As the others waddled through the kitchen door, Eliza got them changed and dressed and soon enough, it was time for breakfast. It had been ages since Maggie had oatmeal porridge for breakfast, but she had to admit that it was not only delicious, but also filling. By the time she was done, she felt as though she had a stomach full of concrete. Walking was almost a little uncomfortable. Eliza sent all the children outside to play while she cleaned up. Maria and Jacob found their boats and headed off for another round in their apparently eternal race.
“I still don’t see why they can’t come along,” Maggie told Tommy as soon as they were out of earshot.
“Maria would rat us out in a heartbeat. We wouldn’t be able to trust her.”
“Yeah, she’s a big, old, meanie doody-head,” Charlotte chimed in.
“And Jacob? He seems like a nice enough guy.”
Tommy nodded. “He is. But you didn’t see him when he came here. As bad as this place is, I think he had it worse back home.”
“Are you sure?” Maggie still felt bad for leaving the two behind.
“As sure as I can be.”
Maggie sighed. “OK then. So it’s just the three of us,” she said and started up the hill she had come down only the day before.
Once they reached the trees, Charlotte pulled out her map and started walking off to the left. Maggie had to stop her and point out that she was holding the map wrong every couple of minutes. As the walked deeper into the forest twigs and branches began to get caught in their clothes and the ground changed. It was no longer the smooth dirt that was easy on their bare feet. All of a sudden, pebbles and and prickly, dry grass appeared.
“I think we’re on the right track,” Tommy said. “It’s almost as if the forest doesn’t want us to walk this way.” Maggie agreed.
Charlotte sat down on a big root. “I don’t wanna do this any more. It’s no fun,” she complained. “What’s in this treasure anyway?”
Maggie saw that they were about to lose Charlotte. She sat down next to her.
“You know how it’s summer now,” she said. Charlotte nodded. “Don’t you miss the winter? Snowmen, snow angels, hot chocolate…”
“And Christmas?” Charlotte said, her eyes lighting up.
“Yeah. And Christmas. That’s what’s in the treasure: Winter.”
That seemed to be enough to motivate Charlotte so they continued onwards. After quite a while and two tears in Charlotte’s dress, they found the clearing. Maggie thought the shed in the middle looked a lot creepier now than it had yesterday.
“The treasure’s in there?” Charlotte asked nervously as she tried to hide behind Maggie.
“I think so.”
Maggie took a step forwards and all of a sudden the summer day didn’t feel quite as nice and warm. There was a clammy chill in the air.
“I’m scared,” Charlotte complained. “I don’t like this place. I want Mr Bear.”
“You can hold my hand Charlotte,” Maggie said and held out her hand. ”