Chapter 1:- 1
    Her ears were ringing. A high-pitched hum droned on as her mind slowly tried to catch up with her situation. A dull throb in her head began to creep slowly around to her face and as she raised her hands to touch her cheeks feeling them to be strangely numb. The wind was blowing and she could hear the rustling of the leaves and branches as they moved with the gusts - remnants of the storm, she assumed.   
    The storm! A flash of memories flooded her mind and frantic reaction coursed through her as she struggled to sit up from where she lay. She opened her eyes to slits, afraid of the shock of sunlight, but gradually opened them fully as she realized the light surrounding her was dim, nearly midnight-dark. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion as she continued to use her arms to push herself up to a sitting position. She was fully awake now and staring in shock at what should have been the midday sun shining on the pond near her cabin. Instead, her eyes took in the scene before here. Where there was supposed to be a quiet pond, there was a grassy clearing surrounded by the tallest trees she had ever seen. Definitely nothing anywhere near her home could come close to the size and stature of these majestic forms. The inky night sky twinkled with stars and the wind continued to gust intermittently, rustling her dark blonde hair and tossing it to fall in her eyes. She brushed the strands from her face and started to turn to look behind her.   
    “I’m just turned around,” she mumbled nervously as she shifted her position. To her shock, the scene was the same. She settled back in a sitting position and dropped her head in her trembling hands. Her breath began to come more quickly and she squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to steady herself and began to replay the last few hours she could remember. Arriving at the cabin, unpacking her bags and putting away the two bags of staples she had picked up on her way out of town. She recalled the older woman with the merry face at the store who suggested she visit the pond “just a hop, skip and a jump from where you’re staying”. The woman had given her very simple directions and she had decided to try and make the pond her first quick adventure before she settled in for a week of relaxation. The woman’s directions were flawless and she had made her way down the trail and to the pond in only thirty minutes or so. She remembered that she had heard a distant rumbling that sounded like thunder and within seconds the sky had turned as dark as night.
    Her head snapped up as a low thunderclap echoed her memories. She looked toward the sky to what should have been east and saw a faint flicker of lightening illuminate clouds not visible in the night sky.
    “Laina, get a hold of yourself!” she said to herself. She tool a deep breath and got to her feet only to drop right back to her knees as a wave of dizziness and nausea washed over her. Her head continued to swim and for a brief moment, she had trouble getting her eyes to focus. She closed her eyes again and  tried to slow her breathing until the sensations passed. 
    Laina opened her eyes as her dizziness began to settle. The distant lightening had disappeared and the wind had begun to die down. She rubbed her face with her hands and stood again, this time with success. She looked around again, taking in everything with studied intensity. The enormous trees looked like oaks, but bigger than any she had every heard of. Their trunks bulged in almost exaggerated form and their canopies were dense and wide. Silvery-grey leaves filled out the branches that gently swayed in the dying breeze. Above the forest canopy, the moon shone brightly, but with a faint greenish tint. The remaining expanse of deep dark sky was alive with glittering stars that almost looked to pretty to be real. She took a deep breath and noticed he air had a slight hint of pine to it. “It smells like Christmas.” she whispered to herself.   
    She took a tentative step to test her balance and then carefully began to make her way in the direction she thought would take her back to the cabin. She adjusted the thin, hooded sweater and pulled the sleeves down past her wrists as the chill of the night air settled in. She crossed her arms and rubbed them vigorously then stopped to reach in her pocket to pullout a band to pull her hair back into a quick ponytail. She began looking around for a break in the trees that would lead her to the trail.
    Finally she saw what she hoped was her path home - a break in the undergrowth that seemed to be heading in the right direction. She optimistically ducked into the opening and  was relieved to see a well worn trail illuminated by bright moonlight. Her confidence grew and she went from a tentative walk to a brisk jog. The forest still resembled nothing she remembered and there was still a faint humming in her ears but Laina kept pushing forward.
    Hours passed and she had made no progress. Nothing resembling the woods she had hiked into earlier in the day showed itself in the blur of the moonlit undergrowth. Finally, the path began to narrow and she had to look closely after a while to stay on the trail. Worry grew as the path seemed to disappear.  She stopped and a chill began to creep over her. No matter how hard she tried, she had to face it - this was not the forest near her cabin. For whatever reason, she had somehow found herself in a different part of the park she was staying in. She leaned back on a tree and closed her eyes, trying to sort out her confusion. Had something happened to her in the storm? Why couldn’t she remember anything? How did someone go from peacefully enjoying a sunny afternoon to waking up in a completely different place, and in the middle of the night?
    A frightening idea invaded her thoughts. Had someone followed her? Perhaps in the sudden onset of the storm, someone had knocked her unconscious and taken her. Taken advantage of her then left her in the middle of nowhere. She raised her hands to her head and neck, feeling  around cautiously for any indication of  injury but there was nothing. She dropped her hands back to her sides futilely. Though assault was a terrible thing to consider, it would at least offer some explanation.
    After a few minutes it was becoming difficult for Laina to breathe. She couldn’t fight the rising panic, and her eyes began to well with tears. Finally, she let herself go and began to cry. At first it was just small, sniffling noises but it quickly escalated to sobs, wracking her and making her shake. She leaned back against a tree and then slowly slid down the great trunk and continued to cry until she  lost herself in a fitful sleep.


    Birds were singing and the light behind Laina’s eyelids was growing brighter. She began to stir, shifting her body on the floor of the forest beneath the tree she had cried on the night before. Her eyes slowly opened and the events of the previous night flooded back. Her breath caught and she scrambled to sit up. She looked around frantically, remembering that she had no idea where she was or how she came to be here.
    Suddenly, a jagged line like lightening flashed in her line of vision, and a searing pain shot through her skull. She gripped her head with both hands and curled up in a ball on the ground, almost unable to breathe. The pain was relentless and for a moment she was sure her head would burst. Then without warning , a barrage of images flooded her mind. She saw the pond and the gentle forest she had hiked into. Then there was the sudden darkness and a desperate sound, like a shout for help. She saw the flashes of lightening - too many for a normal thunderstorm. The shouting grew louder and she couldn’t help looking for it’s source. Then she recalled seeing a human-like figure that seemed to spin in and out of her vision over the water, near where she stood on the banks of the small pond. Wind was whipping up the water and the flashes of lightening were coming faster and faster. There was no  thunder at first, but then it came on like a train. A hushed rumble that grew louder and louder until it was almost on top of her. At the moment she was sure something would roar out of the trees, she saw the man-figure’s spinning  slow, then jerk and begin to slide into the pond. Instinctively, she dove to try and catch him before he disappeared beneath the water and as her hands made contact with his skin, the brightest flash so far exploded around her and the rumble exploded in a deafening crash.
    Laina convulsed as the rush of memories fled as quickly as they had come on. She continued to  lay on the ground in a tight ball, her breath slowly returning as the pain began to subside in her head. “What is happening to me?” she whispered, desperately.
    Minutes passed and all she could do was breathe and try to slow her pounding heart. Finally, her breath came easier and the ache in head began to subside. After what seemed like hours, she felt strong enough to try to ease herself into a sitting position, leaning on the aged and enormous tree at her back. She had kept her eyes closed fearing they would be sensitive to light after what she could only assume was the worst migraine she had ever had, but opened them just enough to get an idea of her surroundings.  Peering through her half-opened eyes, she could see the lush green of the forest mixed with brown trunks and branches. Here and there were scattered blooms and a few tangles of winter’s leftovers. She spied a particularly striking lavender blossom, as large as her open hand whose petals crimped and curled delicately, like the edge of a chiffon skirt. She had never seen anything like it anywhere. She began to take in other sights and was awestruck by the enormity of the trees. The seemed as big around as a house and some were so tall, she couldn’t make out the tops for the other trees canopies blocking her view.
    She stood, steadying herself on the smaller tree at her back. She reached back to re-tie her ponytail and her hands shook slightly with a combination of exhaustion, fear and hunger. After she had tidied herself up a bit in a weak grasping attempt at normalcy, she began to look around and decide which way to begin her expedition back home. After a few minutes she settled on what could only be at best, a rabbit trail that seemed to head to the west and nearest the direction she thought would lead her back to the cabin, or at least to civilization. She took a deep breath, adjusted her sweater and set off through the woods to go home,. She did not notice a pair of golden-hazel eyes watching her through the leaves.