The Forest

Chapter Eleven

The streets took them back to Tilia`s library.It was a cold night and the leaves were crunching under their shoes, following them around wherever they went. Tilia and her friends thought that the forest would be somewhere outside the town but the roads just led them deeper in, leaving them confused and unsure what was happening. Were Caddie and Cross just trying to cheat them and take away the key or were they actually helping them - they couldn`t tell. So they followed them until they stopped right outside the familiar building. It smelled like fresh pizza and coffee. They all gathered and looked at them. ` What are we doing here?` asked Tilia. She stared at her window and wondered what did her library have to do with anything. Her head was full of questions. ` Well this my dear is the entrance to the forest. ` said Mrs Caddie. She was smoking her cigarette and looking smug, like she knows a big thing that no one else does and she is better that all of them. ` This? ` asked Marie with a funny look on her face, fuming with anger at the little lady who just kept grinding her gears. ` Is it behind the library? ` asked Philip, amused by Maria`s anger and Caddie`s behavior. He looked at Tilia and smiled. ` No, it is the library. ` said Mr Cross, as cold as ever, not interested in anything that was going on, keen on going home as soon as possible. He hated gatherings and young people and basically anything that wasn`t on a silent mode. If he had a remote control he would probably press mute all the time. ` How can my library be the entrance to the forest? ` asked Tilia, imagining trees among her perfectly stacked rows and lines, and her lovely chair up on some branch, unreachable. ` It can. If you have the right key. ` said Caddie, again with smugness as she watched Vinnie smile and Tilia and her friends even more confused. Oh, they had a key but not the knowledge needed for that kind of thinking. ` You see, this is why this library was always so important to your grandma and this is why we are still keeping an eye on it. ` said Vinnie. He loved Magda and he always had a lot of fun watching Caddie and her fight. He feared them both even though he was bigger than if Magda stood on Caddie`s shoulders and weighted twice s much. But those little ladies were scary. ` So you were entering my library? ` Tilia asked imagining Caddie and Cross sneaking around at night doing some silly things and breaking into her beloved place. Her mind was laughing but she was still unsure how everything worked. Part of her was so excited about having this awesome part in this mission and knowing about the world beyond our own but part of her just wanted to go lay down and fall asleep. ` No, not since Magda died. We had the key but without a nightingale you can`t go in. ` said Vinnie. He looked sad absout not being able to go in there, He must have had a lot of fun in that place. Tilia wondered if he had a family or someone waiting for him. To thing that that necklace, so small and seemingly unimportant could play such a big part. ` You can but… those nasty things will catch you. They can smell people from miles away. ` said Caddie. Tilia imagined little Caddies running around, trying to scare people away. She couldn`t imagine those creatures looking like anything else than Caddie. And that was the scariest part. ` So you need me? ` asked Tilia, mocking Caddie with her own smug look on her face. SHe smiled at Maria and Phillip. They smiled back at her and supported her. ` No, you daft girl. We need the nightingale. ` said Caddie, fuming with anger, looking like she is going to burst at the very thought of Tilia having such power over her and her powers. ` Oh, well why didn`t you just ask my mother then, she had it all along. ` asked Tilia, wondering this for a while. They could have just asked or steal it. It`s not a big deal. They could have done this and not bothered her all along. Apparently, they just needed that necklace. ` We know she had it, but how strange would it be if we asked her to give it to us.` said Vinnie. He was sort of right. But her mom was sweet, she wouldn`t have said anything to them. Or maybe she would shoo them away because she wanted to give it to her only daughter to wear in emory of her grandmother. Who knows. They should have asked though. Wouldn`t hurt them. ` Well, you are right about that. ` said Maria, breaking Tili`s thoughts and smiling to her. She looked pretty as always with her short red hair and bright pink pants with a green blouse. Everything suited her perfectly. ` See. Now, give me the key. ` said Caddie, smiling because she will finally get what she wanted. ` How do we know that you won`t trick us. ` asked Maria. SHe was right, Caddie could just steal it and run away. She wanted to do that at in the first place. ` Oh come on, we are all in this together. ` said Caddie holding her hand up in the air for Tilia to plce the key on the palm of her hand. Tilia just stared at her. ` Besides she has the nightingale. ` said Cross. He was tired of all the drama and just wanted to be done with it. Those kids didn`t like him and he didn`t like them. ` Right. ` said Maria and nudged Tilia to find the key in her pocket and give it to the old lady. ` Well, hand it over. ` said Caddie but then she stared somewhere above Tilia`s shoulder, confused and a little bit scared. Everyone could hear footsteps. ` Here. ` said Tilia and turned around to see who it is. Her heart dropped when she realized that it was Ethan. He was wearing leather jacket, protecting himself against the wind. He brought the smell off the perfume that made Tili`s heart beat a bit faster. She completely forgot to call him, or talk to him or even think about him. They shared a beautiful kiss, but her feelings were all over the place and she didn`t know what to do about it, she just wanted to run away. She had feelings about him but she also cared for Phillip and now Ethan being so close to Philip confused her even more. She wanted a cigarette so bad. Phillip looked at Ethan like the public enemy just walked by. He didn`t like him at all. Ethan came closer to Tilia and hugged her. She tried to avoid it but she couldn`t. ` Hey Tili!` said Ethan, smiling at her, his face a bit blushed. One of his hands lingered on her shoulder. ` Hey Ethan…` said Tilia, trying to smile and ignore the fact that he is there. She didn`t want Philip to know about Ethan and her. She wasn`t sure who she liked more. And Phillip would give up on her if she happened to be with Ethan. ` What are you all doing? ` asked Ethan looking at the strange group of people, trying to figure out what was their deal and why they were all there, in front of Tilia`s library. ` Oh, nothing special. Just chatting. These are my neighbors…`said Tilia, trying to make everything look perfectly normal and not a trip to a very strange and new world that she knew nothing about. ` Yes I know who they are, they used to hang out with my grandfather. ` said Ethan, looking at Vinnie, Caddie and Cross. It appeared that he didn`t like them. He frowned and narrowed his eyes. ` Hello, young Grimm. How are you? ` said Cross, faking a smile which looked really weird. Another young person and he hated it. Especialy Grimm`s grandson. He couldn`t stand him because he was just as full of himself as the mayor was. He was even worse because he was young and smug and the world was in front of him. Older Grimm was getting a bit tired of himself lately so he was more bearable. But this one was like Grimm from the past. ` Very well… Is there a problem? Are they bothering you? `Ethan asked her whispering, still keeping an eye on them. He saw Philip and his angry face and he remembered that he was a police officer so he thought that he was bothering her about the investigation. The Bear was there too, so he was sure that it had something to do with his grandfather`s death. ` No, not at all… Hey, let`s talk over here. ` Tilia said, dragging him to the other side of the street, leaving her friends behind. Her skin enjoyed the touch of the soft leather. ` What`s up? You haven`t been answering my calls and you haven`t called back… Is everything okay? ` he asked shoving his hands in his pockets, turning around to see the strange group staring at them out of the smoke of Caddies cigarette. ` I`m sorry, it`s just I`ve been busy with this investigation thing and…` Tilia said, trying to get herself out of a bad situation, trying to explain how she felt and why she felt that way. She was dreaming about him for such a long time that she didn`t know what to expect and when she got it she wasn`t too happy with it. She expected more. She wanted more. ` Oh… and you were doing that all day?` he asked, not believing her at all. He was confused with her behavior. He thought she wanted him but now she was doing everything to avoid him. That`s not what he thought would happen with them. He liked her for a year and now all he wanted to do is be with her. Why did she avoid him so much? ` Well not all day but… ` she said, loosing this argument. She wished that the ground would open and swallow her. She wanted to disappear. ` You know, I thought this meant something to you. That we meant something` said Ethan, looking her straight in the eyes. ` We do, it does, but…` she started to tell him, sad that he was hurt. She never meant to hurt him. ` Yeah, you`re busy. Call me when you`re done. But I won`t wait forever. ` he said and stormed off, disappearing somewhere behind the corner. He was gone and she was confused. The night hid her face and that was good because as she walked across the street a single tear slid downn her face and she wiped it off as wuickly as she could, smiling before she joined her friends. She couldn`t look at Philip. ` What was that about?` ` Oh, nothing… He`s just… nothing…` ` Are we ready now? ` ` Yeah.` said Tilia, confused and hurt. Part of her wanted to run after him but part of her wanted to stay and see what will happen. ` Yeah, let`s go. ` said Phillip, grabbing her hand. Her heart skipped a beat but what she saw moved her even more. The door opened, revealing trees and bushes instead of her beautiful books. Those trees looked different, they shined with a blue light and showed a billion little flies that surrounded them. It looked like a fairytale setting. There was a single path that led into it`s depths, brown and walked often. Tilia was astonished. It was hr dream come true. She saw what she always hoped to see. A magical land full of wonder and mystery, full of new things and scary things. She could do anything. She could be anything.