The Playing Fields First Draft

Chapter Five

    The atmosphere was tense as the group traveled through the Field.

     The others came to the same conclusion that there was a changeling among them, and it left a sense of paranoia between them. Mari did her best to improve morale, but with the dark shadow looming over them, it was a hard sell. She even attempted to convince Rick to trust Claire, which was impossible.

     Rick didn't fully trust Claire when there were the four of them, that much Claire knew, now that they had one additional abductee.

     Jim was hanging behind the group, as he had since his first exchange with Rick.

     What is he thinking? Claire wondered.

     The problem was that Jim just grabbed the clothes, and ignored the note. Something that Claire noticed were things that the doomed abductees in her visions had done. Whether or not there was a connection remained to be seen, and Claire didn't see any kind of clues that would support the idea that her reading the note gave Claire an advantage over someone who hadn't.

     Granted, in comparison to Jim, the note gave Claire an idea of the dangers that were to come. It also gave Claire the awareness of the dangers to remain on her guard.

     Claire sighed. I should give my mind a break.

     That was what Claire considered one of her flaws, she had a tendency of overthinking things through. That was probably one of the reasons why Claire did so poorly on tests, give her a question, and she'll change her mind on the answers several times before moving on to the next one.

     "What's on your mind?" Rick asked Claire.

     Claire suppressed a yelp when Rick asked the question seemingly out of nowhere.

     "Nothing." Claire said.

     "That's a lie."

     "It's about this whole situation we're in." Claire admitted.

     "Ah." Rick's ever-present frown remained. "About what in particular?"

     "The "lie" about there being four abductees." Claire replied. "It makes no sense, y'know?"

     "The fae rarely do make sense." Rick said, while he seemed to be in the conversation, it seemed as though Rick's focus was elsewhere.

     "Perhaps." Claire replied. "Why are you talking to me?"

     "Why not?" Rick answered with a question.

     "I thought you didn't trust me." Claire replied.

     Rick shrugged. "Mari told me that you're a budding psychic, and that's how you found that component." Rick's tone seemed to indicate that he wasn't going to trust Claire based on that alone. "So, I decided to trust Mari on her instinct about you."

     "Why?" Claire asked.

     "Because there are some points where you have to trust the people you know not to steer you wrong." Rick replied. "So, I decided to trust Mari."

     "Seems a bit simplistic."

     "Maybe so, but not everything in life needs to be complicated." Rick gave Claire a smile. It was a forced smile, but it did show that it took a lot for Rick to give her this small token of trust.

     "That...might be true." Claire smiled, she didn't feel like smiling, but Claire forced it. Rick was making an attempt at trusting her, albeit Mari was likely behind it. "What's going on?" Claire asked.

     Rick shrugged. "We won't know until we hit the next area.

     "The fae certainly doesn't like making it easy for us." Claire sighed.

     "They never do." Rick said, his expression darkened, it remained only for a moment, but it was long enough for Claire to catch.

     Did the fae do something to Rick? Claire wondered. I'm certainly not going to get answers...

     "Why are you staring at me?" Will asked.

     The question caused Claire to look over toward Will's direction. Jim was closer to Will now, and was watching him. Will was clearly irritated by Jim's staring.

     "No reason." Jim replied.

     "Stop it." Will told him.

     "Why?" Jim asked, "Afraid that I might find out you're the changeling?"

     Mari turned to confront Jim, but Claire placed a hand on her shoulder. Let me handle this. Claire's expression said. For a moment, Mari stood there, not knowing if she should let Claire go.

     "Stop!" Will yelled.

     "Go ahead." Mari said, as she went back to talk to Rick.

     "What's going on here?" Claire asked Jim and Will.

     "Nothing." Jim said.

     "Jim's been staring at me since we met him!" Will exclaimed.

     "Because he's the changeling." Jim said, firmly.

     "How do you know?" Claire asked.

     Jim shrugged. "I just know."

     Claire raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, but I have a problem believing that you know who a changeling is after admitting that you didn't read the note the fae left in the trunk." Claire's tone was confrontational, and Jim picked it up.

     "All right, I'll back off." Jim replied, hands up. He looked toward Rick and Mari with a grin. "I'm convinced since it seems like they brought the kid's girlfriend too."

     Claire blushed at the remark but chose not to state that she's not Will's girlfriend. Mainly because Claire didn't want Jim to antagonize Will any longer. Jim laughed to himself as he kept his distance from the group.

     "Thank you." Will said, if he thought anything of Jim calling Claire his girlfriend, he didn't show it.

     "You're welcome." Claire replied. "Did he say why he thought you were changeling?" Claire asked, while keeping an eye on Jim.

     "No, nothing." Will said. "He just accused me from out of nowhere."

     Claire thought it was odd that Will's speech was better than it was when she first started talking to him. Isn't agitation supposed to mess if your speech, not improve it? Claire wondered. Will was an enigma for certain, but Claire wasn't certain if this was a side effect of the Other World, like her sudden psychic abilities. This world gets weirder and weirder. Claire reflected.

     There were signs of the others displaying enhancements, such as Mari's optimism and Rick's paranoia. Claire wasn't able to feel her psychic abilities improve, but she felt as though she could use them without a massive migraine.

     There's more mysteries than anything else. Claire decided.

     "Look at that!" Mari called out, breaking Claire out of her thoughts.

     The Forest appeared abruptly at the end of the Field. As the group traveled into the Forest, Claire noted that none of the trees crossed into the Field, nor did the grass of the Field crossed into the Forest. It was almost as though they were from completely different dimensions.

     "Odd how nothing crosses over from either field." Mari noted.

     "Indeed." Rick agreed, he seemed to preoccupied by something else. Claire wondered if this experience opened up any wounds regarding the fae.