Alec from the water. Tobin was still shadow free, however. To be nice, Tobin only flew when he really had to, for example, to converse with a bird or to examine a beautiful tree blossom. Otherwise, he stayed Earth-bound. The three friends were walking through the forest, occasionally stopping to listen to the wind whispering through the summer leaves, to hear birds’ afternoon canticle, or to watch the sunlight dance through waving branches.

All of a sudden they felt they were in a part of the forest that they had never been before. The air had grown thicker. They also heard soft noises all around, as if all the spirits of the wind and trees were crowding together and speaking in hushed voices. They kept walking, and after a while came upon a deer trail. They decided to follow it,

"I think we should go back," Tobin said.

"No way!" Alec said, "I want to see what’s behind this wall. Don’t you Cynthia?" Cynthia didn’t look too sure, but she shrugged.

"Yeah, let’s check it out," she said. Tobin watched as Alec and Cynthia crawled underneath the wall, with their shadows sliding silently behind them. Tobin pushed a shaking hand through his hair, and followed.

Behind the wall, was a house.

It was made of stone and had red ivy pulsing out of the stones. All the windows were boarded up tight, and there was a hole in the roof. They approached hesitantly, and finally Alec went up and tried the front door. It was locked.

"We need to leave, I really don’t like this place," Tobin said. The other two hadn’t noticed, but the air was even thicker now.

"Let’s check around back," said Alec. They walked around the side of the