The Night We Don't Talk About
There are stories the Attic keeps to itself. This is one of them. We are only telling it now because Midnight accidentally knocked the journal off the shelf last Tuesday and Chelle decided that if it was going to be out in the open anyway, it might as well be properly documented. Luna has objected to this decision. Loudly. Repeatedly. She has been overruled.
It started, as most things do, with the portal opening somewhere it hadn't opened before.
The Glowing Grove announced itself gently — a soft blue-green light bleeding through the veil, the smell of rain and something electric, and Cinder and Ash already halfway through before anyone had said a word. Luna went after them because that's what Luna does. Chelle followed Luna because that's what Chelle does. Midnight came because Midnight goes where Chelle goes, and also because the light was interesting and dragons find interesting things irresistible.
The Grove was extraordinary. Mushrooms the size of small trees, pulsing with soft fluorescent light in blues and greens that had no business being that vivid. The air tasted like ozone and honey. Everything was very, very beautiful.
“Don't eat anything,” Chelle said, which was good advice and also completely ignored by everyone present including Chelle.
In her defense, the mushrooms smelled incredible. In Luna's defense, Cinder had already eaten one and seemed fine. In Midnight's defense, he is a dragon and dragons do not take instructions about what not to eat from anyone. Ash simply looked at the mushroom, looked at Cinder, looked at the mushroom again, and made her decision.
They were magic mushrooms. This became apparent approximately fifteen minutes later.
What followed was, by all accounts, a remarkable evening. Chelle became absolutely convinced that the trees were singing specifically to her and spent a significant portion of the night singing back, harmonizing with what she described as “the deep root chord of the earth” and what Luna described as “the most unhinged thing I have ever witnessed and I have witnessed a lot.” Chelle maintains the trees were harmonizing. The trees have not commented.
Luna, for her part, became very philosophical. She sat cross-legged in the middle of the Grove and delivered an extended monologue about the nature of time, the interconnectedness of all living things, and why wolves are fundamentally correct about everything. Cinder and Ash sat on either side of her nodding with great solemnity. At one point Luna looked directly at a glowing mushroom and said “I understand you” and the mushroom, to be fair, did seem to pulse slightly in response.
Midnight was the most alarming. Midnight, who is a sapphire dragon of considerable dignity and ancient power, spent forty-five minutes chasing his own tail around a clearing, breathing small decorative puffs of fire that he then tried to catch, and at one point sat down very suddenly and stared at his own claws with an expression of profound wonder. He made a sound that none of them had ever heard him make before. Chelle later described it as “a giggle.” Luna has refused to confirm or deny this. Midnight has pretended the entire evening did not occur.
Cinder fell asleep under a mushroom that was gently pulsing blue and snored with great contentment for two hours. Ash stayed awake the entire time, watching over all of them with the patient, slightly exasperated expression of someone who has accepted that this is simply her life now.
They made it back through the portal sometime before dawn. Nobody spoke on the way home. Chelle put the kettle on. Luna sat at the table and stared at the wall. Midnight arranged himself on the rooftop with great care and did not move until noon.
Eventually Chelle set a mug of tea in front of Luna and sat down across from her.
A long silence.
“We never,” Luna said.
“Absolutely never,” Chelle agreed.
From the rooftop, a low rumble that could have been agreement or could have been Midnight pretending to be asleep. Cinder and Ash were already curled up by the hearth, deeply, peacefully unconscious.
The tee came through the portal three days later, as if the Grove had been listening. Fluorescent mushrooms in deep blue and green, glowing softly even in the amber light of the Attic. Chelle held it up. Luna looked at it. Neither of them said anything for a moment.
“It's beautiful,” Chelle said finally.
“It is,” Luna agreed. “We're selling it.”
“Absolutely selling it.”
The forest is always calling. Now you have something to wear when you answer. We recommend admiring the mushrooms from a safe distance.
What will you find?: The Glowing Grove — Fluorescent Mushroom Forest 3D Tee