Bobby took the strange seedling Karen had picked out of the pile of others near the tree trunk and sat down cross-legged beside it. As he looked at it closer, he noticed it seemed very much like a tiny palm tree sprouting from the soil itself. There were even a few long leaves poking straight out from either side of it as well as a pair growing directly from the top half; they were a darker shade than those surrounding them, almost resembling hair more so than plant matter. The largest leaf on top appeared to be about twelve inches long when measured horizontally… not nearly big enough to make any real difference in whether or not this thing could be called a ‘tree,’ however.
The young girl stood off to the side watching with an intense look of concentration upon her face.
“Are you ready?” asked Bobby after several seconds had passed without anything happening: He was eager to see if it would work or not. But the seedling didn’t move at all despite his repeated attempts to rouse it into motion. It just lay there lifelessly, looking at him silently. He smiled warmly at Karen before turning his attention back toward the tiny green ball on the ground between his knees: “Okay, here we go…”
He leaned over carefully and wrapped both hands firmly around its base as he lifted up. When he pulled upward he felt something shift slightly inside the dry outer shell—as if he were gripping onto a small piece of driftwood being tossed around by ocean waves—and was actually able to pull the entire thing out in one swift motion. At least, that’s what he thought happened until it suddenly flew through the air to land right in the center of the open palm he held it against! This time, instead of bouncing away like it had done earlier, it immediately rolled off across the floor like it was made from rubber while leaving no trace whatsoever behind where it had landed!
“I’ll be damned!” said Bobby with great amazement. His jaw dropped wide open as he stared at the now empty fruit lying in front of him: A bright orange cashew nut lay nestled snugly within its newly revealed cavity along with three seeds resting comfortably among its folds. And then, as he watched, each and every one of them disappeared out of sight once more beneath the thin white skin covering their tiny homes deep inside.
Karen came running over to join him once she realized what was happening.
“What do you think this is?” asked Bobby when he finally had the courage to set the seed aside for her inspection. She looked down at it briefly before answering quickly… too quickly to have ever seen it before. Then she moved closer to take a better look… but still nothing. The next thing she did was try sticking her finger inside the opening near the top of the smooth surface, but again there was no reaction whatsoever: Nothing happened except for a brief moment later when she pulled her hand straight back out again without anything stuck on the tip.
“It’s magic,” said Bobby confidently—even though he wasn’t sure exactly how or why: There were simply far too many unknowns in this case that he couldn’t explain properly. He reached forward and picked up the whole thing anyway, feeling quite satisfied that it would make a nice souvenir for his family to keep as a reminder that they’d found these mysterious dragons yet again. “Come on.” He held it toward Karen so she could get a good look herself: “Hold it up right here against your chest like I’m doing; then watch carefully…”
He bent down slowly and pressed its bottom half against the front of her shirt just below her neckline: Her breath caught slightly when he lifted up suddenly while simultaneously turning his head slightly to the left and blowing lightly into the little opening above the two short leaves sprouting from the top of the shell. As he continued blowing, he heard her gasp as well, which was immediately followed by a sudden gust of air escaping from the tiny opening as if someone had opened an airlock door in a space station! And then, in the same instant, all three of the small seeds lying inside dropped out onto the girl’s lap!
Karen looked down in disbelief to find the three cashew nuts sitting neatly side-by-side in her palm with absolutely no sign of having come from the fruit hanging only inches away. She gasped when she saw them. Then she quickly leaned forward to look closely at Bobby to see if he was somehow responsible for what had just occurred.
“See?” he said after letting out a slight sigh of relief himself. “That wasn’t so hard now was it?”
She turned around and walked several paces to the end of the tree, still holding the strange seedling in front of her like a shield: “I guess not,” she said thoughtfully as she stared intently into its opening. “But how do you know that’s where they’re supposed to go? Maybe we should’ve just thrown the whole thing back instead.”
“Don’t be silly,” he answered quickly. “It’s very easy to figure out once you get the hang of it.”
“Really…?”
He nodded yes: “They always drop right out of the shell.”
“Oh, I see…” Karen stood up straight again, looked down again, and watched as the two tiny leaves slowly rose into the air along with a single long leaf from the top half of the little plant. A second later, each one of them gently landed in a completely random position somewhere within the circle formed by her hands.
Bobby took a quick step forward to catch the three cashews that fell from the first one but missed: They bounced off his foot harmlessly before disappearing into thin air yet again—as if sucked out of sight between some invisible door cracks!
He bent over awkwardly to pick them all up this time, which earned him another surprised look from Karen as she finally realized what he was trying to tell her all along: That they were not intended for anyone else except for those who possessed such powers themselves. The young girl stared wide-eyed for several seconds until she suddenly reached out for Bobby’s arm while simultaneously taking a large bite out of the nut sitting in her hand. It made a loud crunching sound when the skin on the inside split open and tore away cleanly in a perfectly round pattern around the entire outer surface; it was much too perfect in its own way to have ever happened naturally and only added more mystery to its origins.
“You can do it yourself,” he said as he held it steady against the front of her shirt once more so she could easily see what to do next: “Just pull the hard part down toward you so that it opens at least halfway up.” She did as instructed with surprising ease considering she had no idea what she was actually doing.
A small amount of juice escaped the hole where the two leaves had come through together with several strands of dark brown bark just below the white shell as they dropped out: When Karen saw that, she instantly placed her fingers into the opening and pushed down as hard as possible. But the tiny bit of liquid still remaining inside the fruit refused to budge, which prompted her to give the rest a light shove from the other side. As soon as this second effort failed to dislodge the whole thing from its position, Bobby simply stepped forward and pressed both palms flat against the outside near the bottom: There was a sudden jolt from deep within followed by an audible crackle before the two halves separated right down the middle! And then the three nuts popped right out!
The first one rolled straight across Karen’s lap landing softly in the palm of one hand while the two others bounced off her chest before dropping back onto the ground like some sort of bizarre rubber ball being thrown about by invisible hands. They landed almost perfectly in line with each other but in different spots than they’d landed on the last try.
“They always drop out of the same end,” explained Bobby. “But they never land exactly the way they did earlier either.” He bent over again to pick up all three of them and found them quite dry on their outer surfaces even though he hadn’t felt them hit any part of his clothing or skin when he caught them. It appeared as if something was preventing the liquid from getting all the way out and spreading itself around… and it also seemed as if it were somehow trapped inside there as well because none of it ever made its way outward once it left its original source.
Karen turned around to face him, took another bite out of her nut, and waited patiently for further instructions: “Okay…” He paused a moment, remembering a time long ago when his own mother had taken great care to teach him how to do things correctly—the ‘right’ way: The proper order and manner to accomplish tasks without having to look too hard for answers every step of the way. “You take hold of the shell near the top; I’ll get the ones at the bottom. We should be able to break the rest free that way. Just make sure you don’t lose your balance!”
She looked down at the small tree resting in front of her shirt just below the collar: She could see the little stem growing upward along the inner edge of the opening just beneath her chin while the single leaf sprouting from its center extended downward below her shoulder blades. This must be where she was supposed to grasp the entire thing! But when she tried reaching out to grab hold of it, she couldn’t quite manage to wrap her fingers around it properly so she ended up squeezing tightly enough only to let go again right away after giving it an awkward shake.
“Try again,” instructed Bobby. “We’re almost there.”
She pulled on it harder this time and managed to keep her grip until Bobby shouted for her to stop before making any sudden moves… which caused a very strange reaction on his part as the next instant his body was suddenly surrounded by a swirling ball of blue mist! He fell forward toward Karen’s outstretched hand but quickly realized what was happening when he felt a sudden resistance from a pair of arms that reached out to catch him in midair.
Bobby looked down through the haze to find Karen smiling broadly. Then he followed her gaze to realize that he’d somehow appeared beside her in the middle of one of her most powerful fields: “What happened?” he asked with surprise. “Where are we now? And who is it?”
Karen closed her eyes and concentrated for several seconds. After a moment, she opened them again and pointed at the same spot on her chest where the cashew had been earlier.
“This is the place that the other tree took us to last time…” she said slowly while pointing at the same spot: “…And I’m afraid that this is the person you’ll need to convince to help you. His name is Alvaro. Now all you have to do is try to talk your way past his defenses because I don’t think he’ll let you stay here otherwise.” She turned away from him briefly then looked back at him once more, her expression serious: “I can’t give you any further details about what happens when you enter the forest, but whatever it might be, please promise me that you won’t put yourself into danger!”
“No problem,” replied Bobby immediately as he stood up straight and faced off against the mysterious field surrounding them both. “Are you sure it’s safe for me to leave my body behind like this?
She nodded yes before continuing on with her explanation. “It’s just temporary… so if you feel like you’re starting to get uncomfortable, just reach out and take hold of something—anywhere! You should be able to pull free of this thing without much difficulty… probably even faster than I did myself since I was holding onto two people at the time. But be careful not to lose track of where your physical self actually is: If you wander too far from it, the world will become very confusing very fast.”
“Okay,” he answered again as he looked around for anything that he could grab on to: “Then what?”
Karen held his arm firmly for a moment while he got his bearings: “You know the tree on the right side?” he asked her. “The one with the hole in its trunk?”
She nodded yes: “Try moving through there instead of through here.” He released her hand long enough to make his way over toward the tree she’d indicated but then came back quickly when she yelled after him to stop: “…Not through here!” He smiled knowingly upon hearing those words and started walking slowly towards the opening but stopped once more almost immediately when she called out once more, this time warning him to keep away from the left-hand side of the clearing altogether because it would be fatal to enter that part of the forest from that direction ever again!
Bobby paused another few seconds to look carefully at the area Karen had pointed out. Then he took several cautious steps closer to the narrow gap between two of the trunks running down the middle of the field until he reached the place where it abruptly ended. With great caution he stepped forward yet further into the new opening. Once he was past that point, however, nothing else happened except for a slight feeling of dizziness followed by an increasing sense of disorientation as his feet carried him along aimlessly… with no ground or sky beneath them anywhere in sight! It was like floating within some invisible tunnel leading straight up… and straight down… and straight all around: No matter which way he turned, there were simply endless rows and columns of trees marching off in every conceivable direction in both directions.
He stopped dead in his tracks and let out a small scream while instinctively reaching both hands out to grasp anything that might possibly come within reach. There was absolutely nothing at first—not even any air—and so he closed his eyes tightly for a moment before forcing himself to take a deep breath. When he opened them again, he found himself standing directly above one of the enormous trees surrounding him on either side—as if the entire forest had somehow flipped upside-down on its roots! The tree appeared just as solid as usual; its branches seemed quite real and ready to break loose at any second: And its bark felt rough against his bare skin despite the fact that it hadn’t actually touched him since they’d been inside this thing together moments earlier: “I can still feel you!” He yelled out loudly without taking his eyes off the large trunk before spinning around and running headlong back into the middle of the field.
When Bobby looked back again he noticed something very strange about how he was now able to see the field itself instead of the two trunks he should have been looking through. But there was a single gap in between those two trunks right where he expected the opening would be… which only added more confusion when he realized that he could no longer find any trace of where that hole had originally been located… nor did it seem as if he had moved away from it in any direction at all! So much for the physical world! This was apparently nothing but an extension of the other place he’d visited last time: The place Alvaro’s father called ‘The Hidden World.’
Karen must’ve sensed what he was feeling because she suddenly shouted out, “Bobby! Be careful! You’re heading straight towards that big rock over there!”
“What?” he cried out after coming to a complete stop once again. “But I’m already past that part of the forest!” There wasn’t anywhere else for him to go. They were literally standing on top of each other. That same giant stone rose up like a lone tower overlooking the entire forest from one side while several smaller rocks and boulders dotted its surface like a collection of tiny islands floating upon some dark ocean… with endless fields stretching outward toward every conceivable direction in both directions: And everywhere they went, Bobby felt himself falling further and further down toward the center until everything eventually faded completely out of sight… leaving behind only darkness so profound that it swallowed every sound along with it.