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Will awoke the next morning, and, sensing that something was different, he looked around.
Indeed, something was different, but to be more precise, something was missing. Lots of somethings were missing, in fact.
Not one of his friends was left in the room. Even their sleeping areas had been cleared, so Will felt completely deserted. There was no one left in the room except for him and his green-and-gray cloak.
He began to grow nervous. Where were his friends? Will decided to notify Halt, but when the apprentice reached the living room, Halt wasn't sleeping on the couch. Will decided that his mentor must have gotten up early to prepare coffee, so Will checked the kitchen. He glanced around tiredly. There was no sign of Halt or his friends. Where was everyone?
Then, Will got an idea. Maybe his friends had gone outside to get some fresh air, and they had left Will behind. Yawning, Will hurried outside, hoping he would see his friends sitting on the grass, laughing and talking. No such luck. There was no movement outside except the morning birds singing their morning songs. The sky was a dull gray and the clouds didn't seem so white all of the sudden.
Feeling weary and alone, Will checked Tug's stable. There was still no sign of Halt or his friends. Sighing heavily, Will fed Tug an apple.
"Tug, where is everybody?" Will asked. The young Ranger suddenly felt very lonely.
Will didn't actually expect Tug to respond, so it was a surprise when Tug used his snout to point to the apples. At first, Will thought Tug was asking for a second apple, so Will shook his head.
But then Tug pointed his snout again, this time at Halt's house. Then he pointed his snout again at the barrel of apples, and then pointed it back to Halt's house.
Will was confused. What was Tug trying to tell him? He thought and thought. Apples. Halt's house. Apples. Halt's house. Apples…and Halt's house…Apples…in Halt's house! The kitchen! Will smacked his forehead. Duh. But why did he have to go to the kitchen? He'd already checked there, hadn't he?
"Tug…if you're saying I should check the kitchen…" Will started. Tug bobbed his head, almost a nodding gesture.
"Well, you see, I already checked there." Will explained to Tug.
Tug snorted indecorously. He seemed to say, Just do it. And check carefully this time. Don't just glance around. Use the Ranger skills Halt taught you.
Will looked at Tug doubtfully. What did he know about this? But, seeing that he was getting nowhere anyway, Will followed Tug's suggestion. He walked back to the kitchen, this time peering into the cabinets, inside shelves, behind the counter…and then he found it.
There was a little note card, folded, and quite well hidden inside one of the cabinets. He guessed that it wasn't Halt's, because if it was, his mentor wouldn't just leave it in a random cabinet.
So Will unfolded the paper, and read what it said: Look behind you once you finish reading this.
Will turned around, and behind him, with grins on their faces, were Horace, Jenny, George, Alyss, and Halt. Well, Halt had more of a forced grin on.
"Surprise!" they shouted, throwing hand-made confetti over Will.
Will grinned at his friends, even though he had no idea what was going on.
"That was very surprising!" Will said enthusiastically. "But…what's going on?" he puzzled.
There was an awkward silence where his friends looked at each other in disbelief.
"What?" Will asked. "What is it?"
It was Halt who spoke first.
"You don't know?" he mused, raising an eyebrow.
"Will…" Jenny started, but she hesitated.
"What?" Will said, thoroughly annoyed. "Tell me already!"
Horace looked at Will with concern. "Will…it's…it's…"
His friends stared awkwardly at each other. Finally Halt gave a small nod, as if agreeing on something.
"It's your birthday." he said finally.
"What's more astounding," Alyss added, "is that you didn't even remember."
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