The Butterfly Effect

She hadn’t thought there was any danger when she went to sleep. She’d planned for a normal forest, maybe a maze, that was hopefully where the next clue was; nothing weird or particularly troubling about any of it. It would just be a quick in and out trip, then they could go back to having fun. She’d be able to gently remind them that she was right in that there was nothing to worry about. That, initially, hardly changed when she saw the boys weren’t there.

“Come on, you two,” she called. “I know you’re better than to wander off on your own. You’re nearby somewhere!”

No response.

Lydia sorted through their things. It was all neatly put away—almost like they were never there to begin with. They were probably hiding in a tree somewhere trying to make her believe that they shouldn’t be here. She had to wonder what they must’ve offered him if Tavin was willing to play along with the whole thing, though; usually he wouldn’t put up with that kind of stuff. Or at the very least, he’d play along, but often didn’t go to the extent of going with them.

She found a note that truly started to tip off that it really wasn’t just a trick.

‘I wonder, when are you going to wake up?’

It spoke some truth that she didn’t want to acknowledge. She shook her head, sat it back down, and decided to take her search to the forest. “Whatever you’re trying to do now, you can stop! This isn’t the place for games.”

There was hardly a sign of them anywhere. It was a normal forest, complete with signs of only wildlife. All of it did nothing but contribute to her growing sense of panic. “I know I don’t use them very often but I do have the power to ground all three of you! That means you, an empty room, and constantly needing to deal with Mom. I’ll do it! You know I will!”

Still, there was nothing.

Her head kept coming up with new possibilities to explain their absence. They could’ve simply gone to set up something elaborate to get her to talk to them about what she was keeping. They could’ve started out doing that, then got attacked by some wild animal while she was unable to do anything. Skiá could’ve shown up, Imre always mumbled something about them more likely to hide in forests. She didn’t usually worry about them; she knew they were strong enough that they’d be able to take care of each other without her. But she’d also had few reasons to be worried about them—she usually knew where they were, what they were doing, and if it was something dangerous then she was with them. None of that was here. The sheer uncertainty of the whole thing sent her mind into paranoid panic mode, coming up with so many ideas and admittedly very few of them actually possible.

“Envi? You’re still here..?”

She stopped. She looked around and couldn’t help but mumble, “Shit…”

Things could have been bad. Or they could’ve been way, way worse.

She tried her best to maintain composure. She told herself that this might be another one of their attempts to get her to say they could leave, or to admit the dangers of being here. If they were watching somewhere, then she needed to act like she had everything under control. They needed to know they could trust her. Trust didn’t come by losing face in possible danger.

Yet now she had to face the possibility of what Mae said actually held a lot more truth in it than she’d credited it for… and the implications for when it did.

“I bet Imre’s getting worried.”

“I’d really suggest you stop trying to mess with me!” Lydia warned. “I’m not in the mood to deal with this!”

“Tavin’s probably waiting for you.”

She decided to turn it against itself. “You’re right, he’s with the twins. They’re all gods-knows-where waiting for me to admit that I made a mistake.”

It didn’t do what she hoped it would; it didn’t go away, it got more distinguished.

“Are you sure about that? Maybe he’s at the castle. Sitting next to his father, chilly but still willing to sit outside in the garden… watching the sunset as still no word comes about what he was promised.” It took on an unfamiliar voice now; she didn’t know who it was and, worse yet, she didn’t know where it was. “It’s a shame. You came all the way out here, spent all this time… just so then you wouldn’t have to lose them. But you’re doing the same thing to him that they did to you. Now how’s that fair?”

“What do you want from me?” Lydia kept looking around, hoping she might find the source of the voice. If she could, then she might be able to make it stop. She was quickly losing the composure she’d tried to keep. “I’ll get out of your forest! I just want my sons back. Just—just give me my sons back and we’ll all leave.”

“Bold of you to assume I have them.”

“If you did anything to those three—”

“Who’s saying that I did anything? I said I didn’t have them. That doesn’t mean that I did something to them.”

“Look, don’t you want me to leave? We’ll all get out of your forest and let you go back to doing whatever you want. I’m willing to admit that I brushed off the possible danger of this place, okay? Just let us go back to our adventure…”

“You realize it, don’t you? That sooner or later you’re going to need to wake up? You can’t keep looking back and seeing what will never be. Are you ready to face the reality that none of this can ever be reality?”

“Please… let us go back…”

It took a moment for the voice to say anything. “You should get going. This isn’t the kind of place one should linger for long…”

Lydia knew better than to test the claim. She darted off and she started searching, calling, praying that somewhere around here was her sons. It felt like she was already losing them again; she wanted for them to be together for as long as possible, and nothing here was going to stop her.

She gave herself some time to breathe, slowly considering where she was and what she would need to do to get out of it. She was running herself in circles; there must’ve been something similar to a maze in here. Taking a moment to give her surroundings a more detailed look, she found a way to follow the things that changed.

Unfortunately, there was something to keep her from staying in silence.

“Still no word from her?”

“I know she’s back at the Stone estate by now, but…”

“Have you tried sending something? She could’ve forgotten, or she’s with someone who doesn’t realize there’s somewhere she was supposed to be.”

“Lewis sent a letter. He said she’s fine but that she’ll need a little longer. I tried asking what she was doing, but he still hasn’t responded.”

“I guess we’re just going to have to trust her. Lydia’s good at keeping her promises; she’ll come around eventually.”

She wandered through the whole place to find what she hoped would put an end to all of it. There was an artifact tucked up beside a tree trunk. She knelt down and pulled away the vines around it to find that the voices stopped, and as soon as she turned around she saw Tim, Henry, and Tavin come out.

“There you three are!” Lydia rushed up to them and, in her relief, may have hugged them a bit too tightly. She stepped back and let her motherly instincts take over from there. “I’m so glad you’re all safe. You are all alright, right?”

“We’re all fine, Mom,” Tim assured her. She chose, for now, to ignore the kind of expression the three of them shared; they’d seen or heard something while she was gone. The thought of what it might have been didn’t cross her mind for a little while longer.

After checking herself to make sure that they were, in fact, completely fine, she was able to calm herself down. “First things first. Did you wander off and do all of that or was it something else?”

“We didn’t do anything,” Henry replied. “Honestly I’m not really sure what happened…”

“I’m going to admit that you both had pretty good points,” Lydia said, “and that you were right. I’ll think about the reputation of the places we’re going to a little more from now on.”

It took Tavin a moment to decide to say anything. “What are you doing?” He didn’t give her time to respond. “We heard those voices. What were they talking about?”

“I think this has our next clue,” Lydia announced, showing them the artifact. None of them seemed to like how she avoided it. She had a feeling that they wouldn’t like it no matter what she told them, so it was better not to say anything at all. “Let’s head back to the Shameers and figure out where we’re supposed to be going now.”