Anne and I worked on our treehouse for a week. It didn’t take long because of the stone rings. We wanted to finish the treehouse before we tested the other stones, because we needed somewhere where we wouldn’t be spotted. Soon, we had it all done. We decorated it with pillows and pictures, and even got a blanket to lay on the ground.
“Wow, this looks great!” I exclaimed.
We used the blue stone rings to get up, since we didn’t have a ladder. No one would know we were here. Even if they could see the well-hidden treehouse, they had no way to get up. The treehouse was about a hundred or so feet in the tree. We even had a little box we kept the rings in. We could hide it in the bench. (The bench had a secret latch where we could lift up half of the seat of the bench and the box fit snugly inside.)
Anne and I went to the treehouse everyday until it was finished. We planned to go today to try out the rings. I had told my mom we put the fort near the river. She believed me. I said it was over there because my mom never goes by the river. She doesn’t like water.
“Bye, Mom!” I called as I left the house. “We’re going to our fort!” We said it was a fort because she is afraid of heights and would not let me go back if she knew it was a treehouse a hundred feet in the air.
“You go every day!” She complained.
“Well, now we’re done with it!” I explained. “Now it’s done and we can hang out! C’mon, Anne! Bye, Mom!”
“Please be back before dinner.” My mom sighed.
“What? Why?” I whirled around.
“Because you are gone so often, I rarely see you!” She ranted. “You leave right after breakfast and don’t come home ‘til sunset! I never see you anymore! And with your father always at Marcus’s or fishing, I’m alone so much!”
“I just like the outdoors!” I looked at my mom’s imploring look. “Okay, fine. If you want the absolute truth-” Anne gave me a warning look.
“The truth is, me and Anne-”
“Anne and I.” My mom corrected. I glared at her.
“Okay, Anne and I invented this really awesome game.” I fibbed. “We are pirates.”
“Yes, pirates.” Anne agreed.
“And we have all these pinecones and leaves and sticks and stuff.” I continued. “So one person buries the stuff by the river or hides it in some plants. Then the other person has to find it.” I know it didn’t sound like the most interesting game in the world, certainly not better than magic rings, but I assume my mom thought it was something that was super amazing to a kid, and boring to an adult.
“Okay, fine. Be home whenever.” She said before adding quickly, “But earlier than when it’s like dark. I’ll keep your dinner on the table.” My mom waved as we skipped out.
“Do you think I am gone too often?” I wondered.
“Well, if we use these rings to save your mom from like an avalanche or something, she’ll totally be fine with it.” Anne explained. I nodded.
We were going to try the red rings today. We decided to only try one color ring at a time so we could explore the power of it. We still had all the other rings in the box though, so no one would discover them.
“Ready for red?” Anne asked. I laughed.
“Oh yeah! Then tomorrow orange!” We walked around, over to our treehouse, which wasn’t too far from the vault. We hadn’t been there in a while—we’ve been busy. But there was no way anyone could have discovered it, no one goes in the forest.
We kept the blue rings with us all the time, to get up in the treehouse. We floated up in the treehouse and got out the ring box. I pulled out the red rings.
“Ready?” I asked.
“I wonder what it will do!” Anne dreamed. “Maybe make us really big...or turn us into a rock…”
“A rock?”
“Could be helpful.” Anne shrugged. I chuckled and gave her one of the red rings.
“Put them on in three...two...one.” We slipped the rings on our fingers. I suddenly had a falling feeling, unlike the fun feeling of the blue ring. My stomach felt like it had dropped to my feet, even though I wasn’t falling. My vision went dark, then kind of red. I blinked my eyes. I looked over and saw Anne next to me. I didn’t see the bench, or the window. We were not in the treehouse anymore.