“Thanks, but don’t talk with your mouth full, Valley Boy. Oh, so sorry, I mean Wild Boy.”

“I don’t need another nickname,” I grumbled, my guilt slowing returning to the forefront of my mind.

“Don’t count on it.” Pir winked and fell backward onto my unmade bed. “The others are on their way, and we plan on accompanying you this morning to the clinic. Now you answer me: How’re you feeling this morning?”

I mulled over the question as I finished my breakfast. Despite my guilty conscience, I slept like a hibernating bear. I expected it was my body’s way of recovering from the episode with the Wild Fruit.

“What’s up Freckles?” Pir tilted their head. “You look concerned all of a sudden.”

“It’s just… It’s nothing. I feel fine. I just have a question for Sharp.”

“A question about what?” Piranha’s smile faltered.

“About… the Savage Wilds.”

We were interrupted by the unmistakable melody of Willow’s voice at the window. “Are you both gossiping without me? How rude!” Before I could stop him, he was already in my room, jangling the gold jewelry on his arms. “Badger! Are you able to communicate with the dead yet?”

"W-what?” I stuttered, keeping him at arm’s length.

“Shut your trap feather boy.” Sharp's tall frame and cutting voice appeared at my window next, but she made no attempts to climb through. I suppose she thought being on the roof was far enough. “Sorry, I have no control over these two. Hurry and get ready.”

I shooed them outside so I could wash up and get dressed. On the way out, I promised my mothers to listen to the doctor and tell them everything, then let them both kiss me on the cheek.

Outside, Piranha and Willow leaned on one another and chatted. Sharp stood upright, arms crossed and foot tapping. “No more goofing off. Let’s go,” she commanded, heading down the main path without looking back.

“Such a stiff,” Willow mumbled in my ear, “but maybe we should listen to her more from now on. She is the smartest.”

“You know, the Fruit has some lingering effects,” she shouted from up ahead, “so I heard that!”

“Good!” Willow shouted back.

Piranha hurried their catlike legs to catch up with her. “Hey wait up! Badger has a question for you!”

Without looking back, she slowed her gait until we were walking in a line. “You should wait to ask my dad.”

“It isn’t a medical question,” I said, stumbling on the steep path. “Why does everybody talk about the Savage Wilds like its different from the rest of the V.U.C.?”

She huffed and kept her eyes forward. “I told you to take that political science class with me but you insisted it was too boring! You see, the kingdom at the heart of the forest is inaccessible and isolated, kind of like the Kingdom of the Wind in the north. It’s one of the most Divine places in the Vast United Continent, that’s what makes it different.”

I examined my hands, like I did when I was first able to disappear, fascinated by what I could no longer see. “So is Lucent still my power?”

She glared at me. “No idea. Ask my dad.”

Willow twirled into view. “From what I know, the Deep Dark center of the Wild is powered by the forces of death.” He hissed the last word and stuck out his tongue.

I stopped walking. “The forces of what?”

“Death,” he hissed again, causing Sharp to shove him.

“What is your problem?” she snarled. Most of the time Sharp got along famously with Willow, except on the few occasions he got us in trouble. “Stop trying to scare him.”

“But it’s true!” he insisted, only to be shoved once more.

“Shut it,” she snapped, walking faster to avoid my inevitable follow-up questions. “Don’t listen to that clotpole. Just hurry up.”

A narrow stone stairway led to a little red house on a hill, where Glass lived and worked. The sunrise turned the clouds pink, and the sunflowers nodded as we passed. Sharp pointedly avoided us the rest of the way.

I stood back with Willow, curious about his unusual insight. “What did you mean earlier, about death?”

He expressed a grin to hide some other feeling. “Sharp’s right. I don’t know much about it. Just urban legend.”

Glass opened the door to greet us before I could pry further, wearing a white medical tunic and large black boots. “Good to see you on this plane of existence, kid.” His warm smile was different than the dower seriousness of last night. “Come on in and we’ll talk.”

“Yes sir.” I left Sharp and Willow to continue bickering. Piranha met my eyes and gave me a thumbs up.

Glass’ clinic consisted of a cramped lobby and two square rooms for examining patients. An array of silver medical gadgets crowded the eggshell white interior, reflective enough to create an overwhelming glare.

While Glass gathered some supplies, I waited alone in the exam room, where I was hit with a rush of uncertainty and unfamiliarity. Something about the clinic was different than the last time I was here. The best way to describe the feeling was as if other people were in the room, watching.

“You look a bit queasy.”

I jumped at his voice. “Oh. Uh. Just nervous.”

He put a long silver instrument close to my face. “No need for that. Put this under your tongue for a minute.”

I sat in silence as he checked my vitals with a pensive look. Finally, he said, “I’ll need you to answer with complete honesty. Did you activate your power last night?”

My lips curled and I looked away. “I’m sorry, I did. It’s just that… I felt like I had to try it.”

His voice didn’t have a hint of judgment, as if he’d forgotten his advice from last night. “Was it working normally?”

“It felt normal,” I answered, although I wasn’t sure myself. The physical sensation of disappearing felt the same but…something was different. Something I couldn’t yet understand.

Glass rested his chin in his hand and scratched a few notes into a medical journal. “Alright then. Now I want you to describe everything you remember after eating the Wild Fruit. The smallest details might be important.”

I recalled the story again, including the illusion of dying and the strange lights appearing in the room. His eyes were fixed in stoic concentration.

“What do you think?” I blurted, unable to read his unshakeable bedside manner. “Willow said death is the source of energy in the deep Wilds. What does that mean?”

Unaffected by the blustering, he ruffled my hair and chuckled deeply. “You have your Mama Robin’s nerves, eh? Look, if there’s one thing I know about northerners, they’re always halfway right. The truth is more complicated.”

“So, it won’t kill me?” I asked, white knuckles gripping the exam chair.

He dismissed my question with a wave. “Certainly not. This kind of power peaks in energy when activated, which is why it knocked you out before. If you survived that, then you have nothing to worry about anymore. Tell me more about these lights.”

I put my hand on my cheek and squinted. “I think…there was six or seven of them. All different colors. The only one I really remember was bright gold and blue.” I held the twirling light in my memory, wanting to see it again.

Glass glanced at a peeling poster, faded words at the top reading Divine Effects on the Human Body. “I have a hunch,” he said. “Do you think you could activate your power right now? If you were able to do it last night, it should be safe.”