“Ditto…”
Then, “What isthat?”
These last words came from my own mouth. I stopped walking, pulled March to stop with me, and the others did the same. They all looked at where I was pointing—up toward a tree just ahead of us, at whatever was shining at the tip of a branch.
“It’s…” Mimi went closer, eyes squinted, “—a spoon.”
Aspoon.
The rest of us continued ahead, and March didn’t let go of my hand for a second. We were all looking up now, andthatwasn’t the only thing glistening under the dim light that barely peeked through the canopy. There were more—so many more silver spoons hanging onto branches like fruit.
Curiouser and curiouser.
“Look—there!” Levana shouted, pointing to our left, and we barely caught the bird flying fast to the side—no.Not a bird.
A folded napkin flapping its sides like a bird would its wings.
Laughter. “You guys, this is awesome!” Erith said. She went deeper into the forest as she spun around and lookedup at the spoons hanging on stems, at the napkins flying beside us on all sides,fastlike they were afraid we’d see them clearly.
“There’s cupcakes!” Mimi shouted. “There’s cupcakes growing on trees!”
There were cupcakes growing on trees, indeed, and they were higher up on the branches, so nobody could really reach them no matter how high they jumped.
“What in the Everstill is this place,” March muttered, and it wasn’t even a question. He and I were the only ones not smiling, not jumping, not running—and I wasn’t sure whether to be glad about it, or if it was just plainsad.
Then…
“Is thattheHandsmy eyes see? Oh, My—they are, indeed!”
Everybody stopped talking, moving, breathing.
Someone was in the forest with us.
A man, barely ten feet away where I could have sworn there had been nothing but trees just a second ago.
Well, now the trees were still there, but there was also a man standing in front of a long, slithering table, smiling at us ear to ear.
Time Himself paused with us.
His clothes had so much color in them—purple, yellow, green and pink. His suit was made entirely out of silk—the shirt, the pants, the vest with the long tail, olive-green on the outside, a bright fuchsia pink underneath. His hair was completely covered by the strangest cylinder hat I’d ever seen, because it was a hat within a hat within a hat, all sewed together.
Johnny’s voice came back to me in a rush—Say hi to the host for me!
“Who areyou?!” Russ asked, and we’d all gathered into a semi circle instinctively. There was strength in numbers, just in case.
“Why, I’m your host!” the guy said, spreading his arms to the side. “Call me Host Ticktock, and I will be at your service at exactly the right time.” He bowed his head deeply. “Allow me to welcome you to the bestest tea-party you’ve ever had the fortune of stumbling upon in any forest. Come, come—join me!”
He turned then, and waved at the table behind him proudly.
It was the strangest table I’d ever seen. It curved at the edges like the wood, or whatever it was made of, had been slithering when it was suddenly frozen, and the white and gray tablecloth almost looked like snakeskin, too. It was set for a tea party, though, just like the host said.
On it were small lanterns with tiny flames burning inside them, teacups and teapots, plates and silverware, bowls of sugar, empty ones, too—and clocks. A lot of clocks were spread out everywhere, in all shapes and sizes—triangular ones, square ones, heart shaped and spade-shaped ones, too. None of them worked, though. They were all stuck at six.
We went closer, a little bit in awe of the way the table went. It might be the most curious thing we’d seen in all the games. Even the chairs around it—thirteen in total—were different sizes and different colors, some lower and some higher, some with only three legs on them, too.
“Please, sit! Allow me the pleasure of your company,” Host Ticktock said, as he himself went to sit on the chair at the head of the table, pushing the tail of his strange vest back with his hips before settling down, that smile never leaving his face. “Join me at my tea-party, pretty-please.”
What a strange man.
