Maddox's oversized boots crunched against the gravel as he followed Robin down the forest path. From time to time, they would pass a strange collection of plants, some of which he recognized from Anna's cooking. Brown and green spicea weed coated the ground, stretching over the gravel and attempting to take over the entire forest. It wound up the trees, coated bushes full of bright red mayberries, and hung from the arms of pitch black pomegranate trees.

His eyes were completely drawn to their branches as they hiked past hundreds of the plants, each one looking like it was drenched in black paint. Robin had called them Greek pomegranates with pearly, obsidian shaded spheres hanging from their branches. He wanted to reach up and try one, but something held him back, an irrational fear that touching the bark would let the infinite darkness seep beneath his skin and feed off his lies. Even though he knew the idea was silly, he turned away, following Robin to the bank of a small stream.

"So, What are we doing here?" He asked as he crouched next to her, watching Robin fill a small vial with the water.

"Just blowing off steam." She noted calmly as she held the little vial up to the light, criticizing it with her eyes. "This place is full of wonderful secrets."

"Then what's with the water?" Maddox dipped his fingers in the pool, the cold sending needles up his arm.

"Suttungr springs." She grinned, finally satisfied with the few drops she had stolen. Tucking it in her pocket, she stood up and gestured for him to do the same. "It makes you smarter, or at least for a bit. I've just got a test tomorrow, that's all."

"And this is all...legal?" He asked, remembering how they first met. The patrolman at the gate had given Robin an odd look as they went inside, but he couldn't shake the memory of her being arrested for just that.

Robin shrugged her shoulders as they went back to the trail. "As long as we stay in the right places and let the patrolmen know what we took, we can take whatever we want."

"And you just didn't tell Gray what you took from the forest?"

Robin stifled a laugh, making Maddox feel silly in her presence. She had such a comfortable pride in her decisions, never looking back and never regretting a choice she made until Maddox's guilty mind was torn up. Every decision he ever made tore him apart and added to a messy web of lies. In fact, her comfort in her own skin was terrifying to him. With eyes that saw straight through his fragile lies, Robin was a goddess and Maddox was a magician who couldn't even remember what part of his deception was real.

"That, and I went too deep." Her pride seemed to radiate onto Maddox, turning his lies into a boiling stew. "The forest can get really dangerous in some places, so the patrolmen created this system. They located the most dangerous parts and set up light barriers to keep kids out."

"But when you get older," she paused, grinning with a mischievous excitement. "The barriers are easier to pass through. I've learned a couple tricks in the past few years."

Maddox felt his mouth grow dry, unsure why this was such a past time for her. A stray jackalope had startled him enough on the way in, but an even darker, more deadly part of the forest...he didn't understand the appeal.

"But don't worry," Robin reassured, her perfect lips bending into a grin. "I won't let us get in trouble."

Maddox nodded, forcing a grin as the inky dark trees became thicker around them. But as the silence grew, so did the fire burning in his veins.