The Green Guardian

Chapter 5: The Pebble Masters

Song: "Meaning of Life" - BrunuhVille

        Evie hated waiting. She wanted to get to the Paperblank Forest. She asked herself what was so important about Mateo's call that Mr. Cornelius had to stop the bus. She huffed and crossed her arms, looking outside to the parking lot. Finally losing her patience, she asked, "Mr. Cornelius, isn't there a schedule we probably have to go by?"

Mr. Cornelius glanced at her in his rear-view mirror. "As long as we get there by 2:00, we'll be fine," he explained.

That didn't help. Evie wanted to run outside, grab Mateo, and drag him back onto the bus. To pass the time, she took the pebble out of Annabelle's pocket. Evie rubbed it up against her shirt and blew on it. Not that the pebble wasn't already spotless.

She jumped when a small voice spoke up behind her. "Oh, what a beautiful pebble. Where did you get it?" A little, brown-headed girl appeared over the back of Evie's seat. Her hair was styled in a bob. She dangled her arms over the headrest. "May I?"

Evie gave her a gentle smile. "Sure." She handed the girl the pebble.

She examined it up and down. "Wow, that's gorgeous. Where did you get it?"

"My grandma gave it to me," Evie explained. "She asked me to find somebody named Mam in the Paperblank Forest."

The girl gave her a confused look. "Mam? Or, did she mean 'Sam'? Oh, excuse me. My name is Ashlynn."

Making a new friend helped Evie through the tense situation. She placed her hand to her heart. "I'm Evie. Evie Amanda Madison."

"Oh wow, really?" The girl grinned. "You can use all three of those names as your own. That's so cool. What do you want to be when you grow up, Evie?"

Evie friendlily scoffed. She proudly closed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. "I'm going to be a Pinta Park Ranger, just like Ranger Anthony."

Ashlynn's jaw dropped. "Shut up! You know about Ranger Anthony? I'm like his biggest fan."

It was official. Evie loved her. She got up on her knees and said, "Oh my gosh! Me, too! All I want in life is to meet him."

Ashlynn was very jittery. She was happy to have met somebody who was just as crazy about Anthony as her. "Let's be friends," she said.

"No, let's be best friends," Evie corrected. She moved off to the side so Ashlynn could sit with her.

The new girl quickly changed from her seat to Evie's. "When I meet Ranger Anthony, I'm going to ask him how to speak with nature. I just love nature," she explained.

"I want to patrol the forest with all the beautiful forest creatures." A picture of a forest found its way into Evie's brain. "Anthony can be my mentor." There was a moment of silence between the girls, but then they burst out laughing. They were now thinking about Ranger Anthony.

It wasn't long until Mateo returned to the bus. He climbed the stairs and faced the children. Between clenched teeth, he said, "Sorry, false alarm, everybody." He may have been smiling, but there was definitely some worry on his face. He leaned to Mr. Cornelius. "We need to get out of here. It's the basilisk."

"It can move underground?" Cornelius whispered back.

Mateo nodded. "Yes. Apparently, it's left the forest."

"Why?"

"We don't know," Mateo answered. "Look." He showed Cornelius the screen of his device. On it was a green, topographic map of Abince Town. "We're here, and the creature is here." Mateo pointed at a flashing, red dot moving in on the bus. "However, it can only focus on one thing at a time. So I think we'll be able to lose it if we get on the highway. It doesn't have the mindset to find us if we're with a bunch more cars."