Greg says hey

—~•~—

John woke up  a little past midnight, petals swallowing his face and laboring his breaths. He sat up and looked down at his handiwork.

The idea was Burr's but the execution was his. A flower alarm. It's function depended upon so many things that could so easily fail, yet somehow the things didn't and he was awake.

Filled with pride John kicked off the blankets and crept out of the tent, eyes failing to adjust immediately to the darkness the night presented.

He waited right outside the tent for a moment, letting his eyes get used to the dark, then crept quietly over to James and Thomas's tent.

James was already awake and waiting outside, an alder sprout growing between his hands.

"Did you sleep?" John whispered, noticing the dark rings under James's eyes.

"Nah, pretended to until everyone else was them came out here and focused on growing and ungrowing a tree." James responded, voice equally hushed.

"Well, as passioning as that sounds, we have an escape to set in motion."

James sprang up, squashing the sapling under his foot to erase evidence of his nighttime tree-growing. "Let's go."

The two faeries made their way silently across the camp, eyes and ears honed keenly on any possible sound, in case it was a guard.

They made it to the shroom's building undetected.

"Are you positive this is alder?" John whispered, hand on the door.

"Dude, yes." James pressed a hand the door and after a painfully long amount of seconds the lock made a quiet clanking noise before breaking open. The door swung inwards and the faeries crept in, closing to door behind them.

"Whoever built this hellhole of a prison was clever." James commented, a little louder dure to the fact that they were inside. "I mean, if we were to try to break in and not have the help of your very useful shroom buddy we'd need 17 Woodhearts all with different trees."

"Yeah. The thing whoever said faerie was didn't account for is us having the help of my useful shroom buddy. She has a name, by the way."

"Right. Catherine?"

"Indeed."

James nodded and they walked in silence down the hall to the first door.

"We're gonna have to break this lock." James said after looking at it for a little while. "I hope you're in shape for it."

John nodded and crouched in front of the lock, hands pressed to the keyhole. He stretched his mind for marigolds and located a fee just on the edge of the forest, which he may or may not have put there. He found a seed and channeled it through the ground up to the lock, aging the plant as he did so. Needles to say, John had gotten pretty good at his art. He pressed the plant to the lock, willing the stem to go in and unlock the door. After a minute of focusing, John heard a satisfying click and the door opened, a marigold falling to the ground, stem twisted and broken. John tucked the flower in his hair and turned to James, proud smile on his face.

"Whoa." The Woodheart breathed. "That was super impressive." John pursed his lips, a beaming grin creeping around the edges of his mouth. (A habit of mine: I can't just smile when I feel truly complimented, it just feels weird. Is this just a human trait or is it only me?)

John led the way down the hall, knowing the path to Alex's room like the back of his hand.

"I'm about to meet your boyfriend for the first time." James commented.

John rolled his eyes at James and knocked on the door, four quick taps.

They waited for maybe two full minutes, during which both faeries started worrying, until the door opened, Cathy leaning in the wall beside it. Every part of her screamed worn out but she smiled at John and James.

Alex and Laf were standing right beside Cathy, the Frenchman supporting her when she slipped.

"Jacky!" Alex exclaimed, wrapping John in a hug. The tall Petalbasket hugged him back immediately, taking a step back so as not to fall to the floor. Alex pressed a quick kiss to John's lips before stepping back, John's hands still on his waist. "I swear we all thought you weren't gonna show up every second that passed. There's no clock in there."

"There was no way I wasn't showing up." John smiled. "Now, on the subject of escaping?"

"Yes! Right. We told everyone. Don't waste any effort on rooms 3, 5, 8, 11 or 13, they're either empty or full of nearly dead shrooms who decided they'd rather die at the hands of their captors then even attempt to escape." Alex shifted into a serious, battle-ready faerie, body tending up and brows furrowing. He noticed James and nodded. "Hey. James, right?"

James nodded, shooting John a look of slight intimidation. The Petalbasket shrugged ever so slightly.

"Yo Cath can you explain what's up with your mushroom powers?" John asked before they walked to the next door.

"Mushrooms are basically tree's messengers and protectors. I landed with a mushroom that's particularly good at its job and I can influence trees if I try really hard."

"I could just have broken the lock open." John commented. "You really exhausted yourself."

"Yeah well if we fail and they notice that the doors have been opened we don't want them thinking it was all you." Laf explained.

"We're not going to fail." Alex said firmly. "And if we do we'll be dead before they can accuse anyone of anything."

"Real cheerful Lex." John mumbled, taking Ahis boyfriend's hand in his own and squeezing it lightly.

"It's my job." Alex slowed so he was beside John. "Now work your flower magic and bust some unrightfully imprisoned faeries out."