***

A million thoughts circled around in Alex's head. The others had been behind them the whole time... So where were they? There was no way that they could get separated that easily. It would take more than a little distance between them for them to get split up. The nervousness started to build up in her chest as she looked around wildly for any sign of the others. Her looking came to a stop when the ground beneath them felt like it just disappeared.

"Huh?!" Ray questioned with surprise.

Emma and Ray both grabbed the kids closest to them which meant Ray was holding onto Thoma while Emma was holding onto Chris. The wind that Alex felt from falling blew her hair into all sorts of directions which made it hard to see anything. She would definitely have to start carrying around a hairbow with her or something. The girl finally landed with a groan as she hit the ground. The only thing that she could see was darkness.

"Are we dead? Is this the afterlife?" Alex found herself asking. She blinked multiple times, hoping that her eyes would adjust to the darkness around her. She could just barely make out two figures near her. The two figures were Christie and Emma.

"No, we aren't dead," Emma told her. She then moved her gaze to Chris, "Chris, are you okay?" The response from Chris was a simple, 'Yeah!' Alex pouted a little at the fact that she wasn't being checked up on as well. The fall really did hurt. She was probably going to be hurting for a while. Emma started scanning the darkness, "Ray! Thoma! Where are you? Are you okay?"

A sudden yell made Alex jump, "A bug!"

"I don't even have to be told who that was, I already know it's Thoma." Alex knew it from the instance he spoke. Thoma was always freaked out by bugs for whatever reason. He hated them so it was obvious that he would be the one yelling about seeing one.

Another shout was heard in the same direction Thoma's voice was heard in, "You hear that? We're fine!" Alex could hear Emma let out a sigh of relief. Alex was also very grateful that nothing bad happened to either of them. After some seconds had passed, their eyes were finally adjusted to the dark. They were able to see a lot more than before.

Alex looked over to the side to see Ray and Thoma a foot or two away from them. She let out a small laugh, "Emma was over here shouting and you guys were literally inches away from us," No wonder their yells were so loud. They were a lot closer than they had thought they were. Alex started studying the area around them, "It's brighter in here, but it's still kind of hard to see."

"Are we..," Emma hesitated, "Underground?"

"We did fall through what we thought was the ground so..." Alex trailed off.

"Yeah, most likely," Ray replied. Maybe that part of the ground had been weak so it gave up because of the weight. If that was the case then wouldn't there be loose dirt and other stuff lying around them as well? There was absolutely nothing. It was strange, but Alex tried to push this thought into the back of her mind when she remembered the previous situation.

"Could it be that everyone else is also down here?" Emma seemed to be thinking the same thing that Alex was.

"Probably. Maybe they fell through like we did." Alex's answer sounded so sure though she wasn't actually. She hadn't seen any holes when they were above ground. If they had fallen through then there would be a hole that they would have most likely fallen through.

"Let's search," Ray stated.

Not even a second later, a light could be seen in the distance. The first one to notice this was Christie. He called out Emma's name to get the girl's attention. Emma looked over with Alex following suit. Chris was pointing toward the light source that seemed to get closer and closer. There were shouts coming from the direction of the light that was also calling out to Emma. They had to be-

"Gilda!" Emma called out.

Alex waved at them with a big smile, "Hey, guys! We're here!" She wasn't sure if they could see her waving. She still decided to do it in case they could. It would make it easier for them to spot them if they were moving. Their eyes would be drawn to the movements that they would make. If they were completely still then they would have a harder time.

"It's Emma and Alex!" Alex heard who she assumed was Gilda shout. "Emma! Alex!"

The two groups had all met in the middle. The younger kids that were with Don and Gilda came running over to them. They hugged both Emma and Alex tightly. "None of you are hurt, right?" Alex inquired. The kids shook their heads. Alex pulled away and started to look around. There were strange insects and plants in this place. They were even weirder than the stuff that they saw above ground.

"Thank god you're all okay!" Emma smiled.

"Look, Emma!" Christie was, once again, pointing at something that a few feet away from them. In a low tone, Alex could hear Ray asking what this place even was. No one answered his question since they probably couldn't hear it. Chris continued to point out what he was referring to before, "Look at these roots!"

"It's like a cave with walls made out of roots!" Anna exclaimed.

Rossi chimed in with, "It's like we're in the ocean or something!"

"More like something out of a fairy tale," Alex muttered. Even though everything was strange-looking, it still looked really beautiful. The girl looks around with awe in her features. It really did feel like she was walking through a fantasy story. There was a pang of sadness that hit her. Alex shook her head and tried to ignore the sadness she felt. She heard laughing coming from her left side. Alex shifted her gaze to the sound and she tried to keep her own laugh in. Thoma was still trying to fight off the bugs that were coming near him while Lani laughed at him. She walked over and smiled at him, "You know that they probably won't bother you if you don't bother them, right?"

"They might kill me!" Thoma's response made her laugh even more.

Emma turned to Gilda, holding up her index finger, "Let's focus on just getting out of here for now," Emma reached up toward a root that hung from above them. As soon as she pulled it, the root broke. Emma had a disappointed expression on her face, "No good... All the roots here are too weak to climb!"

"I'm surprised you didn't figure that out sooner, Emma," Alex commented, "You really didn't need to pull it to know that it wasn't going to support a human's weight," A glare was shot at her by the said-girl. Ales held her hands up in surrender, "Hey, just saying." It looked pretty weak whenever she saw it so she doubted that it would be able to hold their weight.

"It looks like it'll be too difficult to find our way back outside from here." Gilda stared at the root that Emma had pulled from the ceiling.

Don started to run away from the others and down the path ahead of them, "Let's look for a different exit for now!" Everyone else decided to follow him as well. The looks on their faces were something really funny and adorable to see. They were just so shocked and amazed at everything they were seeing.

"They look like they're having so much fun!" Gilda giggled, "They've all forgotten the fact that they're tired. It's a lot warmer in here than above ground... And maybe this was for the better after all, since we'll be hidden from our enemies as well!"

"No..," Ray was quick to cut in. The girls all turned their heads to look at him. He had an expression that clearly said he was on edge, "I really think we should get out of here as soon as possible."

"Ray..." Emma trailed off.

Alex narrowed her eyes in confusion, "What do you mean?"

The boy studied every inch of the area we were in. It was very obvious that Ray was not buying how good this path was, "We have no idea what's waiting for us at the end of this path... We have nowhere to run if we're attacked by anybody or anything... And also... This forest is weird. This underground too... Why... Is there such an opening in here?"

The path ended when they came upon a circular part of the cave. There was a bunch of roots in the middle that went all the way up to the top of the cave. It looked like a tree at first glance. Around the bottom of the 'tree', there were beautiful flowers that glowed. The kids voiced their astonishment at the room.

Two of the kids, Alicia and Jemima, walked over to the flowers at the bottom of the 'tree'. Alicia stared at them with wide eyes, "So pretty! They're glowing!"

"Smells so good, too." Jemima leaned forward to sniff them.

"Be cautious, okay?" Alex advised. "The plants here could possibly be poisonous."

Don made his way into the middle of the room where the roots were. He placed a hand on them and looked up as far as it went. Nat stood by his side with narrowed eyes, "So this is the dead end, huh..."

"Yeah, it doesn't seem like this tunnel helped us out much," Alex replied. Sure, it was pretty and it gave them a breath of fresh air from the gloomy world outside, but it didn't do much to help them. Alex was hoping that the tunnel would lead them out to another part of the forest. They wouldn't have been seen by any of the demons like the ones before or the demons from the house if they used the tunnel.

"Hey," Don turned to them with a grin, "t looks like we'll be able to climb from here! I'll go first, to check it out!" Gilda let out a breath of relief. Alex couldn't blame her either. She did not want to be the one to climb up it and then possibly fall.

"We'll leave it to you!" Emma smiled. Before Don could climb up it, there was a sudden scream. It was Nat. Everyone turned their attention to him with worried looks. "What's the matter, Nat?!" Emma asked.

Nat was now sitting on the ground. He had a panicked expression as he stared up at something. He pointed to whatever he was looking at, "Uh... Look... Up there!!"

Slowly and with much hesitation, Alex looked up at what he was referring to. Her eyes widened whenever she saw what was there. There were carcasses of what looked to be horses. Her expressions turned into one of digust. She covered her mouth, "Oh, my God."

"So that's how it is..," Ray's eyes were wide as well, "Emma, Alex, we're in big trouble. This place... This forest is..."

"You don't mean that it's..." Alex's head whipped around to where Alicia and Jemima were.

Thankfully, Emma was quick to act. Emma ran over to where the girls were, "Alicia, Jemima! Run!" Roots were coming up from behind the girls. Alicia and Jemima questioned Emma and she grabbed the two of them before they could get attacked. Emma let go of them and they started running to the others.

"Look..," Lani started. He was pointing at the entrance. Whenever Alex looked, she could see that the previous entrance was blocked off by the very same roots that were everywhere else. "The entrance we came from is gone!" The roots backed them up into the center of the room.

"Looks like the roots really don't want us to leave," Alex commented.

"No way..," Ray trailed off, "We've been surrounded! When did these roots block our route?!"

Most likely when they were distracted by the flowers and the dead animals hanging from the ceiling. They were definitely quiet when they moved, that's for sure. Gilda held some of the kids and a few hid their faces in her stomach. Nat was looking with horror while shivering, "What the hell..."

"This is most likely where this tree feeds," Ray explained, "The trees around here live off the nutrients of live animals," Alex could hear someone shout, 'Live animals?!' loudly. She was too busy silently freaking out to figure out who it was. Ray went on with his explanation, "It dropped us in here and lured us to its feeding ground. That's why there was such a huge hole... And why there was only one path. That's why..."

"In other words, we've all fallen for its trap!" Anna finished. Who knew that plants were actually this intelligent. Most regular plants probably weren't, but these roots definitely were. How else would they have tricked them so easily?

The older kids were making everyone huddle up together near the middle of the room. Ray was shouting, "Everyone, get close together! Whatever you do, don't stray!" Don and Ray stood back to back as they surveyed the area.

"What should we do?! Burn the tree?!" Don inquired.

"No, that's too dangerous!" Ray exclaimed, "We'd probably die before the fire kills the tree!"

"We don't need to be getting burnt alive today... Or ever." Alex said. They had just escaped, why would they ruin that by accidentally burning themselves alive? It would not be any fun at all... Obviously.

"And the smoke... Might lead the enemy right towards us?!" Gilda added.

"Then what should we even..." Nat's voice faded out as he was once again focusing on how much danger they were in.

Anna turned to look at Emma, "Emma, what should we do?!" Emma didn't say anything. This made Anna turn to Alex for an answer, "Alex, anything?!"

God, what were they going to do? Alex had absolutely no idea. Suddenly, a realization hit the girl. She froze and her eyes widened, "Wait a minute... This is a little familiar for some reason," It feels like she had seen this from somewhere. She could hear Anna call out her name, but was too focused on trying to pinpoint where this happened before. Alex snapped her fingers when she finally figured it out, "That's right! It's in the book that I read!"

"Huh?" Anna inquired.

"Guys, I know what this is!" Alex looked at Ray and Emma. They were giving her looks that clearly said to spit it out already. "It's 'the Snake of...' Uh, what was it again?!" Great! The time she really shouldn't be blanking on something like this and yet here she was! Forgetting everything that was important!

"Say what?!" Ray asked.

Alex sighed. She took off her backpack and started looking for the book that was in it, "Let me find the book real quick," She felt a book and she checked the title of it. That wasn't it. It was the other one in here. She finally found it so she pulled it out with a grin, "These books have been our guide this whole time! I was a little skeptical before, but this just confirms it. This is William Minerva's adventure book!"