And indeed, Brian snorted and then they were both laughing, and Coco was staring grumpily between them. Her pink-pale hair stuck up like she was a fuzzy baby bird, and somehow that made Ollie laugh even harder.
A sudden wind picked up and raced through the trees, bringing a splat of rain. The cold drops slid under her jacket and the collar of her sweater. Ollie calmed down.
Brian, looking from side to side, set off downhill. Coco followed, skidding on leaves. Ollie went last, trying not to look too often over her shoulder.
16
THEY DIDN’T SEEany other people at all, and they were thirsty by noon, but they had to make the water bottle last. All kinds of hazards lay under the leaves: mud and puddles and roots to trip you. They had to pick their way along, skidding on the wet leaves. Ollie wished she had her hiking boots. Rain boots were not the best.
But Coco was worse off. She was wearing canvas shoes and cotton socks and wasn’t used to the cold, not like Ollie and Brian. An hour in, Ollie saw that Coco’s lips were becoming an unpleasant sort of pale color. Ollie took off her rainbow hat and jammed it onto Coco’s head.
Coco opened her mouth, tripped, caught herself, and said, “Thanks—Olivia.”
Ollie said, “You’re welcome. But seriously, call me Ollie.”
On they walked. The sky did not change. The trees did not change. Ollie would have wondered if they were goingin circles, except that she and Brian were taking turns to blaze trees they’d passed with a gold marker from Coco’s backpack.
A few times Ollie thought she heard a rustle in the leaves, like a bird or a squirrel. When she looked, nothing was there. But it gave her a creepy feeling, like something was slipping quietly along behind them.
They sipped water and ate a handful of Coco’s trail mix, chewing slowly to make it last.
Brian stayed in front and Ollie stayed in back. They did it on purpose, keeping Coco in the middle. They didn’t trust her to not get lost.
“Guys!” Brian yelled from ahead of them. “I think I see something!”
Both girls hurried to catch up. Coco, Ollie thought critically, looked like she was tripping only every ten steps now. An improvement.
The trees ended; they found themselves on the edge of a clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a tidy white house. Ollie stared like it was a mirage. Of all the things she was expecting in this creepy forest, a cozy cabin was not one of them. Ollie smelled woodsmoke and laundry and something spicy.
Coco’s eyes were shining. “It’s okay! We’re not lost anymore! We can call my dad from here! Hellooo!” Coco yelled.
Someone waved in answer. A lady stood in the yard, hanging laundry. She wore a baggy old dress, her hair a friendly brown braid down her back. Coco and Brian ran forward. Ollie followed, frowning. There was something weird about the scene but she didn’t quite know what it was.
The woman caught sight of them. “Look at this!” she cried, smiling. “Three of them, as I live and breathe! At lunchtime too! Are you hungry?”
“Yes! Thank you!” cried Coco.
Ollie still hung back. She was thinking of Hansel and Gretel, and the witch’s gingerbread cottage. But the lady seemed—nice. Ordinary. And she was a person! Not a scarecrow. Her eyes weren’t white but reassuringly blue. “Come in, my ducks,” she said. “You look cold.”
Coco was already at the gate of the cottage garden. Ollie still hesitated. Brian looked back. “Ollie?” he said. “What is it?”
Ollie didn’t know. She just knew that something was weird. She looked down at her watch: 03:10:49, said the countdown. And now there was a word,FOOD.FOODbut crossed out. What didthatmean? No food? Now Ollie wondered if she should have explained about her watch, so she could ask the others what they thought. It was true they didn’t have that much food. And if the lady was offering...
The lady was bustling Coco through the door.
“What do you think, Ollie?” Brian asked.
Ollie was still frowning, trying to say what was bothering her. “She’s hanging her laundry,” Ollie replied slowly. “On a day like this?” She gestured toward the damp forest. “It will never dry.” Ollie thought some more, looking around. “And she lives here? But there’s no road.”
There wasn’t. Just a thin track through the forest. Who lived in a place with no road?
“No generator,” said Brian, realizing. “No power lines, even. Okay, that is weird. Does your phone work here?” Brian had already pulled out his. “No Wi-Fi either.”
Brian and Ollie looked at each other. “It’s like it’s not a real house at all,” said Brian. “What real house has no roadandno electricity? Are we still in the bad Narnia? How do we tell?”
“I don’t know,” Ollie said.
“Well—it might be okay?” said Brian. “Even if it’s not, one lady can’t be a match for the three of us, can she? Maybe she’ll have some answers.”
