You are going to want to brighten things up with a tablespoon of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar. I however put just sprinkle of vitamin C powder to heighten the nutrition. Season and spice to your pleasure. For me it was hot sauce and tarragon, a little Worscestshire sauce. Blend it all together well and re-yolk your whites with the mix. Garnish with pepper and tabasco and maybe some sliced green olives. I was lazy today. After the game we will do some homeschooling and then head out for some ice skating.

The Wisp

Just inside the woods that backed onto St. Cat, Bara wouldn’t be sighted, but she had a clear view of the dorms. Most everyone had gone home for Thanksgiving. There were only three rooms alit—Den Mother’s, Patsy’s, and her own. A dark form stood in the open doorway, Sheriff Pillanger. Having not found who he was looking for, Bara, he left. Bara was about to turn her focus back to watching for Colin when more movement in the room stopped her. A smaller frame, a female, was there. She’d gone to the door to lock it. Bara shivered at the thought of Courtney going through her things, but then there was something comfortingly familiar about the shape. Amy. She’d come back early.

Amy didn’t have a cell phone. She didn’t have the money. There was no phone on the floor either. Bara couldn’t go inside—too risky. The dim sound of crunching gravel echoed, Pillanger’s car pulling away. There was only one way. Bara came out of hiding and crept across the lawn. She grabbed a pebble and tossed it at the closed window. Amy turned her head but didn’t come to the window. Bara threw another pebble and readied herself to throw a third. Amy figured it out. She came to the window, lifted the pane, and stuck her head through.

“Bara,” she whispered into the night.

“Over here. Come down and bring a warm coat.

It was a clear, cold night. The forest smelled of moist earth and leaves. Soft soil clung to increasingly muddy soles. Bara had entered these woods, in her dream, without shoes. This time she was shod, the one blessing from being drugged, and this time she wasn’t alone. Colin and Amy were with her. The forest was eerie enough, but so far no mystical being had appeared to guide or bar the way. Colin led them down a well-worn deer path at a determined speed. Amy yawned. Bara answered in kind. They’d been walking for at least an hour. Everyone was tired.

“Colin, stop!” Bara urged.

He halted and turned around.

“Why?”

“I think we’re going the wrong way.”

“You said you didn’t know which way to go.”

“I know, but …”

“Then how do you know we’re going the wrong way? You said you came to a lake. If we follow a deer path, we’ll come to a source of water. Deer need to drink.”

Nothing he said came as news. They’d all agreed on a plan of action. They had no idea where to look for the maze, and so it made sense to look for the lake first.

“I know that’s what we thought …”

Amy interrupted. “It’s all we have to go on.”

“The thing is I don’t think the lake exists,” Bara admitted.

“At least not anymore. I think it existed in the past.”

Colin scoffed. “This is just getting better and better. It doesn’t exist anymore. Only in the past. So now we have to time travel too?”

“No!”

“Then how in the name of Doctor Who are we going to find it?”

“Either it existed in the past or only in my dream.”

Colin threw up his hands and sat down on a log that littered the path. “In your dream? So what? We take a nap.”

Amy suddenly remembered something. “Didn’t Professor Chestermire say that there’d been a lake near Windfall once?”

Bara looked at her blankly.

“You know? Where they sunk the witches’ remains?”

“Don’t you do extra credit Math in History?” Bara asked.

Amy grinned. “I multitask. Do you remember where he said it was?”

“Yeah, north of town.”

“The town’s behind us.”

This piece of information invigorated Colin. He pulled out his phone and pushed a few buttons. The screen’s blue light gave his face an eerie glow.

“There’s a compass on my phone … it’s this way.” He jumped up and started walking.

Amy and Bara looked at each other and rolled their eyes. They were thinking the same thing. Dork! But then they followed the dork. It didn’t take them long to regret the decision.

Going north meant leaving the path and heading into thick underbrush. The canopy although thinned by fall still blocked out most of the moonlight. It was very dark. Colin cursing every time he stubbed a toe continued to lead the way. Bara brought up the rear with Amy in the middle. Bara fought to make out their shadowy forms passing through the trees. Eventually, she gave up and just followed the sound of breaking underbrush and Colin’s constant griping.

They carried on this way for some time. Bara was again losing heart. Maybe trying to find the lake wasn’t the best plan after all. Up ahead, Colin and Amy continued to break through the bush. Bara would count to a hundred. If they didn’t find anything, she’d suggest they come up with another plan. One, two … ninety, ninety-one … the trees thinned. Sporadic beams of moonlight cut through the canopy above, lighting up a patchwork on the forest floor. Amy’s shadowy outline was easier to spy now. Something told Bara their luck had changed. And finally … finally, Colin had stopped complaining.

“I think we’re close to something!” she called out.

No response. The trees were even thinner now. Amy’s shadow disappeared not into darkness but light. Bara stumbled out of the trees and entered a clearing. They’d found the maze.

“We found it!” She looked around. Someone stood not far off under the shadow of a tree. Was it Colin or Amy? She couldn’t tell. The figure was certainly returning her stare. Bara could feel that. “We found it!” she repeated.

The tall shadowy outline said nothing.

“Amy?” No answer. “Colin?”

The wind picked up and there was that familiar scent of flowers. No, this being wasn’t one of her friends. Moonlight broke through the trees, lighting up the shadow seemingly from within. Long white robes and silver hair whipped in the wind. The Wisp stared at Bara for a second longer and then dissolved in nothingness. Bara remained where she was, as rooted as the trees, listening, watching for her return and hoping for a sign of her friends. The forest was soundless. The wind didn’t rustle a leaf. There were no rummaging night creatures. There was no Wisp and there was no Amy and Colin. Bara was alone.

The leaner trees bent in a gusty grasp. A cold wind weaved its way through the dark fabric of the forest and settled on her back. She moved toward the maze, propelled by the hand of nature. She made a silent wish that Colin and Amy were safe and entered the hedges.