Chapter 22

          About a quarter of the way up the tree I soon felt my legs and arms getting weaker by the second.  I looked down and I was already too high off of the ground to jump back down.  I reached my hand up to an oak leaf.  Expecting it to snap, I closed my eyes tightly and hung on for dear life, however I was quickly surprised.  The leaf wrapped itself around my wrist soon to see a rope of leaves forming above me.  I couldn’t believe this! I was being carried up a tree by a rope made of magic leaves!  I took a deep breath, then the leaves rapidly shot up in speed, yanking me up the tree where I met Nixie sitting on a branch, her eyes wide and locked on me.  I let go of the leaves, and the moment I did they returned to normal.

“Annabelle…? How did you do that?” Nixie exclaimed before running up to me.

“I-I don’t know,” I replied truthfully looking down at my hands.

“Huh.  Anyway, do you want to see why I brought you up here?” Nixie squealed excitedly, bouncing up and down.

“I guess so,” I replied, still trying to get over what just happened I walked over to the branch with Nixie leading the way.

“So what now?” I asked, looking down at the rushing waters below.

“This is where the fun begins,” Nixie replied with a smirk.  Oh no… I thought to myself knowing Nixie’s definition of fun and my definition of fun are two totally different things.

“Have you ever been leaf gliding?” she asked me with a devious grin upon her face.

“Huh?” I asked in utter confusion.

“It’s easy, all you have to do is grab a leaf, get on it on all fours while using your hands to grip the leaf, then you slide off the branch and the wind will take it from there!” Nixie answered without the slightest bit of doubt in her voice.

“You sure it’s safe…?” I asked skeptically, backing away from the edge of the branch as I felt the wind picking up.

“You’ll be fine, now here,” Nixie said handing me a leaf. 

“Well, I guess this is the only way down…,” I mumbled to myself before gripping onto the leaf for dear life while Nixie got positioned.

“You ready?” she called to me.

“Y-yeah!” I choked.

“Ok! Then in 3…2…1!”