[Forest] Don’t Panic! (Invite only)

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

The faint and slow sound of Dan’s watch ticking filled the area around the Headmaster. The sounds of the castle seemed so far off as the lights from the windows shown out over the darkness of the castle grounds, it was only half seven in the evening but already the stars were out in the, for once, clear November night sky. Glancing down at his watch again nervously the headmaster rubbed his hands together and did a small jig on the spot in an attempt to keep warm. His knee length gray coat was buttoned up, the collar was flicked up in an attempted to keep the wind off his neck and as a cold wind blew he shoved his hands into his pockets.

It might have been a strange sight to see the Dan Hubbles waiting around on the borders of the forest, some might even say a bit suspicious but the man had a good reason. He had personally written to members of his staff asking for their advice and help on a matter of great importance and so keeping true to his word and in vain hope that some of them would venture outside he waited. He kept his eyes peeled for anyone making their way over the grounds, but also every time he heard a noise behind him his head would jerk around in fear of being attacked…the sooner someone turned up the better.

[Professor William Vaid]

It had been a while since Will had cleaned his desk, and after dinner he decided it needed to be done. Giving Hannah a kiss goodnight, he headed for his classroom to clean up. Opening the door, the chairs were not exactly very tidy under the desks and the floor was disgustingly grotty. With a flick of his wand and a deep heavy sigh, the chairs flipped up and sat themselves on their corresponding desks and a mop and bucket from a small cupboard at the back of the room came toppling out and began washing the floor free from muck.

As he walked to the far end of the classroom to his desk, he saw the mounds of papers and files cluttering it. He hadn't realised how bad it was until now, and he was quite disgusted in himself. Shaking his head, he noticed a new letter that had appeared on the desk. Opening it up, it was a letter from Dan the headmaster asking him to meet him at the forest. Will laughed and began smirking to himself wondering if tonight was the night Dan was going confess his love for Will.
"The silly numpty wouldn't surprise me if he did either" he reassured himself with another laugh.

Deciding Dan's help was more important than shuffling a few papers he headed back out pulling back on his coat as he went. It had become dark rather quickly, and as the last few students wandered around Will stepped out onto the crisp air and rubbed his hands together before blowing into them to warm them up. His black coat's collar was pulled up to stop the wind chilling his back and he continued to rub his hands together as he made his way down the grass towards the forest entrance.

It wasn't long before he saw Dan and Will instantly beamed again thinking of why the hell Dan would want him outside at this time. As he neared him he smirked.
"I'm sorry Dan, this isn't going to work mate, i'm not gay...and i'm not sure Dia would be impressed that you would leave her for your best mate" he joked as he finally halted in front of him.

[Professor Jackson Shaw]

Jackson had been pondering about the message Dan had sent him earlier today and all he could think was, this better be good, or, it had better be a life and death situation. He had to cancel on Jac again and by now he was almost sure she was sick to the back teeth of it. The note lay open on his desk now as he wrapped himself in his long black coat, sticking his wand in the pocket and wrapping a scarf around his neck. "I wonder what this hex is?" He pondered, "He's the headmaster, surely he could sort it out himself right? Why ask me to do it?" He shook his head and stuck the note firmly in his pocket before walking out of his office and heading towards the outside, the wand tip light with the lumos spell as he pushed through the oak doors and onto the grounds.

As he got nearer the forest, he noticed someone else was beside Dan and this set his suspicions into overdrive somewhat. If there was a hex, why was the Potions Master needed? What, was this a hex that you had to use potions to get to first? What the hell is going on. He pondered as his feet continued their forward march to where Dan and Will was. Once he arrived there, he lifted his wand and simultaneously his eyebrow too. Hopefully they could get this done and then Jack could actually salvage what was left of his evening.

"So where's this hex then Dan?" He asked, he was itching to be somewhere else, this was obvious. But if he was honest, there was something really wrong here, something amiss and Jack didnt know what it was. Usually calm and full of life, he felt a little annoyed his evening was ruined with no prewarning either. Shrugging it off as best he could he tried to not ponder over it. Jack wasnt an angry person, he didnt do angry, he would let this slide for tonight. "Seriously, better get a payrise for this, do you know what you're making me miss tonight?" He asked, his eyebrows raised again but a slight unJacksonlike smirk was on his face. "Good evening Will." Jack smiled, still a little uneasy, something didnt feel right. Something felt wrong.

Yeah... Definatly wrong.

[Prof. Hannah Edgecombe]

Hannah had been enjoying herself a nice cup of tea while sitting at the desk in her chambers going over the myriad of paper work she was forced to fill out for her job here at Hogwarts. She was on her last form when there was a faint tapping sound at her window. Her head turned and that's when she spied an owl hovering around outside. Hannah wondered who would be sending her notes. Suddenly her mind turned to Will but then he was perfectly capable of coming to see her personally. No, this had to be from someone else perhaps her father. Rolling her eyes at that thought Hanna rose, walked to the window throwing it open. The tiny scops owl flew in circled the light above her bed before finally coming back and coming to rest on the window sill.

Hannah stared at the thing, it was much to energetic for her taste. Scowling at the twittering annoyance she pulled the note off and pretty much threw the bird back out of the window shutting it loudly behind her. She didn't even bother to check and see if the thing managed to fly off. Unfolding the letter her eyes scanned the page. Odd that he would be asking for her help but seeing as he was best mates with Will she would acquiesce. Now she had to change her clothes her long night shirt would probably attract a lot of attention but just wouldn't be appropriate. Going through her things she found a pair of black jeans, with matching black boots, a white cashmere sweater, and light weight leather jacket completed the outfit.

Reading the note once more Hannah left the castle as instructed and headed outside. It wasn't often she was summoned by him and outside no less. Maybe there was something up, but what? Weird things were happening around the school, plus she had a prophecy though she didn't remember a word of it now. Reaching the designated meeting area she found that she was not the only one summoned. Will was there as well as Jackson Shaw. What the heck was going?

[Prof. Nelson Rutherford]

Nelson liked organisation, everything had to be in their correct place and order and so when the Charms Professor entered his office the first thing he noticed was that his desk was untied. For anybody else a single letter lying askew on his desk would be nothing but for Nelson it just produced too much bad karma. Quickly the man hurried over to his desk, picked up the letter and opened it up to find out what was so important to disturb the perfect state of his desk.
The letter was in fact from the Headmaster and he was asking for his assistance, now that truly perplexed the Professor as why should the ex-Charms Professor need the help of the new one. Although as Nelson read on the man came to the conclusion that it was clearly his skills as an Aurors that the headmaster was after and so it was slightly begrudgingly that at seven thirty he wrapped up warm and headed out of the castle.

The new Charms Professor was not one really for socializing with the other Professors let alone stepping outside of the castle. The problem with the outside world was dirt and the mere thought of entering the forest was too much to bare, just imagine the mud stains on his trousers. However he needed to push these factors out of his mind and focus on the matter at hand, just like in the old days, the faster the job got done the sooner he could be in a clean environment once more. That is when Nelson hit problem number two, the professors seemed to be gathered around having a small mothers meeting, not doing anything.

“Hubbles, Shaw, Edgemcombe, Vaid.” The man’s voice was slightly gruff but he stood proud, a straight back and his head held high. He was not going to moan about the cold, not even the dirt out loud to his colleagues, he had an image to uphold.

[Professor Emilie Houle]

Well wasn’t she surprised when she found a note sitting on her office desk? Blinking, Emilie snatched it off and flicked her wand, shutting her office door behind her. Now who would send her a letter? The note was stuffed into her pocket as she moved around the room and put her items back into place. It was somewhat scary how eerily clean she was. But when something was out of place, it just seemed to bother the young teacher. Grimacing slightly at the thought of an untidy room, Emilie sunk down into one of her chairs and finally pulled the note out of her pocket.

As she read it, her face seemed to change. The delicate eyebrows pulled together in the middle of her forehead and a frown creased across her face. Help? The thought of Dan needing help from her was almost as absurd as her dying her hair pink. With that same troubled expression on her face, she set the letter back on her desk and stood up. The papers she was supposed to grade were tossed onto her chair as she snatched up her coat and glanced at the clock.

It only took a few moments for the Professor to make it outside. A rush of cold air hit her face and she shuddered, drawing her coat closer to her. A dim light seemed to be at the edge of the forest, and she head off for that direction. Her feet crunched against the grass as she moved forward at a swift pace. Finally, faces appeared in her view, those of her fellow professors. Though it didn’t seem to ease her tension. That unexplainable feeling of anxiety was slowly churning in her as she approached the group.

“Evening Gentlemen. And of course Hannah, nice to see you too.” She murmured in her distinctly soft voice. Emilie shoved her hands into her coat pocket and rocked back on her heels, trying to fight the gnawing fear at the edge of her mind.

[alanaduncan]

<sub>Alana wasn't much for socializing, at least not with the other professors as she was far too meek for that. She hadn't thought much of it when she was offered the job, but now that she had it she found it rather intimidating and kept to a small circle of friends among the other professors and tended to keep away from finding out of any bit of their business as to not look nosy. So when she walked into her office to get a stack of papers to finish grading, and noticed a piece of paper that didn't fit among the bunch, she pursed her lips for a moment. "That's odd.." She thought after identifying it as a note, rather than just a misplaced essay that fell out of one of her eccentrically colored folders.

Slipping it open and glancing through it quickly, her eyebrows pushed together until a small worry line was formed. The headmaster was calling her out on her Transfiguration skills, what was this about? A small tinge of irrational fear spread up her spine but she just placed the note hastily into the drawer and sighed. It was obvious that she would have to go, though meeting outside in the cold by the forest seemed awfully... criminal. Checking her clock, she noticed the late hour that it was already and swore lightly. A meeting with the boss wasn't something she was particularly enthused about being late for, and she hastily flung on her white coat and pulled out any tufts of her long hair that manged to get caught underneath the fabric. As a final touch, after the reminder about the recent chilly weather, she grabbed her old house scarf and tied it around her neck, since it she were to meet a Hufflepuff man, it was obvious that she would have to represent the Ravenclaws.

As soon as she hit the chilly air, she folded her arms across her chest in an attempt to keep her coat wrapped tighter around her and her warmth in as she marched over to the spot, suddenly grouchy at the fact that she was expected to go outside in the cold and wind at this late hour. By the time she could see distinct shapes of people, and thankfully, multiple Professors, her cheeks were already blushing with the bite of the wind. Walking up, she quickly identified each teacher and raised a brow. It was quite a collection and an assortment, what could be going on here?

"Evening all," She said awkwardly, feeling required to make some sort of greeting that wasn't a demand to know what was going on.</sub>

[Prof. Victoria Potter]

Bella the new kitten she acquired recently was walking around her office keeping her company as she worked grading essays. History in the hands of students was often comical. Sometimes they just made things up to keep things more interesting. The one she was holding now claimed that the legendary battle between Dumbledore and Grindelwald took place at night on the very Quidditch pitch the students used to play a match. Vick was highly amused even though she had to give him a poor grade for such a wrong answer. Her eyes were starting to blur so she leaned back in her chair and closed them so they could have a rest.

Two things happened at once after she had stared to relax. Number one had been a whooshing sound followed by a loud hiss from Bella. Vicky's eyes opened as Bella streaked out from under the desk she had been hiding under. Vicky's eyes scanned the room for the source of the trouble. It didn't take long to find it. The owl was right above her desk it dropped a letter on top the top of her head. It flew right back out and Bella chased after it. Only quick thinking and her wand stopped her four legged furry friend from plunging herself out the window.

Vicky put the letter down on her desk and went to the stunned calico cat. Petting her to ease her fears Vicky stood beside her desk again seeing the note that caused the problems. The handwriting looked familiar and placing Bella down on her desk Vicky scooped it up. The Headmaster was requesting her presence outside.

Bella jumped on her papers but Vicky did not notice. Grabbing a jacket she made her way outside. Dan asking to see her would have been a dream come true months ago, lucky she was getting over her crush.

The sky was steadily darkening which made Dan's request even more odd. Why meet up so late? What in the world would she find so interesting out here at night? He had better have some good answers she thought. In he distance she could see several figures. Looked like almost half the staff had been called out there. This was getting more and more peculiar. Reaching the crowd Vicky simply smiled and said "evening all."

[Prof Brianna O'Donnell]

It had been yet another successful day for Bree and it had left her in a good mood. This was most certainly a good thing as when she got to her office after dinner a surprise would be waiting for her. Bree did not like surprises, especially if they were from the man this letter was from. Standing next to her desk, Charleston the kneazle sitting on the letter, practically baiting her to open it, his multi-coloured tail swishing this way and that.

Once she had read it a vicious sneer crossed the woman's face as her long fingers curled around the note. A hand moved absently to Charleston's head, a long finger scratching him behind the ear as he purred away. Her other hand dropped soon, as Charleston pushed his head into Bree's hand and her sneer turned into a smile. "So ..." Bree said wistfully to her cat, "The Man wants my help does he? We'll show him exactly how much help he needs, won't we Charlie?" The kneazle meowed loudly before standing up and jumped off the desk, disappeared under it and not re-emerging for the rest of her time there.

That was to say, she didn't stay very long, only long enough to grab her three quarter length black jacket and wrap her striped scarf around her neck. Then she was off, heading briskly out of the castle and towards the forest - the path she walked most days. It wasn't a sight she saw every day though, this place at this late hour ... well, it might not have been so late but the sky certainly suggested that it was. It became harder and harder for her to judge what the time was as the year wained into winter but she went with it as best as she could.

Bree had always had difficultly with her circulation and so she didn't feel the cold very easily. Even so, she pulled on her jacket, the tails tapping the back of her thighs as she walked, and she wrapped her scarf around her neck one more time. It wasn't a very wide scarf but when wrapped around the neck enough times it did what it was supposed to do well enough. The earth descended into the Forest and there, sure enough, was Hubbles ... with a troop of other people?

Bree did not like surprises.

Her dark skinny jeans sat tight but not as tight as her lips as she joined the group of teachers. "And what's this, Hubbles?" Bree posed the question looking around at everyone, "you planning on having us all eaten in the forest while you run the school by yourself? I know Han's prophecy freaked you out something awful but there are better ways of dealing with this then killing all of us off." Bree had her arms crossed firmly across her chest as a cold breeze began to blow, her curls getting swept along with it across her face.

"Personally, I think we're all just too pretty do die."

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Panic stricken, Dia's hands began to shake as she reread the note that Dan had left for her. She thought he had been acting strangely during dinner but she hadn't suspected that ... what had gotten into the man? It was impossible for her to say, ever since the school year had started again Dan had been acting stranger then usual, and according to Dia that took some doing. Even so, she had to do something ...

A shaky hand moved to her mouth as she stifled a moan. Could it be possible that this was what the prophecy had been talking about? No! Dia told herself firmly, you must remain calm. She had needed to mark a few papers, quite a number actually, but she left them where they were on her desk, dropped the note from Dan on the table and stormed out of her office, long coat over her arm.

She moved quickly through the castle and soon exited through the wide front doors. Down the lawns Dia went ... the forest looming menacingly in the distance, rising like an evil blanket come to smother her. Dia caught herself and stopped walking. She soon realised she had been holding her breath. Letting it out, Dia shook herself, blond locks falling around her down-cast face.

"Come on!" she told herself, "you've come this far ..."

Her feet began plodding again, one in front of the other, towards the small crowd that was just outside of the line of trees. She was still holding her breath, her fists clenched, shoulders locked. She didn't like the forest in the slightest. Then she saw Dan ...

She tried a smile ... breath ... she told herself. Taking long deep breaths, Dia managed a smile and held out an open hand to him, giving him a light kiss on the cheek. "Dan," she said, worry clear in her voice, "what's going on ...?" She looked around and smiled at the other professors, "why're we all here?"

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan did not have to wait long for the first of the Professors to arrive and in true Hufflepuff fashion, it was Will and also in the true fashion of his best mate the greeting was not what you would call normal. It actually stunned Dan to silence at first as he tried to work out what in the name of Merlin’s beard the Potions Master was on about, and then he remembered the note and everything just fit into place. The look of confusion melted away into and was replaced with playful hurt and with the accompanying hand to the forehead for the whole ‘Woe is me’ look Dan sniffed back the fake tears.

“Just dash all my hopes William but…” He lowered his hand slowly and met his best mate’s eyes finding it hard to keep a straight face. “A boy can dream can’t he?” A rather loud snort escaped the headmaster as he could not longer keep the laughter in, he could believe at a time like this, when they were about to do something stupidly dangerous Dan was laughing along with Will as if they were in the pub.

However he was forced to stop the child like behaviour and act like a respectable adult once more when the dark silhouette of another professor approached, Jackson Shaw. He seemed to have a few questions about what they were doing here and Dan did not know where to start as he knew as soon as the other Professors turned up they would ask the same thing and he would end up repeating himself ten times over, so instead he took a different tactic, he simply raised his finger to his mouth placing it against his lips to signal silence.

So as they stood there, in the shadows of the Forbidden Forest their group slowly started to get bigger with teachers turning up at different intervals all saying the same greeting and did the same every time, he simply nodded his head in greeting. At firs the whole silent act had started out to avoid answering questions but now Dan was listening so closely to the sounds of the forest that he almost, only almost managed to avoid hearing Bree’s tongue in cheek comments. She was fishing for a squabble like they had that time in the office; she was playing with him, waiting for him to snap but not tonight…or at least not yet anyway.

The familiar silhouette of Dia wondered over the grounds and Dan found himself watching her approach, the hint of a smile on his face although the look of worry did concern him slightly. He pushed this thought to one side however and took hold of the hand she was offering him. “Did you see anyone else on your way down?” He casually asked not really waiting for a response, there was a fair few of them now and with every minute they stood here was time wasted in the forest.

Gripping Dia’s hand tightly Dan gave a small cough to clear his throat and looked at the Professors who had gathered. It was now or never and he knew he had to say it all before his courage faded completely.

“I had been reading a lot recently trying to work out what the hell is going on, as I am sure you have all noticed things in Hogwarts are not…right.” He gave a nervous look around at the expressions of the Professors before continuing. “My searches had been fruitless until the other night I was reading a book on ancient wizarding folk law and it mentioned a forest in Scotland. I spent the whole night, with the help of Offley, working out the geological positions of this mythical forest.” With his free hand Dan pulled a few scrappy looking bits of parchment out of his pocket and started to wave them around in the air as the excitement built up inside of him. “It is here, the Forbidden Forest is the forest in the tale and hidden in the south east section there should be a pool of water that would only glow silver in the starlight! When it is silver all is right it in the world, but in the story the pool was poisoned and bad things started to happen.”

His heart was pounding and his chest was heaving up and down as he tried to get his breath back. His hand gripped onto Dia’s tighter then ever as the silence that had fallen over the small gathering seemed to stretch out, to Dan at least, for years.

[Prof Brianna O'Donnell]

Dan ignored Brianna's comments and it made the tall woman smile. He was getting wise to her teasing, it was all too obvious. Turning to Hannah as the teachers stood in an almost awkward silence, Bree smiled and tilted her head to the side. "Hello Hannah," she said as Dia-like as she could manage, "how are you ... since the ... you know ..." Bree coughed, holding her fist in front of her mouth as she did so, looking up the lawns as someone else approached. "You had problems with Walker again?" she asked earnestly, her brow pinched tightly into a frown.

It was Dia who she had seen coming to join them and as she did Bree stayed where she was, just smiling shyly at the professor, drawing a figure-eight on the grass with her foot, staring blankly at it. She didn't know what she would say to the woman and didn't want to bring any of that up here. Her dark curls flopped around her face as she began bouncing on her other foot.

Dan began talking, answering all the question that everyone had been dying to have answered. Bree looked at Dan, her green eyes intent on the man as he looked at them all, speaking about this supposed pool. Bree walked towards him, yanked the parchment he had been waving around, spun around and stood hunched over the piece of parchment as she poured over what it said.

"I've been to that side of the forest, Dan," Bree said not looking up from the parchment, "and I've never seen any ... pool like this." Bree prided herself on the fact that she knew the forest rather well. Looking up again, Bree smiled at everyone. "But it's not too far from where we are now, shouldn't be more then a twenty minute walk, brisk of course, but still." She raised an eyebrown and smiled maniacally.

This was Bree's way of saying she was up for it. She'd be happy going by herself but it was nice that the staff were all doing something together and she thought it was an interesting way of doing a team building exercise but who was she to argue with the boss?

[alanaduncan]

<sub>The tense postures and worried looks on everyone's face was started to affect her subtly by the fact that her brows were knitting together and forming a small worry line between them. After her arrival, there was a bit of silence before Professor O'Donnell showed up and tried to lighten the mood up with a bit of a joke, but it was obviously too tense for that and it just went ignored. Shifting awkwardly on her feet to lean more-so towards the left, she pulled her lower lip in and chewed on it lightly, a nervous habit that she's never been able to kick.

Finally, just as the silence was beginning to kill her, Dia showed up which must have been a silent signal for this whole big deal to begin. It was obvious from the assembled company that this was a staff meeting, but why they were having it outside was beyond her. Well, it was beyond her until Hubbles explained his little anecdote which made her raise a brow quizzically. A legendary silver pool, that has been poisoned? She was very fond of how crazy magic could be, but this seemed a little extreme. 'Then again, extreme things have been happening and the terms not even half over, perhaps I can believe this.' Alana thought quickly, deliberating over the idea in the silence that followed the story. At Bree's actions, a few questions raised in her thoughts but she felt a little embarrassed to be the one to ask them. Oh well, she was a bold girl and it seemed that she would play that part today.

"How do you suggest we tackle this? Even if we know the relative location, this is still the Forbidden forest. It doesn't have that name just to scare off students..." She said, her voice quiet at first with shyness as each teacher turned to listen, but eventually it clarified as she tried to pretend they were just students and not colleagues that slightly terrified her. Even still, she managed to make herself sound like some scared little kid and was pretty peeved by this. "I just think ten people tromping around in there trying to find this pool would be fairly conspicuous, is all." Alana finished defensively while thinking over the situation a bit more. The only alternative that she saw to that was going by themselves or in small teams -- oh, no, she would not do that. Even if they all could handle themselves pretty well... well, she didn't even want to think of the possibilities.

This was ridiculously crazy, but she wasn't going to say that out loud.</sub>

[Professor Emilie Houle]

Silence seemed to settle among the teachers. It was almost as if each one could sense the dread that hung in the air. Nothing needed to be said for each of them to understand the type of situation that they seemed to be in. Emilie had pretty much guessed that something was amiss when she was asked to meet near the Forest in the middle of night. And when she saw the other cluster of teachers her suspicions were only confirmed. Now what exactly was wrong, she hadn’t hardly a clue. But by the stern gazes of the other professors, and of the headmaster himself, it only seemed that whatever it was couldn’t be good.

Emilie was prepared to feel a sense of relief when Hubbles’ explanation finally came, but no such feeling came. Instead, confusing took its place, as well as doubt. A silver pool? How could one simple pool affect the fate of the whole school? The idea seemed to be somewhat insane. But, neither her posture nor expression revealed any of her thoughts. Was the story just an old myth? Passed down by generation of some tribe or another. It was a possibility. But, as she thought of it more, was the idea so strange? Magic was often unpredictable and rather foolish in itself. And could these myths be much like the myths muggles produced about them? A story to give an explanation to the unknown, but the thing still very much existed.

Bree proposed and adventure to go find the forest, which brought up a round of unease. Alana seemed to voice her own concerns, with a little twist of her own of course. Emilie tugged on the edge of her jacket sleeve, something she often did while she was thinking. The professor seemed to be focusing on something in the distance, though there was nothing really there. It almost seemed like she was spacing out, but she was just…thinking.

“I think not looking for it would be rather…foolish. Even if the story isn’t true, wouldn’t it be better to completely knock out any suspicions before we move forward?” She cast a look around at the teachers, not exactly used to the attention she was suddenly receiving by the bunch. Oh well, speaking out couldn’t be avoided. She only hoped the rest of the professors could actually hear her, since it seemed she couldn’t avoid speaking in a softer voice than the rest. “Though I agree with Alana, all of us going would only worry the students.” Emilie chewed on the inside of her cheek, trying to think. There wasn’t really any way that they could avoid splitting up into “teams”. And only one person going through the forest would be plain idiocy. “Though I’m not exactly comfortable with the idea, I suggest we send a few people off to actually look for this thing. I’d rather be sure it actually exsists before we try to form any rash ideas.”

[Professor Dia Hubbles]

Dan didn't seem worried much and that made Dia worry more. As he spoke, about going into the forest, about finding some magical pool, all that went through Dia's mind was why the forest? It was no secret that Dia didn't like the forest in the slightest and as Bree took the notes from Dan's hand Dia squeezed his hand tighter, her other hand moving to his upper arm.

A discussion broke out and all Dia could do was repress her stomach that was wanting to jump through her throat and strangle her. Swallowing hard, Dia looked at Alana and Emilie as they spoke. Was it possible? Were these people actually thinking about going into the forest? Was the world going crazy? It had been obvious that Bree would be up for it but the others? Surely not.

“Though I’m not exactly comfortable with the idea, I suggest we send a few people off to actually look for this thing. I’d rather be sure it actually exsists before we try to form any rash ideas.”

Dia swallowed again and took in a deep breath. Sense. "I must say that I agree with Emilie," Dia said in a tight voice. "It's senseless for us all to go barreling in ... there when we don't even know that it's there." Without actually saying she didn't want to go in, Dia was sure that these smart people would be able to get the hint.