The Unicorn's Forest

The next day, Charlie was miserable. Not only was she not able to come up with a reason for what was going on with herself, but now she found herself in pretty much the same position as she was the day before. Only now she couldn't help but wonder if she was losing it, since it was the same emotions coming up as the day before and she couldn't figure out what was causing it.

In the end, she could only endure it, hoping that it would either go away or she'd be able to figure out what the cause of it was. Even though at times she felt a little frazzled over it, she was able to push through. She was grateful that no one seemed to notice her difficulty, but couldn't really tell if that was a good thing or not.

As she left the school building again with Beth at the end of the day, Charlie walked in silence, letting Beth fill the silence with her own chatter, not that Charlie really heard much of what she said. Her mind wouldn't let go of her emotional problem at the moment, which meant that she was having a harder time focusing on anything else.

Their group of friends hadn't planned on meeting up that day, as some had various appointments set up by their parents. Which meant that Charlie would have some time by herself, which she was looking forward to. It had been a while an she was hoping that she'd be able to sort out the problems she'd suddenly started having at school. She couldn't be sure that she'd get through it, but at least she'd be able to say that it wasn't from a lack of being able to get time to think about it.

However, when Charlie parted ways with Beth as she got to her house, she couldn't help but feel like she should have asked Beth about her current dilemma, but quickly pushed that aside. If she couldn't figure it out on her own, maybe she'd aske then, she told herself.

Shaking her head, she opened the door to the house and went inside. However, the scene that greeted her, caused her to stop cold. She had expected to see Cherie watching TV, but right now her mother and Cherie were watching the TV, but it was clear it wasn't a regular program, especially the serious expression her mother had.

"What's up, mom?" Charlie asked, walking over to the living room.

"Sit down dear," her mother told her, and Charlie did so, not sure what was going on.

Charlie glanced at the TV and saw it was a breaking news story. At first Charlie thought it was some major disaster, but quickly dismissed that idea when it was clear the only first responders present were the police, and they seemed to be focused more on crowd control than anything else. What the event was that not only did the centaur reappear, but this time it was next to a clearly older one.

Both were wearing what looked like a steel breastplate over their human torsos, though the younger one looked like there were bumps on the chest where breasts would be for a human teenage girl. Which made Charlie start thinking of that centaur as a girl. Then, along their equine parts, there were pieces of armor that were clearly made to be effective in regards to combat, or at least combat using swords and such. While the armor looked like it was fully functional, it also looked incredibly ornate. Even through the cameras, she could make out designs on the armor as well as how the armor was shaped along the shoulders and other joints on their bodies. The younger one also had a pack on her back that looked like it was used to carry supplies. Charlie assumed it would be food and stuff that they planned on eating at some point.

Both centaurs were standing calmly, though the younger one seemed rather nervous. In front of them looked like s man trying to communicate with them. The news anchor was explaining that they were in the middle of 'efforts to establish a dialogue with the creatures.'

"When did this happen, mom?" Charlie asked.

"I believe they appeared around noon," she replied. "I wasn't watching the TV then, but I got a text from a friend at work to turn it on."

"Where did they come from?" Cherie asked.

"They're still trying to figure out that, just as they did when that first one appeared earlier in the summer," their mother answered.

"How long will this last?" Charlie asked.

"Maybe they're here to stay?" Cherie suggested.

"I'm not sure how long this will take, so why don't both of you start getting to work on any homework you've gotten already and I'll call you down if there's a significant change," their mother told them.

Charlie didn't have a problem doing that but Cherie clearly wanted to stay and watch things as they unfolded. Part of the reason Charlie was fine going was that she knew she'd get really bored waiting for who knows how long for any real change to occur.

However, rather than pulling out the few pieces of homework she'd received already, she pulled her phone out to call Beth. This was a development she couldn't pass by letting the others know. Especially since not all of them had been convinced that the centaur's first appearance had been real and not a hoax.

"Miss me already?" Beth teased as she answered. "We barely just parted."

"You should check the news," Charlie merely replied.

"Why? What happened?" Beth asked.

"The centaur returned and she has an older one with her," Charlie said, unable to stay still as she spoke, so she started pacing around her room.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, when I got home, it was on the news. My mom said they appeared around noon. Apparently communication is still being worked on, so nothing's really happened yet, but I thought you should know. I think this might be important for us, no matter how it turns out."

Beth was quiet for a minute and Charlie was starting to worry that Beth might just hang up on her. "If that's true, then I'm sure Ralph will be interested to know," Beth finally says, amusement clear in her voice.

"Yeah, I just thought I should let you know and you could let the others know," Charlie repeated.

Beth laughed. "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll give you their numbers eventually," she said, then stopped for moment. "Hold on, just thought of something. I just need to send a text, so give me a sec."

Charlie waited patiently. She couldn't think of what Beth needed to text anyone about, but she also didn't know all going on in Beth's life.

"Okay, sorry about that. I'll be expecting a reply soon, so I'll have to pause again to take a look at it when I get it," Beth apologized.

"It's okay," Charlie said. "I'm sure you have things going on in your life that I'm not aware of."

"Anyway, do you think we might be able to go through the gate in front of the state capitol soon, then?"

Charlie sighed. "No, I get the feeling that it'll take a while before communications with them is possible. And even then, I doubt just anyone can go through the gate at any time. If anything, I bet it'll be like traveling to another country. They'll make sure to have a record of each person going through."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Beth said. It was just a passing thought anyway."

"What would be funny is if that gate connected to one of the worlds that Petals' forest connects to."

"That would be funny," Beth said, when Charlie heard a notification sound coming through the call. "Hold on a sec."

Charlie waited, finally hopping on her bed, where she lay looking at the ceiling while she waited for Beth to finish with her text business.

"Okay, done. What were we talking about again?"

"We were talking about the gate the centaur came through and the fact she's back."

"Wait, how do you know the centaur is a 'she?'" Beth asked.

"I saw her on the news standing next to an older centaur and both are wearing armor. The look of the armor on the younger centaur, the one I'm sure was the one who appeared last time, shows that she's a young woman," Charlie answered, trying to not have to get into explicit detail. Just saying that much had already made her face heat up in embarrassment.

"Wish I could see your face right now," Beth laughed. Charlie didn't respond, hoping Beth would move on from that topic. Eventually she did. "Well, we'll see what comes of the centaurs eventually. I just hope that it won't lead the government to finding out about Petals and her forest."

"Yeah," Charlie agreed. "We don't know what the centaurs know or what they might say once we're able to understand each other."

"Oh, gotta go, I see my brother walking. I'm gonna talk with him the rest of the way to my house," Beth suddenly said.

"Okay, talk to you later," Charlie said, wondering what might change with these unexpected events.

_

Beth sighed as she began taking her clothes off to get ready for a shower. Her brother was starting to work on his homework while everyone else was still out. Beth could only assume that Stacie was spending time with some of the friends she had at school, and her other sisters were probably with their mother at her job.

Though, that wasn't what had her feeling more tired than she usually did at this time. Part of it was learning about the reappearance of the centaur, part of it was the response she'd gotten from the text she'd sent Alex, and part of it was not being able to tell any of her family about magic and all that was part of it.

She was currently in the bathroom, dropping her clothing on the floor as she removed each article, one at a time. She was taking her time, hoping that it would help her deal with the fatigue she was feeling at the moment.

Then as she stepped into the shower and turned the water on, she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"What is it?" she called out, not bothering to turn the water off, even though it hadn't warmed up and was cold on Beth's body.

"I wanted to ask you something," her brother said through the door.

"Why didn't you ask me when we were walking home?"

"It's… I… Ummm… I'm not sure how to put it," her brother finally said.

"I'm in the shower now, so I'll talk with you after I get out, okay?" Beth replied. Her time in the shower was typically one of the most relaxing times of her day, and helping her siblings with problems typically prevented any relaxation to occur.

"Okay," her brother said dejectedly.

Pushing that incident out of her mind, she thought about the response she'd gotten from Alex. It wasn't until Charlie had called her, that she remembered to ask Alex if she wanted to ask Charlie herself for her number or if she'd rather Beth just give it to her. The reply didn't take as long as Beth had been worried it would take, and the response was just as unsurprising. Alex had indicated that she'd ask Charlie tomorrow. If nothing else, it would add some entertainment for Beth then, but part of her was starting to wonder if there was anything developing between the two. Nothing in the rumors going around indicated there was anything yet, but that didn't always mean there wasn't anything.

Though, as she thought about it, she realized that Charlie did seem troubled about something, but she couldn't tell what. Maybe she should ask Charlie about it later. Even if she didn't say anything, her reaction could be rather informative.

Beth also started to wonder what she should do about Shirley. While she had put off thinking about her, she knew she couldn't continue doing that. Eventually she'd need to deal with what she had done and make sure she knew what the consequences were. Especially since Beth wouldn't be able to tell anyone about it. After all, since Charlie didn't want to know, even if it was only for right now, she couldn't tell others about it, even if it was with all the graphic details omitted without increasing the chance of Charlie becoming aware of it. Which would likely negate any effect of having sealed her memories in the first place.

However, she wasn't sure when the beset time to deal with her would be. She had gotten Shirley's number on the return trip, so she'd be able to call her whenever it was convenient for Beth. Maybe it's because she hadn't done this before or just because of how serious of an attack Shirley had made on Charlie, but Beth wasn't sure exactly what to do to make Shirley feel at least some pain for what she'd done. Especially because without Charlie's memories, it would be next to impossible to take actual legal action against her.

Beth turned the water off as she finished her shower, having washed her body while also having taken care of what parts of her needed shaving, like her legs.

As she dried off, a thought came to her that surprised her, in that she hadn't thought of it before. The thought was that Shirley could tell Beth everything she knew about Heathcliff's organization. Such as how big, was it the only one that dealt with magic or were there more, or any fine details that wasn't coming to Beth's mind at the moment. It certainly could help with dealing with Heathcliff when they dealt with him.

Beth wrapped a towel around her body as she opened the door, ready to go to her room where she could finish drying off and get put something clean on.

However, as she started to leave the bathroom, she saw just how important what her brother needed to talk to her about was to him, given how he had decided to sit on the floor and wait for her to come out.

Beth sighed. "What's you're problem?" she asked sitting on the floor next to her brother, knowing if she didn't deal with this now, he'd just follow her to her room and wait outside there if necessary.

Dale sighed, looking at his lap. "Is it wrong that I'm not interested in sports?" he asked.

"No, it's not," Beth said. "Not everyone is interested in sports, just as not everyone likes being the center of attention."

"My friends told me that only real men play football," Dale said. "That if I don't try out that I can't be a real man."

At that, Beth couldn't help but laugh out loud. It even took her a few minutes before she could even calm down enough to even get out a response of any kind. When she did, she first took a deep breath before trying to say anything.

"Sorry about that, Dale," she said, looking at him.

Dale shrugged his response, not moving his eyes from his lap.

Beth pulled Dale into a side hug, forcing him to shift his eyes from his lap. "If you'd like, I could get a friend of mine who's the star quarterback of my school last year. He probably could explain this better than I can, but even with sports, many guys have different interests. Some like baseball, others basketball, some soccer, and there's a lot more sports that draw interest of a lot of different people."

Dale nodded, leaning against Beth, his head resting against Beth's shoulder.

"By the way Dale," Beth added as a thought came to her. "What is it that you are interested in? If you don't want to say you don't have to, but even if you haven't told your friends, I won't tell anyone unless you tell me it's okay." Beth paused for a moment before adding, "Even if it's Stacie, Katie, Lisa, or Harriet."

Dale nodded, though he didn't say anything, at first, but Beth did notice he cracked a smile when she mentioned Harriet. Then when Beth thought he wasn't going to say anything, he said, "I think I might like to try track."

Beth nodded. "Now that's a sport a lot of men go into. Many make a career out of it, even if it isn't as publicized like football is." Beth paused for a moment before adding, "I thought you said you weren't interested in sports?"

Dale shook his head a little. "I'm not. I just think if I try it maybe I'll get interested."

"No harm in that, right?" Beth replied when a thought occurred to her. "Why didn't you say any of this when we were walking together on the way home or after we got home?"

"Trying to work it out on my own," Dale murmured. "Didn't want to bother you."

"Hey, don't worry about if it's a bother for me. It's really only a real bother when you decide to ask for my help when I'm occupied with something else, like taking a shower," Beth said, smiling at her brother.

"Thanks, Beth," Dale said, as he suddenly wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a full hug from the side.

Beth chuckles as she hugs her brother back. "Well, if you need any help just let me know." Then she was about to try to extricate herself when she realized she should say something else. "And if your friends don't accept it, it might be time to consider getting new friends. After all, if they can't accept your decision, they might not be friends worth keeping."

"I'll think about it," Dale said, getting up and heading off to his room.

Beth carefully stood up so her towel wouldn't come open and made her way to her room. Once the door was closed, she removed her towel and hung it over the back of the chair at her desk before starting to look for something clean enough to wear. While she probably should get started on her homework, she wanted first to talk with Shirley. Now was as good of a time as any to hear what she had to say about Heathcliff's organization.

Besides, the earlier she learned about this the better. Not only would she then be able to have more time to think of questions to clarify points she wasn't clear about, but it would then give her more time to help Charlie figure out what would the best way to confront Heathcliff about what he had Shirley do.