“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” I sighed as I walked out of my room. “Bye, Peony.” My mom greeted me, even though I saw her five minutes ago.
“It’s gonna be so fun!” My mom said. I sighed.
“But how long will we be there?”
“Not long.”
“‘Kay…” I sighed again.
“Alright, come on!” I walked out with my mom. She fumbled with all the stuff she was holding. Maybe I could find a bag in the Vault to give to her. Her birthday was coming up.
“Hey Mom, what is all that stuff?” I asked as we walked up the path.
“Stuff for Marcus. Muffins, a note, a few flowers…” We continued up the path. I spotted Eloise. My eyes widened and I tried to hide. So naturally, she saw me.
“Kate!” Dang it.
“Hi, Eloise. Mom you can keep going, I’ll catch up.”
“‘Kay hon, see you in a bit. Hello, Eloise.” My mom walked farther. I hadn’t seen Eloise since she found us in the forest. This made it awkward.
“Hi.” I mumbled.
“Kate, Kate! You’ll never believe what I found!” Now, why did she sound happy to see me?
“Try me.” I muttered, thinking of all the things I knew.
“Okay, so I found a blue stone!” She exclaimed. I nearly choked. “Like blue and black! Like the purple and black stone you and Anne found! I didn’t believe you, but you must be telling the truth! I-” She continued on but I wasn’t listening. It had occurred to me we never told Eloise about the magic in the stones. Or the vault. Or the rings. Or the ledge in the back of the vault. Or the treehouse. Or the stream with the magic stones.
“Wait-wait-wait!” I interrupted. “Where-when-how? Eloise, where did you find it?”
Eloise looked disappointed that I didn’t look as excited as she did. “Uh, in the forest.”
“So you going in the forest is a regular thing now?”
“Well, it’s only scary at night. Like when you and Anne went in when we were playing Speak or Do a couple months ago. Oh, hey by the way, I never told you why I got so mad. It was because my mom had just told me what happened to our kingdom, but that doesn’t matter-”
“Wait! Your mom told you about those giant greenish gray things?”
“Yep.” Ohhhhhh. That explained a lot.
“Okay, so you weren’t afraid of the forest itself, you were afraid of the monsters…”
“Yeah.” Eloise said in a very duh way.
“But why did you get so mad at the ceremony? For Marksmurk?”
“Because, I thought you thought the world revolved around you!” Eloise confessed.“But-” I started.
“I know that’s not what you think.” Eloise corrected. “I just thought...I just thought that you thought you were being cool going in the forest and that you thought Marksmurk was better than my dad, which he is. But I just got so mad, and then you and Anne looked like you were keeping something from me, which probably isn’t true-”
I started to feel uncomfortable. “Eloise, wait.” Eloise stopped talking.
“We were keeping secrets from you.” Eloise didn't say anything. Her mouth just hung open.
“And, I’m sorry! We wanted to tell you, we really did.” I started. “It’s just-this is a really big secret and I promise someday I will tell you, but you need to give me that stone.” I felt horrible telling her she had to give the stone back, but if she found out, if her dad made it into a ring...well, let’s just say Eloise liked to have attention. If everyone knew she had a magic stone…
“Wh-what?” Eloise sputtered.
“Eloise, please.” I pleaded. “I promise, I will tell you. I don’t know when, but I will. I promise.”
“I-you-but-” Eloise couldn’t decide what to say, or what emotion to settle on. She settled on anger.
“You!” She seethed. “You-you-want-! You...I was wrong! You do think the world revolves around you! You take your stupid rock!” She threw the rock at me. Luckily, it was only the size of a blueberry. There was only one thing I could do to save our friendship.
“They’re magic!” I yelled. Eloise stopped.
“W-what?” I bent down to pick up the stone.
“The stones are magic.” I repeated. “You see why I can’t let you have a stone right now?”
“Y-yeah…” Eloise looked down and back up again. “They are magic?!”
“Eloise, please don’t freak out!” I shushed her.
“I’m...I’m not freaking out.” Eloise shrugged. She didn’t sound very sure.
“KATE!” My mom’s voice called from the hill.
“COMING!” I yelled before telling Eloise, “Please don’t tell anyone, or go back in the forest until you know more.”
“Okay.” Eloise said. “Promise.”
I sighed with relief. “Okay, thanks. See you later, Eloise.”
“Bye.” We turned and went our separate ways. I couldn't believe I had told Eloise, but it was the only thing I could do. What was I gonna tell Anne? And what if Eloise told someone? She had promised, but could I really base her trust and the future of this village on a promise?