15

Facing the direction you heard them coming from, you close your eyes and imagine the forest weaving itself together. You picture branches and boughs knitting closer, tighter, leaving almost no space to move.

Clenching your jaw in concentration, you start to feel a tingle of magic flowing up through the ground.

"Doesn't look like we can get through this way—maybe over there?"

You hear the voice, and immediately you know that you've managed to slow them down. Without pausing, you make a quiet dash towards your tree, slipping under the hollow root and disappearing into the trunk. Once you're inside, you let out a breath, and you feel the magic drawing away from you as well as you let the forest go back to how it was. Pressing your eye against a small knot, you look out towards the space you just left. There are a few moments in which you don't dare to breathe—but then the crunching footsteps start to approach, and from your vantage point, you can hear the little group talking as before. It doesn't seem like they have any idea you're here.

"Like I was saying yesterday, I'm not exactly sure what kind of results you're hoping for—I don't usually work this far out of town, so I'm not too familiar with the area. I just tried to cover as wide a region as possible."

"That's okay." The woman this time. "We're just trying things out, too. We try to follow as many possible avenues as we can, and we always try to work with local people so we can get a feel for what works in a certain place. Research, you know? We're working with about half a dozen locals already on various things, and they may or may not work out. There's no pressure for any particular result here; we want to be on the lookout for any possible opportunities."

The voices go silent for a while, and there's no sound but footsteps. Then, at last, three people come into view: Mr. Clarence, a woman whom you think you recognize as a fellow member of his company, and a man you don't know, who's carrying a small device in his hand.

"To be honest, I'm not seeing much," the man says, looking at the device as he and the others walk through the forest. "I know it's been less than 24 hours, but there's no real indication that there's any major activity here."

The man stops, and the others stop as well. You see him inputting something into the device in his hands.

"Oh, interesting—looks like there's something coming from this one."

He pauses—and then he squats down near the base of a tree.

It doesn't take you long to realize that he's doing something with the metal box you spotted.

"What is it?" you hear Mr. Clarence ask. The man makes an uncertain sound.

"Honestly, it's not a lot. It's only barely above the normal range. Could just be a blip."

"Still—it's something."

"Maybe. But we'll need to compare all the data before we…"

The voices and the footsteps slip out of your earshot. After a few moments, there's no more trace of them at all, just a breath of wind and the incessant whispering of leaves.

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