"Daaad how much longer till we're there…" Steven groaned.
"Yah, how long s' going to be," Amethyst backed up.
"Where getting there guys, we should be there in about…twenty minutes…I think," Greg replied nervously.
"But Greg, it says right here on the map we're at least another hour out," Pearl corrected.
Both Steven and Amethyst groaned in unison, "man I'm starving let's stop and get something to eat."
"Amethyst that'll only make this drive longer, besides you just ate half an hour ago…," Pearl nagged.
"Ughhh, fine. Just wake me up when we get there," Amethyst huffed before flopping back on pile of luggage. Snoring could be heard only seconds later.
"Steven maybe you should take a nap too," Pearl suggested, "it'll make the trip seem shorter and you'll be ready to go when we get there."
"Yah, I guess you're right Pearl," Steven agreed.
Pearl smiled that one particular smile she dawned when she was right and turn back towards the front.
"Nice save," Greg complimented.
Pearl nodded and went back to looking at the map.
Awhile passed before any of them resumed conversation. "How come you guys aren't using Lion?" Greg asked tentatively.
"Lion went on one of his little…excursions… and none of us know where he went off to," Pearl sighed, "not even Steven."
"What about warping?" Greg asked.
"There's no warp pad," Pearl explain, "which is odd since Peridot usually sticks pretty close to them."
Greg nodded slowly, "well, from what I've heard at least, this forest we're heading to is pretty big and it has a lot of weird stories floating around about it."
Pearl looked towards Greg, "What do you mean?"
"Oh well," Greg paused a minute to think, "It's supposed to cursed."
"Cursed…?" Pearl restated doubtfully.
"Well yah," Greg continued, "An old friend of mine used to live right next to it. Rumor has it that an evil spirit lives somewhere deep the forest that can control the trees and anyone who meets her is never seen or heard from again."
"Hmm," Pearl nodded, "while it's most likely just an indicate story concocted by humans to explain some sort of natural phenomena that they didn't understand…it may have something to do with why Peridot choosing to take shelter there."
"You think the forest being cursed has something to do with gems?" Greg asked.
"Possibly," Pearl nodded.
"Mmm…," Greg hummed nervously.
Garnet pounced off the top of Greg's van with two large packs of camping supplies perched under each of her arms.
"Over here Garnet," Steven called; he had picked the perfect spot to set up camp.
"Are you guys sure you want me to head back?" Greg asked Pearl worriedly. "I mean, I know I'm not a lot of help when it comes to gem stuff but how are you guys going to get back if I leave?"
"We'll call you or if Lion shows back up you can send him," Pearl explained.
"Steven is also very concerned about your safety," Garnet added as she passed by with another handful of camping supplies.
Greg bit his bottom lip; there was no winning this argument. "Ok… but… if anything goes wrong make sure to call me, alright?" Greg urged.
Pearl nodded, "of course."
Feeling at least a little bit better Greg hugged Steven and gave him the usual "be safe, call me if something happens, I love you" spiel before reluctantly heading back towards Beach City.
"Well now what," Amethyst asked blankly.
"We look for signs of Peridot," Garnet stated.
"But since it's getting a little late I suggest we only search the area around camp for now," Pearl suggested.
Garnet nodded her approval, "Amethyst, you go south; Pearl, you'll search west and I'll go north."
"What about me," Steven cried.
"You'll stay here and guard the camp," Garnet responded sternly.
"Aww, come on I can help too," Steven begged.
Garnet knelt down in front of Steven and put a hand on his shoulder, "Steven, this is a very important job that I am giving you, we're trusting you to protect all of our supplies."
"I know but I want to help," Steven begged.
"Dude, what if a bear steals all of our s'more supplies," Amethyst pointed out.
Steven gasped, "I never thought of that."
"It's a very high possibility if they are left unguarded," Garnet stressed.
Steven nodded gravely, "I know what my duty is now."
Garnet smiled, "good, we'll be back soon."
"If you want Steven, you can go ahead and make yourself some s'mores, just be very VERY careful" Pearl added.
"Really!" Steven shouted excitedly.
"Really dude," Amethyst assured giving him a playful nudge with her elbow. "Just make sure you save one for me," she winked, Steven smiled and nodded.
While Pearl and Amethyst went ahead to go search for signs of Peridot, Garnet stayed behind to start a small fire for Steven to work with (as well as warning him to keep an eye on it) before heading off.
Steven quickly located the s'mores supplies and went to work spearing a marshmallow on the end of a thin metal skewer. "I'm gonna make the best s'mores ever," Steven announced confidently as he moved the marshmallow over the fire.
Steven started to hum a song while keeping a close eye on the color of the marshmallow. However, a strange sound pulled his attention away only moments later.
"Garnet?" Steven called out, no one replied. "Hmmm…," Steven tightened his grip on the metal skewer and slowly stood up. Another sound, this time what seemed to be the crackling of wood and Steven could have sworn he saw that tree move.
"Hello?" Steven questioned curiously, still he got no reply. Furrowing his eyebrows he set the skewer down on top of a cooler and took a few steps towards the tree. "I'm not gonna hurt you," Steven coaxed, "I've got a lion at home…well somewhere… so I'm used to big animals." However, what came out from behind the tree wasn't a bear like Steven had expected but a girl.
"O-oh, hi there…," Steven greeted slightly bewildered, "are you lost?"
The girl just shook her head just looking intently at Steven with a mixture of fascination and fear.
"Oh…do you need help?" Steven questioned.
Again the girl shook her head.
Steven wasn't sure what to do or what to say. He gave a quick glance back towards the camp and then it hit him, it was so obvious. "Are you hungry?" Steven asked, "I'm making s'mores and I've got plenty to share."
"S'mores…?" the girl repeated curiously.
"Yah, there like a candy sandwich with marshmallows and chocolate all squished between two graham crackers," Steven explained.
The girl thought for a few seconds and took a few tentative steps back before giving in and walking over. As she got closer Steven noticed something about her appearance, half of her face including one of her eyes was covered by a long piece of fabric that had been tied around her head. Steven also took note of the unusual shades of her hair, it was auburn colored but with muted streaks of red, yellow, purple, and blue. 'I should do my hair like that one day,' he thought.
Falling off of his train of thought, Steven smiled and picked up his skewer, "my name's Steven what's your name."
"O-oh, uh, m-my name's Petra," the girl replied timidly.
"Petra…," Steven thought, "that's a cool name."
Petra blush at the compliment and cautiously peered around at the gem's camp, to her it seemed like they had wildly over packed but maybe they were going to stay out here for a while?
"Here, you can have mine," Steven held out his skewer with its slightly cooked marshmallow already making a snail crawl down the wire. Petra nodded hesitantly and took the skewer a bit flustered by the boy's immediate hospitality. "All you got to do is hold it over to fire but make sure it doesn't get to close or they'll fall off," Steven instructed.
Petra nodded again and slowly sat down in front of the fire and held the marshmallow in place just above its flames. Steven sat down adjacent to her and started to prepare another skewer with marshmallows. "Once they start to get sort of goldeny-brown you take one of those graham crackers right here," Steven pointed to the rectangular package sitting on top of the cooler, "and place the marshmallow on top and then you put a piece of chocolate over that and then finish it off with another graham cracker and then you can pull out the skewer."
Petra nodded dutifully, looking back at her marshmallow only to find that it had fallen off and was now sizzling sadly on a log.
"O-oh I-I'm…I didn't…" Petra stuttered, her face completely red in embarrassment.
Steven noticed her struggling, "Oh don't worry about it, I've done that a thousand times." Steven reached into his bag of extra puffy marshmallows and held one out to her, "I've got plenty, give it another shot."
Petra nodded and accepted the marshmallow, spearing it on the skewer and extra carefully holding it above the fire. Steven notice when she took the marshmallow she was wearing only one long glove on her left hand, 'maybe she's and archer' he thought.
It took her a few tries but Petra managed to make a decent s'more, and was amazed at how good they were.
"So you're telling me that you've never had one of these before?" Steven asked astonished.
Petra shook her head swallowing her mouth full of s'more, "no, I always saw campers making these but I never thought to try one."
"Do you camp out here a lot?" Steven guessed.
"You could say that…," Petra replied before taking another bite of her s'more.
"Hm," Steven thought, "Say…you wouldn't have happened to see a girl out here that's sort of tall, green, pointy hair, talks to herself a lot."
Petra thought for a minute and then shook her head an apologetic look on her face as she still tried to swallow her s'more.
"That's alright, were looking for her right now so if you see her around let us know," Steven informed.
"Us?" Petra asked.
"Yah, me and the other Crystal Gems," Steven stated proudly.
As if on que, a loud crack came from a bush on the other side of the fire, Amethyst burst out form the bush covered in leaves and dirt. "Whoa, Steven did you burn something?" she teased. It wasn't until she laid eyes on Petra did she stop smiling, "Steven…who is that," she questioned, her voice sounding slightly concerned.
"Oh, this is Petra, she's my s'more buddy," Steven smiled.
Petra sat completely still; her eyes were fixed on Amethyst. She couldn't decide whether to run away or stay and see if she was nice like Steven.
"Where did she come from," Amethyst asked cautiously making her way to Steven's side.
"Oh…well she was over there by that tree," Steven pointed to a tree behind Petra, "and I invited her to make s'mores with me."
Amethyst nodded, a suspicious look on her face. Seconds later, Garnet and Pearl appeared from their respective directions both pausing when they saw Petra.
Petra's face started to turn red, her heart was pounding and her hands started to shake.
"Steven who's this," Garnet demanded.
"Petra," Amethyst interjected, "seems Steven made a friend already."
"O-oh…well, that nice" Pearl gushed hesitantly, looking at the others to see if they were just as concerned as she was. The girl looked quite young, a teenager…possibly a bit older, maybe she was lost?
"Are you in need of any help?" Peal asked the girl noticing the cloth around her head, "Are you hurt?" Pearl began to approach the Petra, arm outstretched as if to touch the covered side of her face.
Petra started to back away from Pearl, scrambling to get to her feet. "W-wait Petra it's alright they're really nice I swear," Steven tried to calm her down. Unfortunately, once Petra made it to her feet she was off, sprinting back the way direction she had appeared. "Petra wait it's not safe," Steven yelled trying to go after her but Garnet put and hand on his shoulder locking him in place.
"It's not safe for you to go after her," Garnet, "it's obvious she's scared and I don't think us chasing after her is going to make the situation any better."
"But what if she runs into a bear or a wolf or Peridot?" Steven stammered.
"I have a feeling she knows where she's going," Garnet reassured.
"You do?" Steven fretted.
"Yes, I do," Garnet insisted tapping a finger on her shades. Steven remembered what Petra had said about camping out here a lot and decided that Garnet had a point.