The Unicorn's Forest

Heathcliff ushered a young man into the dining room. They both sat down near the middle of the table on opposite sides.

"Thank you for coming in today," Heathcliff said, pouring a glass of water for each of them with the pitcher he had had put on the table earlier.

"Of course. You asked, so I naturally would need to find the time to meet with you," the young man replied, picking up the glass of water and taking a small drink.

"I'm sure you're wondering what the reason for me calling you here," Heathcliff mused.

"It doesn't matter why to me. You asked, so I came," the young man reiterated.

Heathcliff sighed. "Maybe so, but just because you feel obligated to me doesn't mean you shouldn't stop thinking for yourself. The day you do that is the day that I'll have no more need for you," Heathcliff replied. While he may have been harsh, he was honest. If someone couldn't think for themselves then they wouldn't be able to handle sudden changes on their own and Heathcliff was not willing to think for others who didn't care to do so for themselves.

The young man was dumbstruck. It took him a minute before he finally could talk again. "So, what is it that you wanted me to come here for?" he asked when he finally found his voice.

Heathcliff laced his fingers together as he set his elbows on the table, his eyes peering over his fingers. "You know how I personally asked you to be a counselor in my new 'math camp,' right?" Heathcliff inquired.

The young man nodded. "Yeah, you said that if I do well that you'll consider showing me some advanced techniques with my magic," the young man replied, his eyes starting to show a hint of doubt in them.

Heathcliff nodded. "Yes, I will. However, your task will be simple," Heathcliff said, pausing for a moment as he took a drink of water. "There will be a girl who will be a junior counselor at the camp. I will need you to help guide her in her position. Once you feel the time is right, you will reveal to her about the existence of magic and subtly direct her to me as to getting her own magic unsealed, unless she asks about it herself. If you can't be subtle or feel it would be useless to try, just bring her to me then."

The young man was clearly surprised, which Heathcliff couldn't fault him for. After all, Heathcliff had always stressed not revealing anything about magic to anyone, but now he was counteracting his earlier cautions. "May I ask why?" the young man ventured.

Heathcliff smiled. Very few had ever been this bold so soon after being reminded that they needed to think for themselves. Which revealed promise in this young man to Heathcliff. "You may," he calmly replied. "She may be a key we need in order to open the gate. She might be able to open the gates with the Heart of the Forest. We're not sure, but I believe that she will be an important ally to have regardless. That said, I also think it would help us if she felt indebted to us. If she does turn out to be what we need and has tied herself to us, then who knows what else we might be able to get done with her help. She has the potential to be a critical ally that will help us in ways we have yet to realize."

The young man nodded. "Sure, give me the information about who she is and what information you have about her in general and I'll see what I can do," he said. His eyes unfocused as he clearly was in deep thought about what he'd just been told.

Heathcliff was pleased. Now what was left was mostly to let things play out and see how much of a key this girl really was.

_

Charlie sighed as she began to clean her locker out. While she didn't have the textbooks anymore to deal with, she still had a lot of other papers that had to be sorted and that meant she'd have to do that when she got home. Many of the papers were handouts she'd gotten from teachers through the year, many of which she hadn't looked at after the class in which she'd gotten them in.

She'd finished with her last class and would rather just leave all these papers. She couldn't think of a reason she'd need any of these anyway, but on the other hand, she did acknowledge that someone would have to clean the stuff out of the lockers as it wasn't going to disappear over the summer on its own. She briefly had the urge to use her magic to get the papers to disappear, but quickly discarded the idea. It would be too risky to do that with the halls so crowded. Even if it was barely seen, Charlie didn't want to have to deal with the fuss that could get stirred because of it.

In all, it didn't take long, but it was still time Charlie would have rather spent leaving the building. Closing her now ex-locker, Charlie turned and started to walk away, not sure if she should look for Beth or if she should just head out.

Over the past two months, since she'd started being friends with Beth, Charlie would usually be accompanied by the entire group, though most of the time she first met with Beth at her locker at the end of the day. Where they would get together with the others was just out of sight of the school building. The week or two after they first met Petals was more of an exception to leaving school together. It wasn't until a week after Amelia's actual birthday that they had begun walking together. Though, Charlie was still struggling to feel a part of the group.

As she started to walk away, she was saved from making the decision herself as Beth appeared. Charlie waited for Beth to catch up in the middle of the hall, the crowd that passed by treating her like an island in the ocean as they continued their flow.

"Ready for summer?" Beth asked, as Charlie fell into step next to her.

"Yeah, but I have the feeling that our quiet summers are gone," Charlie replied.

"Why do you think that?" Beth asked.

"Oh, you know," Charlie replied aloud while adding more using her magic. –With what we've learned from Petals and with our magic, I don't think we'll ever be able to go back to how we were before.–

–You're probably right, Charlie.– Beth commented with her magic.

Over the past couple months, they'd gotten rather good with using their magic to talk with each other, and Charlie was the one who seemed to have the hardest time with it, being the only one who still had times she couldn't get it right. Charlie had also found that her magical stamina seemed to be growing well too. She rarely had times where she used too much and fell asleep as a result. They'd also started experimenting with what they could do with their magic, but they always had to keep it small or they'd risk what they were doing getting noticed.

While they could use magic in Petals' forest, they weren't sure if it would have any effects on the forest, especially with how unstable it was getting. Everyone was also working on deciding on a focus to use with their magic. None of them wanted words or gestures to be their focus, which meant that they still had to find one that worked for each of them. Charlie was the only one who'd settled on her focus, the crystal that had unsealed her magic, not that she'd said anything to anyone else about it. It felt like she should wait until others had chosen their focus before saying anything about it. At least.

In general, the last couple months felt weird. In a single week, she'd gone from being content always being by herself to having friends that she would hang out with multiple times each week, and not for just a short meeting. It also still felt odd to Charlie with how many things happened so quickly that week and the past couple months went by without much else happening, and while she still didn't really feel part of the group, she did find that she was starting to feel more comfortable around them, in addition to learning that Amelia was the one who most wanted to make Charlie feel included and welcome and feel a part of the group. The one who most didn't seem to care if Charlie was part of the group was primarily Ralph. Hannah and Wes were mostly ambivalent towards Charlie being a part of the group and Tim was happy to have Charlie in the group but didn't really pay much attention if she was with the group at any given time or not. At least that's how it seemed to Charlie.

"So, are you planning on continuing to wear that now that school's over or will you stop during the summer?" Beth asked aloud, indicating the butterfly pendant she'd been given and just started wearing it a week ago after realizing she'd completely forgotten about it around a month ago before finding it the week before.

Charlie lifted the necklace so she could look at it. "I really haven't decided," she replied. "I only remembered about it when I found it in a drawer in my desk last week and thought I should wear it, given I am open to relationships, but not necessarily with just anyone."

Beth laughed. "You're so cute when you're indecisive," she said, clapping her hand on Charlie's shoulder.

Charlie scowled at Beth. "Please stop that," she told Beth.

"Well, if you do decide to wear it, keep in mind that it might be good to not wear it during your math camp. So many ways you could lose it at a place like that," Beth advised.

"I'll think about it," Charlie answered, considering what Beth suggested. "But I'm also considering it as a potential focus." Which was true. The crystal might not always be readily available, as she couldn't just bring it wherever she went all the time and wearing a necklace was much easier to travel with, especially when it came to somewhere that wearing a jacket or having a bag or purse would be conspicuous. Or maybe as a backup focus. Something.

"So, are you ready for the math camp in a couple weeks?" Beth asked after they left the school building.

Charlie shrugged. "I guess, but I don't really know what to expect with it."

"It should be starting in a couple weeks, right?"

"Yeah," Charlie said, not really wanting to talk about it, despite how important a task Charlie knew it was in regards to getting a chance to retrieve the Heart of the Forest. "Though I'll need to go to an orientation or something a few days before it's supposed to start."

"Well, remember, if you can keep in touch with us. I know you haven't gotten your parents to get you a phone, but you can still use your magic to talk with us," Beth said, either not noticing Charlie's uneasiness about the topic or choosing to ignore it outright. "If nothing else, maybe you could try something else, like using your magic to try to reach us through our phones."

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, I could try that. Who knows, maybe I could even use the phone lines to increase my own range with my magic," Charlie commented. Though, in reality, Charlie hadn't thought about how far her magic could reach, given they didn't live that far away from each other. Heathcliff's was farther away than any of them were from each other and he was pretty much within a few miles. At most around ten. At least that was Charlie's estimate without even having looked at a map to figure out exact distances.

"Also, remember, if anything happens, let us know as soon as you can. We'll try whatever we can if you're able to reach us," Beth said, her tone indicating to Charlie that she was done with the topic. Finally.

They continued on without talking for a few minutes when Beth opened a new topic. "By the way, did you get an invite to a birthday party?" she asked.

Charlie stopped walking. She examined Beth's face as Beth stopped walking, a smirk on her face, letting Charlie know that Beth was aware at what Charlie's issue was right then. "What birthday party are you talking about?" she asked after about a minute, not sure if she'd actually get a real answer with Beth's penchant for not revealing 'sources' of information she has.

"Come on Charlie, you know that I can't reveal a source," Beth replied, predictably refusing to answer.

"Then I don't have to answer your question," Charlie replied, hoping Beth wouldn't figure out that Charlie had already given an answer with how she'd asked her question, not that she had much hope for it to begin with.

"Of course you don't," Beth replied, her tone letting Charlie know that she did catch Charlie's real response to her initial question about the party.

"Then I can go to my home and you can go to yours," Charlie added, ready to just relax on her bed and not worry about any homework for a couple months.

"Why don't we hang out together?" Beth asked, putting her arm around Charlie's shoulders.

Charlie sighed. While she still wasn't happy when Beth did that, she had become resigned to the fact that she wouldn't be able to escape Beth's grasp. Amelia's or Hannah's too, for that matter.

"What would you want to do?" Charlie asked after being quiet for a few minutes.

"We could watch a movie together," Beth suggested.

Charlie chuckled. "You'd have to get Cherie to relinquish the TV to do that," Charlie replied, entertained at the thought of Beth doing just that.

"Don't you have your own TV?" Beth asked. "Or at least your sister?"

Charlie shook her head. "No, my parents don't feel it's good for us to have a TV in our rooms. Something about us staying up late watching stuff or something, I don't really remember what they'd told my sister the last time she tried her pitch for that, but it was something to that effect," Charlie replied.

"Well, what did you have in mind to do?" Beth asked.

"I planned on working on my garden. I've kinda neglected it a little for the last week or two," Charlie said, wishing she either had more resources to work with in her gardening or fewer typical gardening problems.

"How about this," Beth suggested. "You show me what needs to be done in your garden so when you're at the math camp, I can garden-sit for you."

Charlie considered the suggestion, which the idea certainly made her apprehensive, but she pushed those feelings aside as she took a deep breath. Although, Beth probably would be better at tending her garden than her parents typically were. "I guess I can," Charlie replied, wondering if she was making the biggest mistake in her life. "Just remember, if you don't do anything to my garden while I'm gone, I would prefer that happen than if you ruin it, okay?"

Beth laughed. "I get it. Your garden is your baby," she said as she removed her arm from around Charlie's shoulders.

Charlie wasn't sure what to make of Beth's response, but was confident that her point was received.

_

"So, what's your favorite flower?" Beth asked as she worked with Charlie weeding the garden.

"I like roses," Charlie replied quietly, not finding the ability to increase her volume any as she said it.

"Any particular roses?" Beth continued, putting her latest weed in the pile of weeds they'd already pulled.

"I like blue roses most, but I've only heard of them being grown from cross-pollination," Charlie replied. "I've never seen one in person before, but I have seen pictures of them online and the color is beautiful."

"How can they change the color of plants by cross-pollination?" Beth asked.

Charlie paused in her weeding. "I don't know exactly, but people did make carrots orange through cross-pollination to show respect for a European royal family a century or two back, I think," Charlie replied, turning to look at Beth directly. "Originally they were white, and that's why you can pretty much only find white carrots growing wild."

–Should you be working on this rather than figuring out how to get the heart of the forest?– Petals suddenly asked them, which Charlie could tell she'd just left her forest, and she was pretty sure Beth could too.

–If there was anything that we could do right now about the Heart of the Forest, we would be doing that.– Charlie replied. –Right now we have to wait and so we have time to work on other things, even if it isn't directly helping us with what I'll need to do to get the Heart of the Forest back.–

–I'm sure it's because you're not used to how people work and get things done, but I assure you that we'll get the Heart of the Forest back so your home will be safe. – Beth added. –Right now our best shot is Charlie going to the math camp and get closer to the Heart of the Forest than we can get without real trouble. And right now we need time to focus our minds on something else, otherwise we're not going to be able to be as effective as we could be otherwise. Hell, we might even burn out our drive to get it, which can happen to people who focus too much for too long on a single objective.–

The feeling of worry was strong in Petals' mind, and Charlie would expect her to be swinging her tail nervously if she was in front of them. –Please hurry. I'm not sure how much longer my forest has before it's gone.– Petals replied. Then Petals' presence disappeared from their minds, which Charlie could only conclude that Petals had returned to her forest.

Petals had been getting more and more anxious in the past week because she was getting pulled out of her forest more frequently. Charlie partly wondered how much longer they'd have until Petals became an impossible secret to keep from her forest becoming more and more unstable.

"Well, back on topic," Beth said, startling Charlie back into awareness of what they had been doing, "have you tried growing any roses before?"

Charlie looked away, towards the tops of the trees, where the sky could be seen. "Yeah, I tried. It would have been a white rosebush, but it died shortly after I got it planted." Charlie couldn't help but feel depressed over it, even now. She had put all her efforts into it and still couldn't figure out what she had done or hadn't done that caused the rosebush to die. The only thing that she could think of doing differently was to move a little slower, not that she could be sure that it would have changed how things turned out anyway.

Charlie jumped when she felt Beth put a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" she asked. Charlie looked at Beth and saw looking worried as she looked at Charlie.

"Yeah, I just can't think of what happened and why it died," Charlie answered, smiling reassuringly at Beth. "I'll be okay, it's been a while since it happened."

Beth nodded, returning Charlie's smile. "Just checking."

They continued to work at the weeding until they were finally done as the sun was close to going down.

"How often do you water your garden?" Beth asked.

"At least once a day. I have a timer set to take care of it so I don't have to always be here, like on some school days when I need to arrive either extra early, or just have so much going on that I barely have time for anything else," Charlie replied. "I don't like wondering if I remembered or not. Having a timer set lets me know that I don't have to worry about it."

Beth nodded. "I understand. When it comes to something that's important to you, relying on your own memory can be a tricky thing. I remember a time when I needed a permission slip for a field trip, but I kept forgetting it until I couldn't go because the field trip happened before I could remember, despite my mom having signed it the first day I'd gotten it. I still hate not having been able to go on that field trip."

"Well, lets hope we won't have anything that will be along those lines with my math camp thing," Charlie commented, as she began picking up the weeds to dispose of them properly.

"Well, I should get going. I didn't think this would take so long," Beth said. "I didn't tell my mom I'd be out for so long, so I'll have to get home and keep her from thinking it's going to be another situation like when we fell out of Petals' forest."

Charlie nodded. They exchanged good-byes and Beth left. Charlie hoped that her garden would be okay with Beth taking care of it. Aside from her family, and now her friends, it was the most important thing to Charlie.

_

A couple weeks later, Charlie was getting packed to go to the math camp. A couple weeks that hardly felt like that amount of time to Charlie. She still felt like the time for the camp should still be a couple weeks away.

"Are you sure you don't need us to help you pack?" Charlie's father asked from the doorway of her room.

"I'm good dad. Really," Charlie replied cheerfully as she packed for the math camp. Charlie knew he was dealing with his own worries and wanting to do something that would he helpful, but right now Charlie wanted to deal with it on her own. Although, Charlie wasn't sure, but her father had seemed to be more distracted about his job lately than he had than he ever had that she could remember lately. She was beginning to wonder if his business was getting ready to go out of business. She didn't think Cherie had noticed, her attention more on her friends and social stuff when their father was around.

"Maybe a snack for the road?" he suggested.

Charlie sighed, rolling her eyes. "Dad, you know how far away I'm going. I'm not going to need a snack for that short of a trip," Charlie replied, surveying what she'd chosen to pack.

She'd been told to bring a swimsuit, so she had. She'd also packed shirts, skirts, a few pairs of jeans and shorts, underwear, socks, a spare pair of shoes, her toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant, floss, and a couple gardening books.

She wasn't sure what exactly to expect, but knew that she probably wouldn't be prepared for enough of what she'd need. Not counting what she was expecting in regards to getting the Heart of the Forest back. She didn't expect it to be simple, but she wasn't going to try for anything complicated either.

However, the most difficult part of this whole endeavor might be dealing with her father. While Charlie had gone to camps in the past, it was always as just a camper, not a counselor – even a junior counselor. Which Charlie assumed that she'd be there as a volunteer counselor, given she'd never heard of a junior counselor before, although maybe she just wasn't aware of that kind of position. So, while she felt a little apprehensive because of that fact, her father seemed to be on a whole different level, maybe a whole different scale even, than Charlie was.

"What I'm mostly wondering, dad, is if you'll be okay?" Charlie asked, trying to turn the tables on him, given how much of a bother he was being with her packing.

He blinked. "Why wouldn't I be okay, Charlie?" he asked, his eyes showing innocence, which let Charlie know he should be a good target.

"Well, you're clearly needing to spend as much time with me as you can before I leave tomorrow," Charlie replied, trying to sound as innocent as her father was trying to sound. "So, I was thinking that if you're this worried about me, you might not even be able to sleep while I'm at the math camp for two weeks."

Charlie's father laughed. "I get your point, Charlie. I just want to make sure that there's nothing that you won't need while you're at camp."

Charlie stopped packing her bag and turned to her father. "Dad, I'm not going to be a 'camper' there, I'll be a junior counselor. Which means that I'll have things that I'll need to take care of that I'll learn about after I get there. If I do need anything that they didn't put on the list, I'm sure they'll provide it. Besides, the first week will be about learning what I'll be expected to do as well as getting everything set up as well."

"You know I worry about you, right?" he asked, walking over next to Charlie.

"Yeah, I know, dad," Charlie replied, wrapping her arms around him.

"Just make sure that whatever you have to do there, you'll still find a way to have some fun yourself, okay?" he asked, returning Charlie's hug.

"Of course, dad," Charlie said, as she released him from the hug.

Charlie waited a full minute for her father to let her go before pushing him away. "Come on, dad," she protested. "It's not like I'm not going to be coming back."

"I know, I just can't help it," he replied. "Maybe it's just that it's been a while since you went to a summer camp, but it's hard to let you go like this."

"Don't worry dad, I'll be back before you realize it," Charlie said, closing her bag.

"Hurry up already!" Cherie yelled from Charlie's doorway.

Cherie was annoyed that Charlie was going to the camp. Especially since she was aware of the swimming pool at the camp and while she'd been enrolled in the camp for the week after Charlie would be done at the camp, that week had been cancelled due to not enough people signing their kids up in addition to Cherie not being able to get a slot during any other week. Charlie was confident, even without looking at Cherie's thoughts, that Cherie was most upset about that fact.

"I'm just about done, Cherie," Charlie said. "Not that I understand what your impatience is about. I mean, I haven't been packing for even half an hour."

Cherie glared at Charlie. Cherie didn't say anything, but Charlie heard a thought clearly in her sister's mind through her magic: Just because you get to swim easily at the start of this summer doesn't mean I have to tell you anything.

Charlie didn't expect that to occur, partly given that she'd mostly gotten good at not hearing stray thoughts like that when she wasn't trying to hear other's thoughts and partly because she'd made it a point to not try to see the thoughts of those close to her. It felt rather invasive and she didn't think that it was an act that invited trust. If anything, Charlie had decided that it would damage any trust that had been built and stunt the growth of any further trust.

Charlie decided to reply to the thought Cherie had without mentioning it. "If you'd like, I'll see if Heathcliff can make room for you in the first week," Charlie offered.

Cherie was surprised and it took her a moment before she recovered enough that she could respond. "Don't bother," Cherie replied, her anger still apparent, even as she had to put her glare back on. "I don't need your charity. I can go to any other camp I want."

Before Charlie could respond, Cherie had already left her room. While Charlie wasn't sure how to take Cherie's reaction, she did get the sense that Cherie's anger was more for show because of how much she wanted to try out the swimming pool that they'd seen at Heathcliff's.

"Don't worry about your sister," Charlie's father consoled her. "I think she's just disappointed to not be able to see the camp, and I doubt she wants to go there while you're a counselor."

"I wasn't really worried about her," Charlie replied. "I just thought I'd offer, as I wouldn't want to be a counselor around her as a camper either, but I thought it might be better than not going at all."

"You can ask anyway for Cherie, and if Heathcliff agrees, then you could call us and let us know," Charlie's father suggested.

"Okay, dad. I'll do that, but I'll let you pass the message on. So if he says no, you can decide if she gets told or not," Charlie said, closing her bag.

"Would you like me to help with that?" he asked, ready to move if Charlie indicated that she would.

"I got it dad. I'll need to be able to lift it myself to take it to wherever I'm supposed to put it, anyway," Charlie said, carrying her bag with both hands as she started moving it so it would be next to the front door. "Thanks anyway, dad."

Charlie saw her father smile as she passed by him. She was feeling as confident as she had ever felt that this was going to turn out to be a good trip.

She was about to head towards the stairs as she left her room, when she felt her father start to follow her. "Remember, when you get back from the math camp, we'll go on a real camping trip," he said, while they walked.

Charlie already knew about that, but hadn't let herself think about it that much. Her focus had been on getting the Heart of the Forest back. Besides, she didn't need to think much about it. She loved camping, and planned on enjoying it as much as she could when they went on that trip. However, she knew she wouldn't be able to enjoy it as much, even with anticipating it, while she knew that Petals was waiting for the help she needed to reclaim the Heart of the Forest so her home could continue to be safe.

_

Charlie was surprised when they pulled up at Heathcliff's. When they'd been there for the business dinner, his house was the only building that they could see from his 'driveway,' but now he'd had a few other buildings built since then.

Charlie was sure at least one of them was the dormitory, or 'cabin,' where she'd be staying for her time at the camp.

She wasn't surprised to see only older teenagers as well as a few adults, given a few were also getting a ride from their parents, but most were driving themselves or catching a ride with friends who were also staying.

She hugged her parents after she got her bag out of the car. "I love you guys, I'll see you when it's over," Charlie said, hoping she wouldn't start to tear up. Again. She frequently did that in the past when she got dropped off at camp and always felt really embarrassed about it.

"I love you too, dear," Charlie's mother replied. "Have fun and let us know if there's anything you might need from us, okay?"

"I'll call anyway," Charlie said, smiling, no longer feeling like she was about to tear up. At the moment.

"Don't use all your brainpower up this summer," her father joked. "You'll want to save some for when school starts."

Charlie couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. "Seriously dad, don't try so hard, okay?" Charlie said before turning away and starting to walk to where she saw most of the others heading, not waiting for her father to think of something to respond with. Nor did she look to see them leave. If she did, she was certain that she would start to tear up.

Most were heading to Heathcliff's house, which Charlie wasn't surprised about. She'd figured that it would be where his office was, and it felt like he probably would have everything start in that building. As Charlie reached the front door, an older teenager who was waiting near the front door called out to her.

"You must be Charlie," he said, smiling as he approached Charlie.

"Yeah, that's me," Charlie replied cautiously, not sure what this was about, or even how he'd know what she looked like, let alone what her name was. She certainly hadn't seen him before.

"Heathcliff asked me to help you get your bearing around here as well as anything else you might need," he said, which Charlie took as weird. He had dark brown hair, brown eyes, Charlie estimated his age to be around 18, he was around six foot five, and rail thin.

"Thanks, but I still don't know where anything is, aside from Heathcliff's house, which is why I'm heading inside so I know where I'll be staying," Charlie replied, walking by him to enter the mansion.

Charlie wondered what it would be like if she was more of a confrontational person as the teenager started walking with her. She certainly would be more than happy to have had him remain outside the front of the mansion.

"So, is this your first time as a counselor?" he asked.

"Yeah, it is," Charlie replied, hoping responding would get him to leave her alone. "I've only been a camper at camps otherwise."

"So, how'd you get in this gig? I just barely made the cut," her continued, much to Charlie's annoyance.

"Not sure. Just found out from my principal when she told me that Heathcliff was doing this camp," Charlie said letting her eyes adjust, wondering suddenly if this guy was trying to do more that just ask her questions. She wondered if this guy was hitting on her in a weird way. Not that she was going to ask. She didn't want to give the guy any ideas or thoughts that she might be interested in him.

"Wow," he said. "Any idea why he did that?"

"Nope, all I know is that it was unexpected," Charlie replied, finally seeing where most everyone was heading to. A room near the base of the stairs that had the room which she'd seen the Heart of the Forest at the top of it.

"If there's anything you need help with, just let me know anytime. I'd be more than willing to help in any way that I can, regardless of what the problem might be," the teenager offered, though Charlie didn't care for the smile that he put on his face to go with the look. His smile did not reflect his eyes, which Charlie didn't think was a good thing. He would be someone that Charlie would need to keep an eye on as she worked at figuring out where the Heart of the Forest was as well as how to get it.

"I'll keep that in mind," Charlie replied politely, hoping her tone didn't tell him anything about what her opinion of him was.

Then before he could respond in any way, Charlie entered the room and found herself in a small conference room, several chairs were set up and many were already filled. Charlie took a chair that seemed to already had someone on either side of it and was a little annoyed when he took a chair as close to where she was sitting as possible. Fortunately, he didn't say anything else at that time, partly because the orientation was starting already as Heathcliff entered the room.

The orientation wasn't too difficult to follow. Heathcliff let them know that he was still working out some fine details about the camp, but that he'd have that done before the campers began to show up in a week. He assigned various tasks for each of them. Charlie was put on helping paint the outside of the 'cabins' that the girls would be staying in. Heathcliff admitted that he didn't expect them to complete all of the tasks, but would have contractors to finish whatever they didn't or couldn't finish over the weekend, during which he would take them all to Winter Park for a few exercises. The only other person that Charlie kept in mind what their task was, was the teenager that had spoken to her as she was entering the building. His task was to 'assist' anywhere that needed extra help. Charlie was pretty sure she wasn't going to like what interpretation he would take it as. He didn't strike Charlie as the type that would leave her alone, especially since he seemed like Charlie had caught his interest somehow. Not only that, but there was something about him that Charlie found repellent. She couldn't put her finger on what it was, she just felt there was something about him that she'd rather keep away from her. Well away.

The work would begin in the morning, so as the orientation closed, they were informed that the rest of the day would be for them to settle in and relax. The pool would be open to anyone who wanted to swim, others could explore the grounds if they wanted, however Heathcliff's house was off limits, aside from issues that needed to be addressed by Heathcliff himself or for first aid matters with the exception of serious emergencies.

As everyone left, Charlie waited until she had a chance to speak to Heathcliff. The room was mostly empty when she saw her chance.

"Um, excuse me, Heathcliff?" Charlie said, as she approached him, struggling to make her voice audible with the moderate noise from the others in the room.

Heathcliff turned to Charlie and smiled. "How can I help you?" he asked.

"I wasn't sure where exactly I'd be," Charlie asked, partly conscious of her bags still with her.

"The girls cabin will be the one on the left when you leave my house," Heathcliff replied, his smile putting Charlie more at ease than she thought it would.

"Yeah, but where in the cabin will I be?" Charlie asked. She knew how to identify the girls cabin, it had a sign, if nothing else, in front of it. This, however, was her first time as a counselor. All the times before when she was a 'camper,' she'd never seen the counselors sleeping with the other 'campers.' Which meant she'd likely be somewhere else.

Heathcliff chuckled. "The room for the counselor's. Pick whichever bunk in the counselor's room that's currently open right now. You should be able to find one of the other counselor's for the girls easily and if you need help adjusting to being a junior counselor, talk to Shirley Brown. She's the counselor in charge of the other counselors for the girls. She'll be more than happy to help you adjust to being a counselor," Heathcliff replied.

"Thanks," Charlie returned, her smile genuine and as broad as Heathcliff's. If she didn't know that he'd had someone take the Heart of the Forest from Petals' forest, she wouldn't have thought that he was capable of anything bad.

Charlie made her exit and quickly went to the girl's 'cabin' so she could put her stuff down and maybe change into her swimsuit so she could do some swimming before the pool got crowded.

As she entered the room for the counselor's, however, she almost ran over another counselor. This one was clearly taller, around five foot ten, and Charlie guessed her age at about 19. She had black hair, in a series of braids pulled into a ponytail, brown eyes, and her skin was a dark chocolate. Charlie quickly stepped back so they wouldn't run into each other.

"Sorry," Charlie quickly said.

The older girl looked at Charlie and looked around. "I thought campers weren't going to show up until next week," she called out to the other girls in the room.

"They're not," one of the other girls replied, Charlie couldn't see who.

"Well, I got one here already."

"Send her back," came the reply.

"Um," Charlie ventured. "I'm here as a junior counselor."

The girl in front Charlie sized Charlie up. "Not a chance, girl. You're, what? Twelve?" she stated.

"I'm fourteen," Charlie defended herself.

"Uh huh," she retorted. "Not a chance. You're twelve. Though, I'm not sure why you're here when it should have been next week before you got dropped off."

Charlie considered her options. The best seemed to be more direct. She certainly wasn't going to let herself get chased out before she had the chance to really try to see what it would be like being a junior counselor, let along to get the Heart of the Forest back. "Heathcliff told me to take an open bunk in the counselor's room," Charlie said, not sure if she should threaten to pull Heathcliff into this fully.

The girl just gazed at Charlie. "Huh, you must be Charlie then," she said. "I wasn't told you'd be so short."

Charlie didn't like the tone the girl used, but couldn't fault her for remark on Charlie's height. There were times when others thought she was younger than she was based on that alone. "Yeah, I'm Charlie," she replied, not wanting to touch the 'short' subject and hoping it wouldn't continue. She had the feeling that if she did, it would definitely become a common topic.

"Well, come in then," the girl said, stepping aside so Charlie could enter.

Charlie did so, and looked around. She saw three other girls, all older, the youngest Charlie thought was closer to 16. "I'm Shirley," the girl told Charlie as Charlie continued to look around. "That's, Roberta," Shirley pointed to a Hispanic girl around 17. Roberta had black hair, dark brown eyes, looked like she might be an athlete, and stood around five foot nine, as she rummaged around in her bags on the top bunk of the bunk she'd chosen. "That's Cassie," Shirley pointed to a girl with platinum blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, looked to be 16, and Charlie approximated her height to be about five foot six. "And that's Lily," Shirley pointed to a girl who looked as out of place as Charlie felt. Lily had red-brown hair, bright green eyes, prominent freckles, looked around five foot four, and looked about almost 17.

"Nice to meet all of you," Charlie said politely.

The response Charlie got was less than promising, given the most she got from the other girls was a glance at her before returning to what each had been doing first. Roberta looked like she was either sorting her stuff on her bunk or searching for something in it, Cassie was reading, and Lily was writing something on a notepad.

"Don't let them get you down," Shirley said, putting her hand on Charlie's shoulder. "Take what bunk you want, but you could hold off on that until the other counselors get here."

"Why would I hold off?" Charlie asked.

"You're definitely the youngest we have in regards to counselors and some might prefer a certain bunk over others, so it's your call. Wait to get what the others don't want or take a chance that you might get grief over taking a bunk one of the others wanted," Shirley remarked.

"I'll take my chances," Charlie said, not caring if she stepped on any toes with her choice of bunk. Though, she did know most tended to prefer the bottom bunk if they did prefer one over the other, so Charlie took the top bunk of one of the two remaining ones.

As she put her bags in place on her bunk, she started to get her swimsuit and towel out of them. Her swimsuit was a one-piece aqua green. When she had her swimsuit in hand, she started to go where she'd seen the toilets were.

As she started to go there, Shirley called out to her, "Why not change here? I mean, we're all girls here."

"No offense, but I don't like changing around others. Even for gym I go into the toilet stalls," Charlie replied.

"Makes me wonder what you've got under there," Shirley remarked, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Wonder what you will," Charlie replied. "I'm going to do what I will."

Shirley laughed. "You're something else, short stuff."

Charlie couldn't help but wonder if she'd just been given a nickname that will define here while she's here at camp. She hoped not, but couldn't be sure. It was still too early.

After Charlie had changed into her swimsuit, she brought her clothing back to put in her bag and got her towel. As she entered, she saw Shirley in a light tan bikini with her towel in hand.

"Thought I'd join you," she said as Charlie started to leave with her towel, falling in step next to Charlie, making her stride slower to keep Charlie from falling behind.

Charlie didn't really know what to say, she didn't have any reason why Shirley couldn't join her nor did she have the authority to stop her. So, she merely nodded and didn't say anything.

The swimming pool wasn't very big as far as swimming pools went. It was at least twenty feet long and around fifteen feet wide. What appalled Charlie was the fact that it was already starting to get crowded. She had been hoping that she'd at least be able to swim a lap or two before there were too many people to do so, but now she just had to resign herself to relaxing in the water, if she could do that with how many people she could see already going to the pool, in addition to how many were already there. Some were jumping in and playing around.

"What do you plan on doing at the pool?" Shirley asked, breaking the silence that had accompanied both of them up to that point from when they started walking together.

"Just relaxing in the water, with how crowded it is," Charlie replied honestly, not seeing any reason not to. "I just wish that I'd have gotten here early enough to swim a lap or two."

Shirley laughed. "You'd have needed to have your swimsuit on before you got here if that was the case," she replied after she finished laughing, amusement clear in her voice.

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked, confused at the statement.

"If you look to the side of the group, you can see the bags of several people. Meaning that a good number of the idiots in the pool haven't even been to where they'll be staying. Some of them might not have even shown up at the orientation before coming here," Shirley answered.

Charlie looked and at various places, she saw the bags of someone who clearly had left them there while they hopped in the pool. She saw a couple girls sunbathing on towels next to bags that had to belong to them. In all, she couldn't come up with anything else to say about it.

"With that crowd, do you want to try and get in the water?" Shirley asked.

"Yeah, I'd like to still at least spend a little time in the water," Charlie replied, looking for a calmer spot in the pool where she could stay for a short period, if nothing else.

"You might have to wait a while," Shirley commented. "I know a few of these people and I have little doubt others are their friends. Which means that they're probably going to be a while. Though, if you want, you can wait here with everyone else, go to dinner with your swimsuit on, then maybe afterwards, this party might die down a little."

Charlie digested that information. "Will this be this way every night?" Charlie asked. She wasn't sure how she'd feel if that was the case.

"Doubtful. First thing, if any of them do this any time later this week, my uncle will come down on them like a nuclear missile. Meaning, people who are merely in the proximity of them, could get kicked out altogether," Shirley replied. "Then, next week, they'll have to be looking after the campers. They won't have time to do this then."

"During those times, would it be a problem if I relaxed in the pool, like I mentioned?" Charlie asked, hoping that it could be acceptable. Especially if it turned out that she wouldn't be able to this afternoon. Though, a part of her wanted to ask about who Shirley's uncle was, if he had that much influence, while a part of her started to wonder if Heathcliff was her uncle. However, she didn't want to get into that subject.

"Maybe. Depends on what reason or excuse you can come up with. If there's a camper who needs help with swimming, you might have an easier time if you can convince them to try then. Though, I can't say how much relaxation you can get in that scenario," Shirley said.

Charlie nodded absently. It looked like a group of the guys in the pool were heading away as they arrived at the pool. Charlie took this as her chance to take a dip, even if it was a short one.

Charlie laid her towel flat on the ground, roughly ten feet from the pool before walking towards the water.

"I'll keep an eye on your towel for you," Shirley called after her.

"Thanks," Charlie replied, turning enough so she could look at Shirley, before focusing on the pool again.

Rather than slowly getting herself used to the water, Charlie let herself slide into the water all at once, not jumping in like Cherie tended to do as Charlie didn't like trying to create a big splash. Once, she was in the water, Charlie dunked her head under the water for a moment, before resting her head against the side of the pool, letting the rest of her body just float. Charlie sighed, letting her eyes close as she enjoyed the feeling of the water against her, despite others still having their party in the pool, the noise and moving water preventing the sense of serenity Charlie often tried to find when relaxing in a pool.

"How're you doing so far?" a voice said right next to Charlie. Charlie opened her eyes to see who it was that was speaking by her and to whom. It didn't help her relax when she saw that it was the same teenager that had spoken to her when she first got there. It was also apparent that he was talking to her.

"Okay, just trying to relax," Charlie replied, hoping he would leave her alone. In that hope, she closed her eyes again.

"Is there anything you'd like?" he asked.

"To be left alone to just relax," Charlie answered, starting to doubt that she'd be able to relax the way she had wanted to.

Charlie felt the water ripple as she heard him sit down next to her at the edge of the pool, clearly having put his feet in the pool. "Not a very big pool, is it," he commented.

Charlie didn't respond, hoping he would get the hint.

"At least the temperature in it is nice," he continued, not seeming to be put off by Charlie's silence. "Would be nice if there was a cooler with drinks nearby."

Charlie let her body sink in the water, her relaxing peace shattered and recognizing that it wasn't going to return. Not with this guy nearby. After she had been fully immersed for a few seconds, she opened her eyes and pulled herself to the surface and started climbing out of the pool.

"I never told my name, did I?" he asked as Charlie stood up.

Charlie glanced at him and saw that he was looking up at her. Charlie was thankful that he didn't show any signs of standing up, but wasn't going to say anything about that. "No, you didn't," Charlie replied curtly as she started to walk towards where she left her towel, Shirley still near it.

"It's Nick," he called after her.

Charlie didn't show any signs that she heard him. She didn't know why, just that the feeling she got around him just made her feel like taking a shower. She tried to tell herself that he was just being weird, but couldn't help but feel like he might be looking at her as a possible conquest or something.

"I see you've met Nick," Shirley commented as Charlie approached her towel, still dripping water.

"Unfortunately," Charlie replied, as she picked up her towel.

"Don't like him much?" Shirley asked, the look in her eyes making Charlie feel like she was talking with Beth.

"I don't know. He seems like he's nice, but whenever he talks I can't help but feel like he's up to something. I can't explain why, but it just feels like listening to him talk makes me need to take a shower," Charlie replied, wrapping her towel around her body, partly from a sudden chill she felt and partly from needing to dry off, after drying her face and removing most of the water from the rest of her, including her hair.

"Let's walk back to the dorm, okay?" Shirley offered.

Charlie smiled and fell into step next to her. "Sounds good," Charlie replied. "Might take a shower anyway."

"If you don't mind, I could join you," Shirley offered.

"Umm…" Charlie wasn't sure how to put her sudden unease.

Shirley laughed. "Relax, we have individual shower stalls. It's not going to be a locker room shower," Shirley assured Charlie.

"Okay," Charlie replied, not sure if that would make it any better. Even when she was a camper, she typically waited for everyone else to finish their showers before taking hers, unless she wore her swimsuit the entire time.

"How about this, if you still feel uncomfortable with the stalls, you can wait for me to finish before you take yours, and I'll stand guard outside the showers until you're done," Shirley offered, putting a comforting arm around Charlie's shoulders.

Charlie shrugged Shirley's arm off and agreed to the offer. Probably would be the best offer that I can get in these circumstances, Charlie told herself.

_

Charlie didn't care to keep her hair in a towel, but since she knew it wouldn't be a good idea to bring her hair dryer, she preferred having the towel over her hair than just letting it dry and possibly drip into whatever she was wearing or wherever she might rest her head against.

So, she had her hair wrapped in a towel as she left the shower stall, wearing the clothes she'd been wearing before her dip in the pool. The stalls were close enough to the kind Charlie was used to at school in the locker rooms for gym class, so she didn't mind if others were in the stall next to hers, but Charlie still was uneasy in them. For one thing, she always felt worried that someone would leave their stall without anything on or be entering one as Charlie was leaving. She couldn't explain why nudity bothered her so much, especially when Cherie didn't find it as bothersome. It was another item Charlie wished she had someone she was comfortable talking about, but aside from being a subject so embarrassing as to be mortifying, Charlie wasn't sure if the subject would make her out to be more weird than she sometimes wondered if she was.

Shirley had finished her shower before Charlie and true to her word, Charlie found her standing guard at the door to the showers.

"Thanks," Charlie said, as she left.

"No problem, short stuff," Shirley replied.

Charlie groaned inwardly. It would seem like the 'short' nicknames were likely to follow her through the camp. Or at least for the first week she was there at the very least. Of course, it also might just be Shirley that calls her that, but Charlie doubted that she'd be the only one. On the other hand, she could always get a nickname that would be much, much worse.

Then, while Charlie returned to rest on the bunk she'd chosen, Shirley put away her shower stuff and left. She was about to pull out the book that Beth had been pushing her into reading, and had finally relented when the gardening book that Charlie had thought she'd been working on and thought she'd brought had disappeared. She suspected Beth had something to do with that, but without proof, there wasn't much she could do about it and given Beth, there likely wouldn't be any that Charlie would be able to find.

She settled down and had just gotten comfortable when the girl who had chosen the bunk below her stood up and turned to her. Immediately, she knew the girl was going to bother her. She had the same look in her eyes when Beth wasn't going to let her be. The girl had red-brown hair, blue eyes, freckles that seemed to disappear depending on the angle of the light, and stood around six inches higher than Charlie.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Emily," she said, not seeming to be aware of the book that Charlie had just opened in front of her.

"I'm Charlie," Charlie replied politely, hoping that Emily would let it go at that. After all, she rarely had any luck with merely ignoring others whom she wished would just leave her alone.

"How old are you? I'm fifteen. I'll be sixteen in November," Emily continued, leaning against the bunk and resting her chin on her hands.

"Fourteen," Charlie said, wanting this conversation to end, but doubting she'd be that lucky.

"How'd you get to be a junior counselor being so young?" Emily asked, her enthusiasm in the conversation letting Charlie know she wasn't likely to go anywhere on her own any time soon.

"Not sure, I was merely asked, and I have my own reasons why I accepted," Charlie replied, hoping giving a disinterested tone would dampen Emily's energy and get her to bother someone else. Anyone else.

"How do you know Heathcliff?" she asked, either immune to Charlie's lack of interest or not even noticing it. Charlie assumed that 'being asked' meant that she knew Heathcliff to this girl, and she could accept that logic, but that didn't help her enjoy the whole situation any more.

"My dad's company is bidding on a security contract with Heathcliff's," Charlie answered, accepting the girl probably wasn't going to let her be, no matter what Charlie tried. "I met Heathcliff at a business dinner."

"Oooh, you're lucky," Emily gushed. "I haven't met Heathcliff like that before."

Charlie was getting a little weirded out. It almost felt like everyone here had some sort of connection to Heathcliff, not that it was all that surprising given Heathcliff had started the camp, but it almost seemed like everyone saw him almost like one of the 'cool kids' for lack of a better term. Charlie had a feeling something else was going on here than just the camp.

"I guess," Charlie returned, hoping this might be the end.

It wasn't. "He must think highly of you to have chosen you as young as you are," Emily said.

Charlie closed the book. She certainly wasn't going to get any reading done with Emily as she was, so she might as well see if there was anything that she might learn from Emily. "I can't say," Charlie replied, sitting up on her bunk. "I only met him that one time before today."

"You have to tell me about that," Emily demanded. "You must have done something that caught his interest."

That last sentence gave Charlie pause. Was there something that she'd done that piqued Heathcliff's interest? "Can't say what," Charlie replied, shelving the thought away for later. "I had dinner, went to the restroom, and when I got back I was so worn out that I don't even remember leaving that night."

Charlie felt a small amount of satisfaction with how crestfallen Emily looked, given how much she would like Emily to leave her alone for the moment. "That's all?" Emily whined before perking up right after, much to Charlie's annoyance. "How about you tell me what you do remember? Maybe there was something else that he liked about you that you might not realize caught his interest."

I doubt it, Charlie said to herself. "I guess," Charlie said, putting the book away. Maybe she could work on reading it later.

Charlie climbed down from her bunk and as she reached the bottom, she suddenly felt weird. It was almost as if everything was muted, even though she could hear and see just fine still, more like her mind was suddenly moving slowly.

She walked with Emily and didn't notice where they were going. Charlie was vaguely aware of telling Emily what had happened on the night of the business dinner when she first met Heathcliff, but even though she felt she should tell Emily about the Heart of the Forest, she didn't have any trouble avoiding it, like she had planned on if it ever came up.

Charlie wasn't sure how long she talked with Emily, but was vaguely aware of them standing in a dry shower stall when Shirley yelled at Emily. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" she yelled, startling Charlie back into full alertness.

Emily was standing before Charlie wearing only her underwear, her hands behind her, looking like she was unfastening her bra. She merely sighed in annoyance when Shirley yelled. She put her hands on her hips as she turned to face Shirley, her bra still securely on. "What's the problem? I'm not doing anything wrong," Emily replied, her annoyance clear in her voice.

Charlie was busy taking stock of her situation, realizing she herself was in her underwear, her clothing in a pile on the floor next to her and the towel still around her hair. She couldn't figure out why she'd be in her underwear around another person, especially since it was too revealing for Charlie's tastes. However, she couldn't find the strength to move just yet. It felt like she needed to do something else first, but couldn't think what it was. Almost like she was waiting for something else to happen first.

"You know what my uncle told all of us about doing what you were doing," Shirley replied, anger resounding through her voice.

"He never said not to have any fun," Emily retorted.

Shirley glared at Emily. "You know what you were doing and what I'm talking about," she stated flatly. "You know I'm going to have to report this."

"Go ahead," Emily shot back. "It's not like Charlie will be able to tell him anything, so it'll be your word against mine."

"You're really not aware of the big picture here," Shirley commented. "Besides, you should be aware of what my uncle is trying to do and what your attempt today would do to that if you slipped up in any way."

"So, if it didn't affect Charlie in a negative way, it wouldn't matter?" Emily replied, the smugness in her voice telling Charlie what she thought of the whole situation.

Shirley glance at Charlie as she hesitated making her next statement, which made Charlie confused. Why would Shirley care what Charlie heard herself? Was there something going on that she didn't know about?

"Let's take this outside," Shirley replied. "We will need to take this talk to my uncle eventually, but until then we need to discuss a few matters that you apparently don't know yet."

"Fine," Emily said, reaching down and picking up her own clothing. "But I'm sure he'll let you know you're overreacting."

Charlie just watched them leave, still unable to move or remember what she should be doing, which she still felt she had to do before anything else and couldn't figure out what it was.

Emily left first, and Shirley turned to Charlie before leaving. "Oh, Charlie, you should get dressed. Everyone will be having dinner in about five minutes."

After a full minute after they left, Charlie felt her arms move behind her without her telling them to and her hands unhook her bra and letting it fall to the ground. As soon as she heard the fabric land on the floor, she fully became in control of herself. She quickly picked her bra up and put it back on.

Then as she started to get dressed, she couldn't help but wonder why she felt she needed to do that. Never had she done anything like that before. She was getting the feeling that she might need to use her magic to listen to the thoughts of others in order to find out what exactly was happening or she might find herself in situations like this or worse later on. That listening to the thoughts of others here should be part of her first line of self-defense. It gave her chills to consider just how dangerous this place could be.

She also had the feeling that if Shirley hadn't interrupted them, Emily might have done more than end up alone with Charlie in the showers with both of them in just their underwear. While part of Charlie told her that she should feel violated, she couldn't help but not care and as she started to leave the showers after finishing getting dressed, she also realized that she hadn't felt anything about being in her underwear in front of a girl she'd just met. The more Charlie thought about it, the more she realized this camp might be more dangerous than she originally thought. She already had thought there would be some danger, but certainly not from just anyone.

She'd need to watch her step and be more careful. While at the same time, doing what she could to learn what was going on so she could prepare herself for anything that was happening around her.

Charlie's eyes snapped open. She could see the early morning light starting to shine through the windows. She rarely woke up this early, even when she'd been at camp in the past. However, she knew exactly what had woken her up. It was a dream that just increased the level of weirdness in the camp for Charlie.

The dream was that she first found herself in Nick's dream where he was dreaming of doing her, then when she woke from that, she went to a sink by the toilet stalls to look in the mirror where she encountered Shirley. They soon started making out and when Charlie realized their clothing was fading away, did she wake up. While she wouldn't mind making out with Shirley, she didn't expect Shirley to be interested in someone so much younger than her. That's also aside from Charlie not being comfortable with the idea of not having any clothing on around others. She'd endure it if she didn't have any choice in the matter, but she certainly wouldn't be happy about it.

The prior night, she tested the waters on looking into the thoughts of others, mostly Emily, Shirley, and Nick. She didn't get much from Nick, but Shirley's thoughts made it clear that she was supposed to guard her. From what, she couldn't say. Emily, however, was almost a gold mine of information. Emily's thoughts let her know that she had used magic to put a sort of enchantment on her. She also had in mind to try again, but was wary of Shirley.

Charlie was aware Emily and Shirley would be talking with Heathcliff about what had happened with Emily enchanting Charlie in the showers. Charlie wasn't really sure exactly what would happen, but was aware Emily wasn't worried about what would happen. It was also clear that both Shirley and Emily were aware of something that was coming up. What that 'something' was, Charlie couldn't say, but had the feeling that Charlie herself was part of it, based on the focus Shirley's and Emily's thoughts focused on Charlie when they thought about the 'something.'

Even though the crystal had advised Charlie against communicating with it while she was at camp, Charlie conversed with it about what she'd learned, as she felt she needed some advise on how to proceed with this new information. The crystal accepted the reasons Charlie had for communicating with it and told Charlie that she might have more success if she bided her time and act like she hadn't noticed anything, but at the same time, be ready to use her magic to put up a shield against anything that may occur. Plus, if she feels weird in any way, to pull on her magic and raise her defenses, just in case magic is being used on her. It wouldn't be a sure defense, but it might be all she would have.

Charlie climbed out of her bunk and started to make her way to the toilets, when she passed close to a window and heard Shirley talking to someone. Her tone made Charlie stop and listen intently.

"…try. You know what you're supposed to be doing, but from what I see, all you're doing is making her feel like you're probably trying to get in her pants than anything else. Use a lighter touch and you might make more progress," Shirley said.

Charlie hears whoever Shirley was talking to snort in laughter. "You don't know the game I'm playing," the response came and Charlie immediately recognized Nick's voice. "I'll have her eating out of the palm of my hand soon. I know girls and women. Charlie Rivers isn't any different."

Charlie felt a cold sensation crawl up her back. There was clearly something going on with her in the center of it. What it was, she couldn't say yet, and even using her magic she couldn't read in their thoughts what the plot might be.

Shirley laughed. "Not all girls or women are the same. I get the feeling that Charlie is as different from me as she is from Emily."

"Emily is just a slut who will go after anyone who she thinks is vulnerable. If I wanted her, she'd be easy to get," Nick replied.

"You just tell yourself that," Shirley said. "I don't think you realize how much of a creep Charlie thinks you are, with the few encounters she's had with you."

"She doesn't think that," Nick protested. "I'm growing on her. She'll soon see what kind of guy I am. Charlie is a girl who's just like any other: insecure and open to attention from someone older who will boost their social status."

"Whatever you do, you better not do anything that ruins what you're supposed to be doing. I mean, what little she said to me about let me know she's suspicious of you. She doesn't know what you're about, but that you're up to something," Shirley returned. "You know what Heathcliff will do if you fail in this, right?"

Nick laughed. "Even if she said that, I know for a fact that she didn't mean it like that," he said.

Charlie moved on before she heard more. Partly because their voices were fading, indicating they were walking farther away and partly because she didn't want to hear more. The little she did hear made her feel like she needed to shower again as well as more than a little nauseated. However, she did at least get some useful information. Heathcliff clearly was involved in whatever Nick was up to. She just needed to figure out if she should confront him or pretend like she didn't know anything was going on. She wondered if she should confront Heathcliff directly in his office. In essence, lay all her cards on the table, or at least most of them.

She had a feeling that the reason she'd accepted to be a junior counselor at this camp was what everything here was revolving around. The Heart of the Forest.