Like the creeping dusk of the moon, the light settled down and threw our heroes into the plunder of the thick darkness.
"Woah, this place sure is..dark.." Red whispered, trying to adjust to this new-founded setting. "Where do you think we are?"
The children's eyes adjusted from the sheer brightness moments ago, that slowly died down from where they had teleported to. They could effortlessly determine where they were: the crisp aroma of damp moss tree trunks, the faint sounds of crickets chirping, they were in some part of a forest. But, something else was different for the kids, not just the setting change.
"Is it just me, or does something else feel... off?" Pig asked.
The group wandered over to the settled waves of a nearby lake and noticed that something had indeed changed: themselves. They weren't wearing their typical superhero outfits but rather old-fashioned colonial outfits.
Whyatt was now wearing a cotton buttoned shirt covered by a navy blue coat and beige knee-breeches with pointed buckled footwear, topped off with a navy bicorne. Princess Pea and Red wore similar silk dresses with long sleeves, one red and cream white and the other a soft lavender with white frills, along with frilly stockings and mary-jane buckled shoes, but Red wore a crimson cape that went down to her ankles. Princess Pea also wore a fancy hat filled with feathers and various exotic flowers that's lace ribbon wrapped underneath her chin. Pig only wore a loose white shirt with buckskin pants hung by leather suspenders, along with a cap that covered nearly his entire head.
"Woah.." The four stared down at their wavy reflections below in disbelief, amazed by this sudden wardrobe change.
"How did we even change into these costumes?" Princess Pea asked.
"I'm not sure, Princess Pea. But one thing's for sure, we sure do look super!" Whyatt said, tipping his hat & winking at his reflection below. That got a laugh out of the group & Whyatt was glad to see a smile from his friends.
Chuckling along with his friends, Whyatt spun about to where he thought Woofster might've been patiently waiting to say something informative to the group. "What do you think, Woofster? Like our outfits?"
But upon turning around, he noticed something even more unanticipated than their brand-new outfits, but that his canine companion... was nowhere in sight.
"...Woofster?" Whyatt looked to his left and right: no sight of a golden retriever anywhere. His stomach churned easily, a feeling of unwelcomed fear shooting throughout his body.
"Woofster, boy? Woofster, where did you go?" Whyatt called out, louder this time. He began to whistle, patting his tighs to alert his puppy that he was there, but that showed no avail. His worries got worse, continually failing on different methods to find wherever his puppy could have gone to.
As his friends could only stare with worry for him, Princess Pea's attention caught sight of the sky. Seeing the sight of the sky changing from the beautiful embers of the sunsetting, Princess Pea knew they didn't have much longer until it was completely dark. "I think we should get out of this forest if we want to figure out where we're at, right guys?"
"Yeah, I don't like being in the dark!" Pig agreed.
"I second that: these nats are driving me crazy!" Red brought up, smacking her arms and neck whenever she felt something drape against her skin. She seemed easily irritated from the repeated buzzing sounds of the feisty and ravenous bugs in the air: looks to them, she was one big bug buffet ready to feast upon. Upon slapping yet another twitch on the back of her neck, she saw an owl perched on one tree's branches. It stared curiously at her, before hooting and flying away.
"Hey, I think that owl knows where it's going! We should follow it!" Red interjected, running after the owl with little to no hesitation. Pig followed right after, but before Princess Pea could tagalong, she noticed that Whyatt hadn't moved from his spot as he continued to whistle and call out Woofster's name.
"Whyatt, aren't you coming?" Princess Pea asked.
"I'm not leaving until Woofster comes back!" Whyatt proclaimed. "We can't leave without him, he might be lost! He might be looking for us!"
Princess Pea understood how overwhelmed and apprehensive Whyatt was at the moment about his puppy pal. Considering how close both Woofster and he were and how long they've spent by each other sides, it must've felt like a part of Whyatt was missing. Separating them was just as harder to untie than a knot tied by a giant's massive hands, but now it seemed the knot had finally come undone. The only thing the princess could do for the pitiful pauper was to hold his hand and allow him to mope on her shoulder, quickly tracking down Red and Pig.
The strange owl flew through the forest being tailgated by the Super Readers, desperately wondering if this little owl was the key to finding their way out of the woods. After what felt like an infinite loop of running through bushes, nearly tripping over stones, and bumping into trees, the group had lost sight of their owl-guider with much confusion.
"Double drats!" Red swore, feeling herself get annoyed. "I knew that owl was playing a trick on us!"
"Then, why'd you follow it in the first place?" Princess Pea argued, placing her hands on her hips.
Before Red and Princess Pea could indulge themselves in yet another argument on who's to blame, Pig unexpectedly cut the conversation when he noticed something in the distance. He walked towards whatever was in the distance, and once he figured out what it truly was, his heart skipped a beat.
"Hey guys, look!" Pig shouted, from where he stood within a leafy bush. "The owl did lead us somewhere after all!"
"It did?" Red asked, staring back at Pig to wherever he was pointing at. The rest of the group stepped over and from their site, they saw a few lights shining in the distance. Upon further inspection, they managed to see silhouettes of buildings & heard faint hustling sounds of the people there.
"Maybe they can help us out?" Pig suggested.
"Good idea, Pig! Let's go, Super Readers!" Whyatt announced. Without a moment to waste, the group headed forth towards the town, being sure to be nimble and quick on their feet.
Dashing through the night and following the dirt trail, they finally reached the village and its cheerful welcome sign. Stepping into the village, they noticed that this thriving village was none other than their Storybrook, just bigger, better, and had more buildings than before! They admired the place to its tip to its small details: cabins were refurbished into remote homes made of nimble yet efficient wood and roofs of sticks and hay that were layered heavily for rainfall, various buildings like bakeries, banks, & blacksmiths were dotted around the place for the people's various necessities, a mighty yet spectacularly constructed castle was seen in the distance, and not to mention the brick wall encircling the village, steadily standing sturdy and scornful to keep the people in this village safe.
"Seems that the "building gene" comes in handy for your ancestors, huh Pig?" Red whispered to Pig, getting a slight chuckle from the lad. Indeed, it appeared that desire to build was locked and loaded into his family's line since the village's beginnings, and it sure hasn't dulled down in the slightest.
The four continued to walk throughout the town but after some time, they could tell that something...wasn't particularly right to them. Was it the fact that the people there didn't seem partially pleased of them roaming about, or the constant arguing they heard? It seemed every two in four people were either arguing with another about something not worth their time or angry for no reason. Arguments ranged from something called "factors" and "inmaginters" to even complaining of how loudly someone was blinking. Whatever the cause of these problems, it seemed as whatever the people were constantly squabbling about, was desensitized by the people completely.
And Whyatt was one of the few to start questioning how everyone acted like this was something normal to live with. Voluntarily, Whyatt decided to ask one of the locals to fill him in on what was going on.
"Uh excuse me, sir?" Whyatt strode toward a random man tending to a stallion. "But, do you maybe know why everyone is arguing wi-"
"You's calling me dumb?" The man grumbled.
Whyatt was taken aback, unsure of the man's sudden response. "N-No sir, I was just wondering why everybody is so angry an-"
The man leaned over to Whyatt with a nasty scowl, being far too close to the boy's face. "I ain't got the time to explain something you should already know, now scram before I give you something to be angry about!"
Whyatt nervously smiled, and promptly backed away from the crazed man. His friends were equally as worried as they trotted past the man, whose glare could still be felt directly as they headed down the town's road.
"My peas, are you okay, Whyatt?" Princess Pea asked, inspecting her friend.
"I'm ok, Princess Pea. His breath though? Woof, I don't even think breath mints could save him," Whyatt gagged, trying his best to forget the revolting stench on the man's killer breath.
Though that experience was bad, that lackluster-like bitterness continued onward throughout the night. When the children stopped at a bistro to eat, Pig was denied service because "his kind were already dirty enough without messing up the place", causing Princess Pea to be scolded by some older woman when she argued with the man who refused Pig service and "didn't do as she was told." Even after they led the weepy Pig and peeved-off Pea away from the bistro, Red got into an argument with the villagers about her attire, stating that her wearing red was "a sign she didn't love her community." which confused her as to why a simple color would rile people so much.
Whyatt just had enough of whatever the village was on about; seeing his friends being treated like this for no reason made his blood boil. But rather than letting out his frustrations to the villagers, he took some deep breaths, and calmly stated, "Come on guys, let's get out of here."
"My peas, why was everyone being so rude? We didn't do anything wrong!" Princess Pea proclaimed, still ticked off as she comforted a still teary-eyed Pig.
The four now had sauntered out of the village, all peeved & hurt in more ways than one: based on how they were treated by the residents of their village, they were sure they had accidentally wandered into the wrong town. But, sadly, they were proven wrong after walking past the newly-crafted farewell sign of their village, hoping for them to come back soon.
"Yeah right," They collectively thought with bitterness, letting their eyes roll by that statement. Considering what they'd witnessed, it was unlikely they'd ever march back there with an optimistic look on their hometown, or whatever it'd turned into nowadays. How their once peaceful, lively village turned into such a mess will be a question that'll be hanging in their minds for time to come.
They trekked back into the forest, following a dirt path up a hilly hill to nowhere's end, at least here it'd only be nats to worry about. As they listened to the sound of owls hooting and the chirps of crickets in the grass, Pig, wiping his remaining tears away, noticed horse tracks in the dirt path.
"Hey, looks like some horses came through here!" Pig eagerly pointed out, instantly dragging his friends' attention over to admire the tracks.
In their excitement for their friend who before was a weepy mess now turned into what he was normally like outside of being a superhero, things took a turn for the worst when the cries of a horse could be heard, followed by the shouts of men. What followed only sent terror into the kid's blood.
BANG!
A crisp yet pricing roar of a gunshot could be heard not so far from where the Super Readers stood, echoing throughout the forest. The cry sent birds flying out of trees and sent the Super Readers into a fearful frenzy. Princess Presto ordered the group to take cover behind a bush, and once they hid, they waited to see if anything else would happen.
Once they were sure they were safe, they stepped out and tried thier best to loosen up, but then noticed that there was a slight rumbling that jolted the ground similar to a mini earthquake. Sounds of what was like hardwood hitting the grassy turf could be heard not so far from where they stood, which only made their stomachs tighten in terror.
"Pig... pl-please tell me that's your stomach rumbling..." Red prayed, only getting a fearful "no" from Pig. Turning their heads, the horrors came true as the rumbling came from none other than the trashing of a log of a dead-oak tree. It seemed that screams of what nightmares came from were coming from inside the log, which only horrified them even more. Without a moment to lose, Whyatt ordered his group with one final warning.
"Forget whatever's happening with the village, Super Readers, RUN FOR IT!"
Author's Note: OOOH, CLIFFHANGER BABY! Anyways, hey everyone who's still reading this book, sorry for the long hiatus, life's been busy and I've just never had time to update this book until lately. Also, this chapter was cut into two halves, so expect the second part to be here later this week!
How will our Super Readers escape the Log Of Doom? Will they make it to see the second half of their story? And where is Woofster? Find out on the two-parter chapter of Super Why: The Lost Pages!