Author's Note: The disclaimer that applied to the first chapter also applies to the following chapters, including this one. Please respect my work and do not use it in any way without my permission.

By the way, I would love to see some reviews!

Chapter Two: Spring

The forest was quite like Winnie remembered it, and why shouldn't it be? She had taken solace in its cool sanctuary many times since her friends departed years ago. The woods felt like they belonged to her and her to them. She was as much a part of its history as it was of hers.

Settling down on the thick roots of a large tree, Winnie leaned against its broad trunk and removed her shoes, which she placed off to the side. Her toes sunk into the mossy forest floor and she smiled at the sensation it afforded her. It had been a long time since she had allowed herself this freedom and she savored the simple pleasure.

Over six years ago Jesse had leaned against this very tree. The thought came so swiftly that she was unprepared for the reaction it would cause. Tears sprang immediately to her eyes and she let them flow, too overcome to brush them away. It had been more than six years since she had seen Jesse or Miles or Ma and Pa Tuck. Six years without word of where they had been or what they were doing. Six years since they had held her close and whispered their goodbyes beneath the cloak of night and in the shadow of the town jail.

Winnie wept for them for the better part of ten minutes, recalling every dear thing that had passed between them in the two days they were all together. She could hear their voices so clearly that it seemed they were standing right beside her and many times she found herself glancing behind to confirm that she was alone.

Finally, when all of her tears were spent, Winnie drew herself up to her knees and leaned forward to search the ground. Her hands came to rest on a small pile of stones at the base of the tree. With shaking fingers, she carefully lifted each of the stones away from the earth until small bubbles of water gurgled to the surface. Winnie could not suppress a gasp of delight when she saw the magic water brushing against her fingertips. It was still here, like it has always been, secret and strange and waiting.

But Winnie frowned. She should not drink from the spring. Pa Tuck had been against it from the start and she remembered their conversation in the boat near their house. All are meant to die, he had asserted. Life is a cycle.

The image of Pa Tuck alone nearly caused Winnie to dissolve into tears once again, but she held back. She could see them again if she wished. She could take a sip from the spring and go after them and marry Jesse and all would be as he had planned. They would be a family like the Fosters had never been.

Winnie's small frame shook with the weight of such a monumental decision. Indeed her mother was right about her weight; she had grown thin in recent months as she worried after the fate of the Tucks, which was tied to her own. It hurt her feelings that they had not come for her and she wished with all of her heart that they had arrived the day she turned seventeen. Things would have been so much better, she reasoned. My life would be so much better if I were with them right now.

Winnie reached into the pocket of her skirt and removed the small bottle that she carried with her everywhere. It was her good luck charm and talisman, the security blanket she craved when she felt alone in the world. Jesse had given it to her the day he left in hopes that she would use the water inside to return to him when she turned seventeen. It was empty now, but she would change that. After unscrewing the lid, Winnie pressed the bottle up against the wet rocks and watched the cool liquid flow into the cavity. When she was satisfied that it was full, she replaced the lid and returned the bottle to her pocket for safe keeping. The rocks were then placed back over the spring to ensure the secrecy of the magic within.

Rising from the ground, Winnie walked back to the other side of the massive root and slipped her tiny feet into her shoes. Then she lifted the hem of her dress from the ground so as not to spoil the lace and ran down the path toward her family's home, never turning toward the forest for a final glance.

She would leave tonight.