Past the Woods Beyond

Chapter 11: The Endless Woods

Andric arrived at the Uglification classroom, trying to walk as slow as he could to avoid seeing his teacher's ugly scowl.

"Ah! There you are, Andy! You're late!" Professor Stumpkin bellowed angrily.

"I would say I'm sorry for being late, laddie, but I'm not. And It's Andric," Andric corrected.

Stumpkin giggled and continued, "Alright, Andy. Scrape the crusty toad paste and whatever that green stuff is, off of my walls and floors. Take all the time you need. It will probably take hours until dawn." The professor skipped out of the classroom, humming some random folk tunes. He seemed to be really proud of himself as if fazing Andric was his number one goal.

"Child's play," Andric murmured. He snapped his long, thin fingers and the whole mess swirled around and faded. He figured if no one actually knew he was the direct son of Rumpelstiltskin, then no one knew he could do magic like this.

Time to pay a visit to my dear old nemesis, he thought, sharpening his knife.

Though Colin had saved Andric from the beast, he was still focused on his goal from the beginning: Kill his nemesis. After all, the seer had told him it was the only way to avoid his death. If he wanted to keep his life, he would have to make sacrifices. He scanned the halls for any other students that were still hanging around, but everyone seemed to be in their dormitories. The night air was silent as ever. Now, it was time.

Putting on his cape, Andric threw his hood on, covering half of his face. He dashed through the halls at the speed of light, making his way to the Halfway bridge.

The Halfway bridge was nowhere near as strong as it used to be. Andric's reflection glared back at him, crossing his arms. This was going to be short and simple, Andric thought. His reflection opened his mouth, saying, "Good with g-"

But Andric interrupted, "Not for long." He waved his hands over the barrier, glowing gold as he sprinkled some pixie dust he stole from Neverland and his reflection disappeared as Andric let himself pass. He threw his hood over his head, trying not to attract too much attention. Now, where was that boy?

"Bescéawodnes," Andric chanted. His pale eyes glowed green as the vision spell began to take effect. The vision spell allowed you to think of your target and spot them even if they were behind walls. But Colin wasn't even in the building.

"What the hell are you doing on this side?" someone behind Andric asked.

Andric whipped around and saw Colin's freckled face staring right back at him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Andric countered. Colin was supposed to be inside the building since it was past curfew. They tried to think of excuses, but a sudden loud screeching noise was coming from the Blue Forest.

"What was that?" Colin asked, clearly frightened.

"Let's go and find out," Andric replied, dashing into the crowd of trees.

"What?! Nooo!" Colin chased after him, muttering to himself about how he was always running into danger.

~~~

Colin had to use all his energy to keep up with this guy. What was he even doing out here? Colin had originally been out to find a way to escape, but he wasn't aware that Harpies guarded the areas. He continued to sprint through the woods, as fast as humanly possible, trying to chase after Andric. No one should be able to climb trees this fast, and no one should be able to jump from tree to tree without struggling unless this guy was a monkey, which sort of made sense to Colin since Andric's ears stuck out like a monkey's. He didn't dare say that out loud. Colin kept running as fast as he could, glancing up at the trees to see if he caught up with Andric. The swishing of the branches stopped abruptly, and the outline of Andric's thin shadow finally stopped blurring.

Gasping for air, Colin panted, "Finally! What were you even doing?"

Andric had swung down and landed on the dirt-covered ground. "Shhh." Andric pointed to a large tree. Colin squinted hard, and saw a hooded figure, searching the woods for something.

"Who's that?" he asked. The hooded individual stopped in their tracks and turned their head around. Their eyes glowed blood red, but the rest of their face was concealed by the shadows. They had a blank, dead look about them, and that just made them look even more dangerous.

Andric glared daggers at Colin. "You've alerted them!" he whispered.

Colin saw that the hooded figure was fastly approaching them. It ran through the woods as if it was floating on the dead leaves, and stuck its arm out pointing directly at Colin and Andric.

"Andric?"

"Run." Andric grabbed Colin by his Creeper hoodie (yes, he still wore that) and pulled him up onto the trees.

"Dude, I can't just jump from tree to tree. We're not in Naruto," Colin complained, trying not to fall. But the hooded figure was getting closer to them.

"Unless you want to end up dead, I suggest you follow me, laddie, " Andric advised, staring ahead. He pulled Colin's arm and dragged him along, leaping over branches.

For a dude so skinny, Andric was sure stronger than Colin thought. Everything was a blur to Colin as he flew and swung from the branches. And how did this guy not get tired? Colin had no idea.

"Get ready to fly," Andric told Colin suddenly.

"Wait, wh-" but it was too late before Colin could say anything. Andric took a small vial out of his pocket containing some sort of golden dust and sprinkled it onto both of them.

"What is that?" Colin asked, clearly freaked out.

"Pixie dust. Now when I say jump-" Andric ordered, "-jump." He turned around to check if the hooded figure was still on their trail. Unfortunately, they still were. Colin peered down the tree, preparing to jump. It was a lot higher than he expected, and frankly, he was scared out of his mind.

"Jump," Andric said.

"NO! Do you see how high we are?"

"I said jump!" Andric bellowed, frustrated. Colin's knees trembled as he stood upon the thin branch. He was extra fidgety now, as he played with his zipper. His palms were sweating profusely as he gulped in preparation. But he didn't even have time to prepare. Andric had pushed him off.

So this was it. This was how Colin was going to die.

"AAAHH! Dear God, please help! I'm gonna die!" he cried. He tumbled down the tree, the wind whistling in his ears. His own scream and cries were inaudible to him as he prepared to hit the ground. Except he didn't hit the ground. Colin opened his eyes warily and saw that he was sailing across the endless woods with Andric beside him gazing intensely at the trees. He mimicked Andric and spread his arms out to increase drag. Sparkling gold dust trailed behind them as they glided over the woods, taking in the magnificent fresh air.

"I told you so," Andric sneered, looking like he was enjoying himself.

"Yeah, but where'd you get pixie dust?" Colin asked with a curious look on his face.

"I have my sources," Andric replied without further explaining.

"So who was that back there, in the hood?" Colin glanced down at the woods to check if they were still in sight.

"Not sure. My guess is, they didn't want us to see them," Andric explained.

"Right. So what were you doing here anyway?" Colin asked, suspicious again.

"I was tracking that thing down," Andric replied hastily. But something made Colin think he wasn't telling the whole truth.

"But that's not important. What we should be focusing on is finding our way back. I think we're lost."

"In the Endless woods?" Colin gulped.