I'm ever so sorry that this chapter took so long, I haven't been doing great mentally and I've had so much work with school and my own projects, so I've been putting it off, despite knowing that my kneecaps are on the line.

Now, with all that out of the way, enjoy chapter 19

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Burr shook John awake as they came to the stop and the Petalbasket woke up with a start.

"Jesus, did you just not sleep?" John asked, looking at Burr's eyes which had bags under them.

"I did. A little bit." He shrugged. "Everyone else was asleep so I needed to make sure we didn't miss the stop."

John cursed his stupidity and sat up, grabbing his bag and stretching his legs.

"Are the others up?" John asked, and Burr waved at the seats across from them.

Thomas, James and Herc were snoring on their chairs.

"So no, they are not up." John nodded, then grabbed Thomas by the shoulders and shook him awake violently Thomas groaned and swatted John away, standing up sleepily. James woke up easily once his heat source had moved, but Herc groaned and refused to wake up with John's shaking. Thomas shoved John aside then grabbed Herc and stood him up. He fell straight back down onto the ground and his eyes flew open.

"Whyyy?" Herc whined, sitting up on the ground.

"We needed you awake." Burr said. "It's our stop."

They collected their bags and hopped off the train just as the doors were closing.

"Ok." Thomas sat down on the bench by the train stop. "Where to now?"

"The camp." Burr replied unhelpfully.

"Yeah, but where is that?"

"We don't know."

"Well actually..." John pulled out a map from his bag. "You didn't think I was going to let you come with me but not know where we're going."

His friends smiled and John spread out the map. "Ok, I've figured out where the camp is, based on what I've picked up."

"Clever little Johnny." Tom patted his head and John chuckled, before shoving his friend away.

James grabbed the map and readjusted his bag over his shoulder. "Let's go."

The others nodded and they set out away from the station and into the wild (hehe) forest that surrounded it. The small group walked for what seemed to be an hour, but was probably more around 30 minutes. The soft chirping of crickets and the rustle of wind in the branches almost drowned out the crunching of their feet on the leaves and soil and their soft, regular breathing. Occasionally one of them would say something but conversations were never pursued and the silence went unbroken.

They were all tired but too tense with anticipation to do anything sleep-related. Burr let out an exclamation and was shushed by the others, until they saw what he did: a camp.

It was barely visible through the trees but they could see the unmistakable army tents and buildings.

James pressed a finger to his lips and the others nodded, walking through the woods quietly like a pack of wolves.

They retreated further into the forest and huddled together between the trees.

"So. What's our plan?" Thomas asked.

"Please tell me I'm not the only one who noticed the funny-looking building in the back." Burr commented.

"Nope I definitely saw that." John nodded. "Anyone got any guesses as to what it could be?"

"Nope." James shook his head.

"Absolutely none." Herc shrugged.

"We could go get a closer look." Thomas offered.

"It seemed like it was at the very back of the camp, we could go around back and peek inside?" Burr proposed.

"Let's give it a shot." Thomas shrugged.

"We can't all go, we'll cause too much of a scene." James pointed out. "Let's think strategically. I'm a Woodheart and I can feel some alders in this forest, so I'll go."

"I'm a Leafblood and there's definitely holly around." Herc offered.

"True, but you're also prone to race into action, which we do not need right now." James continued. "Sorry. Burr, we're going to need you, you're the best with a gun. Thomas, come with us. You're thick but it'll great to have a Petalbasket with us, just in case something goes wrong." Thomas feigned offense but nodded.

"What about me?" John questioned, feeling like he already knew what James was going to say.

"The building probably has something to do with the shrooms, and you're... sensitive about them. Herc can keep you company." James gave him an apologetic look but took Tom and Burr's hands and dragged them away through the trees before anyone could protest.

Herc sat John down, but the Petalbasket wasn't paying attention. The building probably did have something to do with the shrooms. It certainly hadn't been at the old camp and none of the others recognized it as anything.

What if Alex is in there? Oh god what if he's in there? Is he ok? What if he isn't? Could I sneak off? Herc wouldn't let me. Could I convince him to come with me? Probably not. I should wait for the others to get back. But what if they don't? I need to go. I need to go get Alex. Is he ok? No. No he's not, he can't be. I need to go I need to go. Where do I go? How do I get away? Could I run? There's marigold a little ways up, I could hide there. No it'd sap too much strength. What do I do? How do I leave? I need to--

"John." Herc said sharply. "Snap out of it. You're not going anywhere, they'll be back in no time. Ok?"

John blinked, drawing himself from his thoughts. He stared blankly at his friend and nodded.

"It's ok. You're worried about your shroom, aren't you?"

John nodded, feeling his eyes start to sting with tears, not actually concentrated on the faerie in front of him. Herc pulled him into a hug.

John sprung up expectantly when they heard the sound of footsteps and muffled voices that were undeniably their friends'.

Burr pushed into the clearing first, James and Thomas at his heels.

"We found them." Tom said after a pause. "It didn't look too good but we found the shrooms. We found them, John. Finally."