Coral sat there in shock, staring at what was left of the bus. “...Coral! Can you hear me?” Jamie shouted. “Y-yeah,” she stammered. “Is everyone okay?” “Well, your evil sister seemed to have run away, but other than that, yeah.” Ruby said. “What?!” Coral yelled, snapping out of her stupor. “She’s going to tell my mom! We need to catch her!” “What’s she going to tell her?” Maggie asked. “Where I am, probably,” Corl replied. “Then she’ll come get me and I’ll be in SO MUCH TROUBLE!” “Well,” Ruby said. “We could just move.” “I guess,” Coral admitted. “But now that she knows we’re here…” “You know,” Jamie said unexpectedly. “I’ve always suspected Veronica was working with the MPCS.” Coral had never even considered that possibility. She started panicking. “If so, that’s even worse! She could be going off to tell them right now-” “Which is why we need to get moving,” Xavier interrupted. “Okay fine, let’s go,” Coral agreed. “Wait, Coral?” Jamie asked. “Are we still going to High Pines to fix your rain, or no?” This made Coral’s mind spin all over again. We have to fix it. But if we go to High Pines, we’ll be closer to Veronica! Coral sighed and put her head in her hands. What are we going to do? Then she felt a small, warm, hand on her shoulder. “Hey,” Ruby said. “We’ll figure it out.” It felt kind of weird being comforted by a girl who she’d seen setting herself on fire only minutes before, but Coral trusted Ruby. She wasn’t sure exactly why she trusted her, but she did. “What do you think we should do?” she asked. “I think you should do it,” Ruby replied, looking straight at Coral. “Stop the rain, I mean. You can’t let Veronica push you around.” “Yeah!” Maggie chimed in, walking over to them. Her gray hoodie was considerably more raggedy than it had been back at the prison, and a few stray hairs were sticking out of her hair buns, but she looked just as excited as she had when they first met. Coral sighed. Her friends were the very best she could ever have. She appreciated their kind words and suggestions, but all Coral really wanted at that moment was to sit and think. This was what she told the others. To Coral’s surprise, they instantly agreed. Maggie led her to the edge of the woods where, after a few moments of Maggie’s magic, a stone house was sitting. It was small, big enough for three people at most. Maggie looked at her and smiled. “This is my thinking place. Whenever I really need to calm down after a fight, or need to rest, I build one of these. Actually, I’m in here a lot, now that Ruby is with us.” Maggie winked. Then she looked down. “I wanted to ask you if I could come in too.” Coral blinked, surprised. “I like you Coral, and I didn’t think I was giving you enough attention - you know, as a friend.” Coral liked that. Come to think of it, she hadn’t even wondered what her new friends thought of her. As if reading her mind, Maggie said, “Don’t worry. The others like you too.” Coral breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Now, why don’t we go in. I want to check out this ‘thinking house’.” ************************************************************************** Coral stepped inside, ducking under the low doorway. She looked around. The ‘thinking house’ was bigger than it looked from the outside; two people could fit quite comfortably. Maggie followed her in. “Cool, huh?” “Totally,” Coral replied, not really paying attention. She turned to Maggie. “Um, no offense, but do you think you could, like… be quiet for a minute so I can think?” “Of course!” Maggie said, sitting down on one of the stone ledges. Coral sat down opposite her and tried to think. Veronica might be going to tell Mom right now, or worse, the MPCS. We need to get as far away from here as possible. But… I need to fix the rain. I can’t keep running from it forever. Not forever, whispered the cowardly part of her mind. Just, say, until Veronica goes to college far, far away from here? Coral shook those thoughts away. Ruby was right, she couldn’t let Veronica push her around. She’d caused this mess, and she was was going to fix it. Besides, she thought. Mom and/or the MPCS will come looking for me here, not in my town. Also, High Pines is a big place. They won’t be able to find me. Probably. Mind made up, Coral stood up to leave… and banged her head on the low stone ceiling. “Ow!” she yelped. “Oh, sorry!” Maggie cried. “I made the ceiling just high enough for me to walk under, I forgot that you were taller.” It was true. Though Maggie wasn’t as short as Ruby, she was maybe 10, while Coral was 13. “I’m fine,” Coral muttered, holding her head with one hand. “Really, I’m-” Maggie started again. “It’s fine,” Coral interrupted. “I made up my mind, let’s go tell the others.”
They walked back to where the others were sitting. “Have you decided?” Jamie asked. “Yeah,” Coral said. “I’m still going. We’ll just be… really careful.” “Good choice,” Ruby beamed. “Let’s get a move on,” she added, trying to sound grown up. “Yeah,” Xavier said. They set off with Coral and Jamie leading the way. As it turned out, what would been a short bus ride was a very long walk. The rain was coming down so hard, it felt like hail on Coral’s head and shoulders. “Coral, can you stop this rain soon?” Maggie whined. “It hurts.” “Sorry,” she replied. “But I already started back in the park, so I think I should finish there too.” As it got dark, they stopped for the night in a small hotel, using up the last of their money. As Coral lay down in bed, she thought she would never be able to sleep with all the worries in her head. But as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out. When the group woke up the next morning, they soon realized that no money meant no breakfast. After a lot of complaining from Maggie (and maybe some from Ruby too) they continued on their way. The rain, if possible, had gotten even worse overnight. Before long, they were all soaked. Coral pulled her hood over her head and hunched her shoulders, trying not to feel the sharp sting of the rain on her back. Finally, finally, they spotted the town. As they neared it, Coral could hardly recognize the place where she’d grown up. Large vines were climbing up all the buildings, and thorn bushes were growing everywhere you turned. Honestly, it looked a lot like what Coral imagined the kingdom from Sleeping Beauty looked like covered in plants. “Who did this?” she breathed. “Has a plant person been here recently?” Xavier asked. “Looks like it,” Ruby commented. Coral couldn’t breathe. Her rain was bad enough. But to see her town like this… “We need to fix this,” Jamie said. Coral looked over at him. This was his town too; he must be as worried as she was. But he didn’t look worried. He looked… angry. “Let’s stick to the original plan first,” Ruby commanded. “We go in, Coral stops the rain, and then we deal with this weird plant thing.” Nobody argued, not even Jamie. So they gathered their few things and plowed through the bushes in what Coral hoped was the direction of the park. ************************************************************************** As they walked further, it seemed increasingly doubtful that this was actually the way to the park. However, it seemed to be the way to whomever was creating all these plants, because the bushes got thicker and the vines got longer as they went. Because of this it got harder and harder to move. “Ow!” Maggie cried, after tripping over a vine for the fifth time. “Stupid plant stuff!” “Coral, you sure I can’t burn all this up?” Ruby asked. “For the last time, NO!” Coral replied irritatedly. “This stuff is twining around all the buildings. If you burn the plants, it might spread to the rest of the town. We don’t want to start another Great Fire of London.” Ruby pouted. “I liked the Great Fire of London.” she muttered. “Come on, guys!” Jamie said impatiently. “Do you think we’re close to the park now, Coral?” She shrugged helplessly. “I can’t tell anything apart with all these plants covering everything.” “Me neither,” admitted Jamie. “But this looks a little familiar, doesn’t it?” It suddenly clicked into place. “Oh my gosh,” Coral gasped. “Jamie, this is our street!” He looked around. “You’re right!” he realized. “Look, that’s Mr. and Ms. Porter’s house over there! We’re really close to our houses!” Coral started panicking. “We can’t be here!” she cried. “Mom- Veronica-” Her friends understood. “We need to get out of here,” Xavier said. They turned around to leave, but saw that plants had grown to block their exit. They turned around again, only to find even more plant life - bushes, vines, even a few trees - was growing around them in a kind of giant cage. They watched helplessly as it grew thicker and higher, bending towards them as if it had a mind of its own. Coral voiced what the rest of them were thinking. “Oh, no,” she breathed. “We’re trapped.”
