One Geek to Rule Them All

An Unexpected Journey

Devin smiled as she stretched her arms out and breathed in the fresh air, enjoying the woody smell of growing things and earth. The pale, gentle sunlight filtering down through the treetops from the grey English sky above felt good on her face. Being from the South, she still wasn't quite used to the much cooler autumn weather in the UK, but it was a nice change from the usual warm and humid climate they had to deal with back in Louisiana. And the colors were fantastic! The red, gold, and brown foliage in the magical Forest of Dean was absolutely gorgeous. They hardly ever got to see the leaves change like this back home. She pulled out her cell phone and started taking pictures. She wished her dad could see it too. He was a huge Tolkien fan, and this forest was also supposedly where the famed author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (soon to be a movie) had come for inspiration... or something like that. She could have sworn he had said something to that effect before.

"I can't believe you're taking pictures of trees," her friend Kitty commented while she tried to scrape some of the mud clinging to her black pleather boots off onto an exposed root. "We can see those anywhere. Let's go check out that Hay-town place or the Caldicot Castle thing."

"But we just got here," said Devin, frowning slightly in disappointment. "Besides, wasn't taking a hike through the forest your idea?"

"That was before I remembered that my chief outdoor activity is going back inside," Kitty deadpanned, slightly chagrined at herself. She had thought it would be fun to see the forest where Harry and the gang hid while on the run from Voldemort, but she wasn't as a much of a 'flower-child' as Devin, so staring at colorful leaves and dirt and getting sore feet weren't exactly her idea of a good time. "I wanna see the castle now. I hear they're supposed to have ghosts and everything."

"We can see those anywhere, too," Devin replied with a wry smile. You couldn't throw a stone without hitting something that was reputedly haunted in southeastern Louisiana.

"But these have an accent," answered Kitty with a bright grin.

"Oh, all right, but I want to finish this trail first. We're almost at the river," Devin agreed while she continued to walk, deciding to humor her impatient friend. To be honest, she found the idea of British-accented ghosts somewhat amusing, even though it was only natural since they were in England. Still, accents were fun.

"What's it called again?" Kitty asked curiously, easily skipping ahead of her shorter-legged friend, walking backwards so she could face her. Devin smiled at her friend's antics and reached into her pocket to pull out the trail guide.

"I think it's supposed to be the Wye—Kitty, look out!" she shouted in surprise when she looked up again to see that her friend was about to walk backwards into the river. Instinctively, Devin reached out to grab the taller girl as Kitty's eyes widened when she felt herself begin to fall.

With a loud splash, the two girls found themselves submerged in the rushing cold water. Devin kept her eyes squeezed shut tightly while she held her breath and fought to keep hold of Kitty against the frightful way the unexpectedly strong current tossed them about. Devin gasped for air the moment she felt her head break through to the surface again.

"Devin!" shouted Kitty, spitting out some of the water that had gotten into her mouth. "I think—I think I can stand!" she said and tried to get her footing when they floated down to a less turbulent spot.

"Good, because it's definitely over my head!" said Devin. At four feet and eleven and a half inches she was practically hobbit-sized, whereas Kitty was more like an elf at her much more substantial height of five feet and seven inches. Together the two girls managed to scramble back onto dry land, shivering and soaking wet.