Aurora nodded thoughtfully. They were sitting cross legged in the woods, leaning against trees. Aurora had met Willa and Charlene there after having breakfast with the fairies. She had snuck some biscuits, but nobody felt very hungry.
"So- you two are from a different world where at night you become ghosts. You magically came here and are wondering why."
Willa frowned. The princess hadn't really gotten all of it, but it was close enough.
"Not ghosts, exactly, but….yeah," she murmured. She was still a bit awkward around the princess, considering her a celebrity.
Charlene, however, was getting on fine, and didn't hesitate to explain the DHIs one more time. Again, Aurora's face went slack in confusion. Willa, figuring it was probably too hard a task to explain the idea of a computer to someone who didn't even know what electricity was, interrupted.
"So, our friends should be here. Three boys, and possibly two girls. Is there any way to find out where they are?"
The princess shook her head.
"It's a large kingdom. Have you any idea where they would've gone?"
Charlene's shoulders slumped. Willa shook her head despairingly. It was unlikely that the boys had found each other. But hopefully they had been smart enough to hide, realizing the threat of Maleficent.
Philby definitely would have known, Willa thought. And the idea had probably stuck Maybeck and Finn. But where would they have gone for safety?
Willa took a deep breath and spoke. "Assuming he hid, Philby would've have gone to the woods. He'll want to figure out what happened before anything else."
Charlene nodded in agreement to her reasoning. Her friend knew Philby well, and what she had said made perfect sense.
"Let's look around the woods," Charlene suggested. "Once we find him, we can think about Finn and Maybeck."
The princess pointed deeper into the woods, towards the sound of running water.
"There's a stream that way. Is that where your friend would have gone?" Aurora asked, jumping up as she said it.
Will and Charlene stood up quickly. Without bothering to answer, they sprinted in that direction.