under a hood, and he brought a bit of blue light on his shoulder, lingering from long travel. He looked like midnight with eyes dark enough to make darkness itself flee from him and pale, wrinkled skin. Hi smiled like he knew exactly who the were and why they were there. He raised his hand and with long yellowish finger and waved.

` Well, well well, what do we have here. Hello, friends. `