The children did not go very far before arriving at a pool of stagnant water where they paused to breathe and listen. They heard no pursuit, but all the same, they walked around the pool on the side that took them away from the giants.

“It will be dark soon,” Beth remarked. She looked around at the trees and sky and did not appear happy about the idea of spending the night in that forest.

“That’s all right,” Chris said, from a bit further on. “I think we’ve come to the hill.”

“Yeah.” David nodded and spoke as quietly as he could. “The castle is on the hill.”

Sadly, it turned out to be only a small rise whose backside held a meadow full of flowers. The flowers were in full bloom and the aroma of so many varieties smelled overwhelming. They were well down into the meadow before they noticed the bees. One buzzed past Chris’ head, and he asked.

“What was that? A bird?”

“Bee.” David answered through gritted teeth. His eyes closed, his hands made fists he held up to his chin, his body became as tense as possible, and he stood as still as he could while a bee buzzed in front of him and tried to decide if he might be a flower.

Everyone else looked around and discovered they were in the middle of a swarm, and the bees were like none they had ever seen, being the size of Chris’ fist. “Giant bees,” Chris said softly.

“Figures.” James spoke even more softly. He stared at the hive in a tree if it was not the whole tree.

“Back up everyone, slowly. Back the way we came,” Beth said, though her words were unnecessary since James and Chris were already doing that very thing. David also moved, though he went a bit more swiftly once the bee decided that he was not a flower after all.

They came to the little rise and went back over to the other side before anyone dared exhale; but now, aware of the bees, they saw that some had wandered as far as the stagnant pool in search of nectar.

When the family got back to that water, Beth screamed. She could not help it. She saw a snake swim across the surface of the pool, and she hated snakes. Of course, chances are the snake scurried away thinking that Beth’s scream was some predatory bird out for a late day snack; but then the children had to stand still for another minute and listen again. They strained against the sound of the wind and rustling leaves to see if they attracted anything unwanted. They all twitched nervously, but David, one especially inclined to be jumpy, did not imagine he could take much more. He stood a little apart and faced the others, his body as tense as it had been in the bee field, his hands still in fists.

“Boo!” David heard that in his ear as clear as a bell. He felt the presence behind him, and he screamed. He could not help it any more than Beth; and he also could not help what his feet did as he began to run for his life.

“Davey!” Chris and James yelled together.

“We have to stick together,” Beth said more quietly, with a hard glance at the yellers. She began to follow in David’s direction, and she noticed the sun had nearly set at her back. “At least he ran away from the giants.”

Chris followed. James brought up the rear and shook his head.

While pushing through an area of thick underbrush, James’ shirt got caught on a thorn bush. He had to stop to get himself free and remove a few burrs he picked up along the way.

“A little lamb.” James heard the words clearly. He felt startled, but not frightened. He thought it might be a person just out of sight. There might have still been light by the sea where they first came into the world, but in among the trees, the darkness had come up fast and James could not see well in the twilight. The colors had already faded to gray.

“Who are you?” James asked. He tried not to tremble.

“Pookah,” the answer came, but it did not get followed by the person.

“Show yourself,” James demanded.

“But I’m right beside you,” Pookah said.

James felt his hair stand up and a chill run down his spine. He spun around but found nothing to see. “Go away!” he yelled, like he sometimes yelled at his brother David. “Leave me alone. Go away!”

“See if I help you!” Pookah snapped back at him, and James heard the footsteps of something big. He saw the grass crushed and the bushes pushed out of the way, but Pookah stayed invisible.

James added his own scream to the late afternoon air. He sounded and acted very much like David as he ran from the invisible monster. It hardly mattered. Chris and Beth had neither heard James nor saw him stop and had moved on. James might not have found them again in any case.

“I don’t think David went much farther than this,” Chris said at last. He attempted to halt his sister. “After his panic I would guess David doubled back to try and find us, especially now that it is getting dark. We must have missed him.”

Beth stopped walking, but she honestly did not listen. Her eyes focused on the evening shadows of the trees that darkened as the last of the light began to vanish. She did not feel thrilled with the shapes of some of those shadows and decided that she would not enjoy spending the night in the woods. “But we have to find him. We have to stick together,” she said at last.

“This way.” Chris pointed, turned, and started walking. He tried to keep a careful eye on their progress while Beth shouted for David. He believed he could find the way back, at least to the stagnant pool.

Beth paused long enough for one last look around her immediate area. She heard a voice. “Will you join me for supper?” She felt the hot breath on the back of her neck and something that wasn’t there licked her neck and ear. Beth ran. She shrieked. She said “Eew!” and wiped her ear and neck clean of the slimy lick, and while she managed not to scream, she ran all the same.

“Beth?” Chris turned back around at the sound of his sister’s distress. “Beth?” He called a little louder but heard no response. “James?” he called. He thought his little brother had been right on his heels, but James was not there. Three of the four children had run off, and poor Chris now stood there all alone in the dark, in the midst of a forest that did not exist on Earth. “Beth? James? David?” He tried once more.

“Dave’s not here.” Chris heard the words and he decided he had better start walking. He could wait for the others by the pool, and hope that they might show up soon.