#treenest

“FUCK!”

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His clothes were dry. So that was a victory. Isfet was still hungry (hungrier, hungrier) and sore and tired, and maybe more lost than he’d been a day ago, but he was dry! He’d take it. He’d take anything at this point.

And, as a nice bonus, today’s hidey hole had presented itself without him even needing to look for it. One mossy tree stump, a couple of dead trees fallen in such a way that he could crawl beneath for shelter and use his jacket as a cushion... Win-win.

He still looked longingly at his phone, but this time he left it set safely nearby instead of clutched in his hands. He wouldn’t tempt fate a second time.

Not that he had to. Fate always found him anyway. Isfet had fallen asleep a bit more comfortably than his first morning, and a bit deeper. A little calmer. Just enough that when midday came and the sun positioned itself just right for a nice beautiful little beam to come shining through the gap between logs, just right for it to land on his uncovered cheek, he didn’t wake. Not immediately, anyway.

It was only when it really began to sting, then burn, that he awoke with a terrible start. And it wasn’t even the crackling burn that had him shouting. It was the way he jolted up and smacked his head directly into the wood above him that had him yelling out and breaking the otherwise serene, lovely sounds of nature.

The nest was not what Susette expected.

Or, more precisely, she had not had high hopes for this next lending clues to the dangerous creature in the forest. Described as a ‘dragon,’ the stick structure was altogether too birdlike and rustic to fit the bill. It also seemed designed to house a creature of about human height; not quite a beast a creature the size of the Jersey Devil creature might be frightened of.

Susette had smelled it out, hints of blood and feather dust on the wind. She’d used her natural volph form’s lightness and the relative density of the trees to gain height and reach the nest, though its occupant wasn’t home. She didn’t know who should live here.

It was after one in the afternoon by the time Harper biked their way back into the woods. The bags thrown over the rack of their bike were full of books--and books were heavier than pizza. They gasped and grunted as they forced the bike up a gravelly hill before having to stop and leave the road. Harper paused to catch their breath and peered into the trees. Yep, this is where they’d wandered through yesterday.