In which Jame and Monique speak with mushrooms, lose a shoe, and meet Oaf.

Thunder led them deeper and deeper into the woods. The path became so overgrown in spots that they had to push their way through waist-high ivy, ferns, and the occasional scarp of brambles that pulled and tore at their clothes and skin. The whole time they trudged, the fairies waited patiently, their wings beating the air like tiny propellers. Just when James and Monique had convinced themselves that they had made a grave mistake by coming into the woods, the dense trees bordering the path opened to a vast clearing.

Encircled by massive oak trees, the clearing played host to a wide variety of mushrooms. They grew so thick that it would be impossible to step into the clearing without crushing them underfoot. There were tiny brown mushrooms, large red-capped mushrooms, vibrant orange cup mushrooms, strange slimy yellow mushrooms, and bioluminescent mushrooms that glowed blue and green. From the safety of the path, Monique and James marveled at the clearing.

James took a tentative step forward to better see a patch of the glowing green mushrooms at the edge of the clearing. As his foot came down, his shoe hit a soft bit of earth. James slipped for a half-second before coming to a sudden stop. James stiffened and tried pulling his shoe free of the sticky substance but had no luck.

"What the?" he murmured as he yanked his foot upward, but the substance held his foot fast. On the third try, his shoe came free from his foot. James reeled backward, and Monique caught him as he hopped, trying to catch himself, the bat swinging wildly.

James sighed with relief. "Thanks, Monique," he said. His stocking foot held protectively above the forest's floor.

"Is that mud?" Monique asked, releasing Jame's shoulders.

"I think so," James said. He crouched, using the bat for support, keeping his sock from touching the ground, and reached for his shoe. Before his fingers could grasp it, the shoe began to sink.

"Don't touch it!" Thunder yelled. He flew and hovered between James and his sinking shoe.

"It's just mud," James explained. "It can't hurt us." He started to reach around Thunder, but the small fairy grabbed Jame's thumb and bit down. Startled, James shook his hand, trying to dispel the Thunder, but the fairy held tight.

"James, look," Monique said, pointing at the shoe. James stopped shaking his hand, and Thunder released the boy's thumb. Together, they watched as the white tennis shoe disappeared beneath the surface of the strange mud.

"I've never seen mud do that. Sure, I mean, it's pulled off my shoes before, and dad's car got stuck in it once, but I've never seen anything sink." James stared at where his shoe had been moments before. The mud's surface was smooth and seemingly untouched.

"James, can I please have the flashlight?" Monique held out her hand.

He reached into his jacket pocket and handed over the plastic flashlight.

Monique pressed the soft button, and the light clicked to life. A collective sound of excitement rippled through the fairies along the forest path. She swept the beam of light in a wide arch starting from where the mud had swallowed James's shoe. The flashlight revealed a band of glistening earth surrounding the clearing. Monique frowned. The mud's edges were smooth and regular as if it had been sculpted with a purpose. "Did someone put this here?" she asked.

Thunder shook his head. "It appeared right after the singer disappeared. Patches are all around the woods."

"Do you think it took the singers like it took my shoe, or do you think it's here because the singers aren't?" James said.

"What do you mean?" Monique asked. She grabbed a rock from the path and tossed it at the mud. It hit with a wet smack and disappeared beneath the surface in seconds. "Woah," she breathed.

"Well," James began, "the mud is dangerous. That's obvious. So, I think that either the singers kept it away or that it took them." His worried eyes found Monique's.

"I think it's a bit of both. Whatever this mud is, it's not natural. It reeks of magic. The Folk of the Woods understands mud. It has many uses to us, from building to art to medicine. But all that has changed. Any of the Folk who stumble into it are lost. Many have become trapped in their home because of it."

"That's awful," Monique said. She moved the flashlight's beam around the clearing and gasped.

James followed her wide-eyed gaze. Dozens of glowing eyes stared at them from the clearing.

In the flashlight's beam, Monique and James saw that the mushroom carpet had transformed. Where once the fungi sat rooted in place, tens of miniature people stood dressed in earthy tones, some glowing. The mushroom caps pushed back on their heads, revealing soft, stem-like faces.

"What happened to the mushrooms?" James asked, his startled gaze flitting from one set of glowing eyes to the next. His mind raced, trying to understand the change before him.

Monique remembered how Thunder looked in her hand, his glow blinking on and off. How he'd appeared more stick than a fairy. "They are the mushrooms," she said.

James crouched to get a better look. The tiny mushroom people on the other side of the deadly mud stared back, curiosity dancing in their beady black eyes.

"Ah, yes," Thunder said, clapping his hands together. "Introductions are in order. James and Monique meet the Folk of the Woods. Folk of the Woods, this is James and Monique. They are here to help us."

A murmur swept through the clearing as everyone began speaking at once. A few cheers and whoops of joy lifted above the din.

"Alright! That's enough. You've carried this too far, Elm," came the familiar voice of Pine. He emerged from the opposite side of the clearing, his golden light sparking with emotion. On either side of him, standard-bearers carried leaves bearing a strange symbol. The Folk of the Woods parted as Pine flew overhead. A figure, taller than most of the other Folk, shuffled through their ranks towards James, Monique, and Thunder.

"My name is Thunder," Thunder grumbled, shooting Pine a dagger-filled gaze.

"You can call a stink bug a unicorn, but that doesn't make it true," Pine countered, sneering at Thunder.

A group of green, shield-shaped bugs made some squeaking noises on the trunk of a nearby oak before scurrying away. The Folk standing at the base of the tree pinched their noses and sidestepped away as a noxious scent filled the air.

Thunder shook his head. "Pine, how do you manage to offend everyone you meet?"

Pine shrugged off Thunder's comment, his sneer widening.

The glowing Folk James knelt in front of, jumped, and scampered away on unseen feet. Behind them stood a sizeable red-capped mushroom dotted with white spots. James frowned as a small, wrinkled hand appeared from the many folds of beige fabric covering what would have been the mushroom's stem. The hand pushed back the red cap to reveal a face as wrinkled as the hand. A long gray lichen mustache swept from the creature's nose, the tips of which fell to its knees.

"Vates," Thunder said, bowing his head and placing his hand, palm up to his forehead in greeting.

"I'm happy to see you again, Thunder," Vates said. James noticed a finely carved walking stick in Vate's other hand.

Pine tsked and grumbled to himself. Thunder and Vates ignored him.

"Who are these young humans?" Vates asked, gazing at James and Monique.

"They moved into the human house at the edge of the woods," Thunder explained. "They rescued me from the hollow in their shed. James followed Mone's instructions as if they'd been raised under her silver glow since their swaddling time."

"And you wouldn't have needed saving if you hadn't gone into the hollow when you knew the humans would seal it with poison metal."

Vates rubbed his wizened chin with a weathered hand. "Pine makes an excellent point, Thunder. You put yourself in danger, not knowing if you'd be saved."

Thunder shook his head in disagreement. "Vates," he said, lowering himself to rest on James's bent knee. "I did know. I heard Monique speak to her father. I knew she'd save me. She has the spirit of the Woods in her. She is of the old folk."

Vates beady black eyes grew large, and he turned to peer up at Monique. "Is that true, child? Are you of the old folk?"

Monique shuffled from foot to foot. She had no idea what Thunder was talking about. As far as she knew, her family was just ordinary people. Her grandma had talked about how an aunt used to tell fortunes, but those were just rumors. People couldn't' really tell fortunes, could they?

"We're from Brooklyn. I don't know who Mone is." She smiled apologetically at Thunder.

Pine gave a harsh laugh. "Lies, all lies. Elm is a liability. He needs to be banished to keep the rest of us safe." Another ripple shot through the crowd. A few yelled their descent at Pine's words, while others voiced their agreement.

Vates raised his hand, quieting them. "Child," he said, motioning to Monique, "come closer so I can see your eyes."

Monique shot James an unsure glance before walking to Vates. She knelt next to James and looked directly into Vates's eyes.

The little mushroom man tugged at this mustache. His black eyes narrowed as he scrutinized Monqieu's steady brown gaze. After what felt like an eternity to all in attendance, Vates began to laugh. It was a hardy sound, like a fast-flowing stream after a heavy rain.

"I see what you mean," Vates said, turning to Thunder. "She is a child of the stars, though somewhat distant, yet their dust still sparkles in her veins."

Monique and James turned to each other, their expressions puzzled.

"And you boy," Vates said, his laughter dying. "From you, I do not sense stardust." Vates motioned for James to give him his hand. James acquiesced, his hand large against Vates's delicate, fleshy fingers.

Vates grabbed James's fingers and twisted them this way and that, bringing them close to his face. James was surprised by the strength in Vates's grip.

"Yes, as I suspected," Vates declared after several moments. "It is dark magic tangled in your bones." He released James's hand. "Dark and light in the same family. Very interesting," he muttered to himself. He gazed up at one of the standard-bearers hovering above. "Please gather Oaf. Fae will lead James and Monique to the source."

One of the fairies carrying a leaf banner nodded before flying back over the crowd.

"Vates, I must protest," began Pine, but Vates quieted him with a wave of his walking stick.

"Dark magic? Stardust?" James said to Thunder on his knee. "What does that mean?"

"It means you are the perfect pair to find the singers. Monique's light will balance your darkness. And you will be able to walk where she cannot go."

James's brow drew together in a deep frown. He opened his mouth to ask more when he noticed the crowd parting again. Instead of a small mushroom-like creature, this figure was that of a child a year or two younger than James and Monique.

"Ah, good. Oaf, you will guide these children through the Dark Woodsto the source. Please report back with your findings," Vates said.

Monique's gaze moved over Oaf. The child wore clothes constructed of leaves and tree bark, woven together with blades of grass and flower stems. "Your name is Oaf, but Vates called you fae. What does that mean?"

Oaf smiled. "I am fae." He shrugged.

Monique nodded. "But what does that mean?"

'You look like a human boy," James said, "not a fairy."

"I was born a boy. Now I am fae," Oaf danced in a circle, smiling. "My body is that of a boy, but I am not a boy or a girl. I am fae."

"Like uncle Roger," James said, slapping Monique on the knee. "Uncle Roger, who really isn't our uncle, used to be Aunt Rosa. But she's a he now."

Oaf thought about this, tapping a finger to faes lip. "No, I am not like this Uncle Roger."

"So, your body is a boy, but your mind is both a boy and a girl?" Monique asked.

Oaf jumped in the air and gave a happy whoop. "Yes. Sometimes I feel like a boy, sometimes I feel like a girl. Sometimes I feel like air or water."

Monique and James giggled. "I like that," Monique said.

"Now that that's sorted," Thunder said, an amused grin on his face, but his tone serious, "can we get back to the emergency at hand?"

"Sorry," Oaf, Monique, and James muttered.

"So, what is the source?" James asked.

"The source," Thunder said, rising from James's knee to give the same open palm greeting to Oaf as he had to Vates, "is where we first discovered the mud."

"And all you want us to do is go there and take a look?" James asked, pushing his glasses up.

"It's a start. The folk of the wood can no longer move about the woods. Many are trapped. Before the mud's arrival, we sent messages through the ground using our mycelium. Now we are cut off from the rest of the Dark Woods. We have no idea what is happening beyond the clearing," Vates said, looking troubled.

"What's mycelium?" James asked.

"It's our root system. Every mushroom folk is connected through the web of mycelium. The mud had created barriers that our message can not breach."

"That's terrible," James said. He gave Monique a concerned look.

Monique returned his gaze. "I hope we can help you," she said, frowning.

"Now, hold on," called a woman's voice. Vates, Thunder, James, Monique, and even Pine, turned in the voice's direction.

"Oh no," grumbled Pine. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed.

(2350 Words)

Who could this new individual be, and why is Pine annoyed. A better question might be, when isn't Pine annoyed. He reminds me of Brainy Smurf but with less tact.

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