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Summer on Lost Lake: Chapter 8
The cabin seemed larger on the inside than Lucas remembered. Larger than it looked from the outside even. It wasn't huge, but by cabin standards it was nice and quite cozy. A low fire burned in the fireplace and the smell of food wafted from the small old-fashioned oven nearby, making Lucas's stomach growl.
Surprisingly, the cabin was empty. Lucas had knocked before entering but no one had answered. The door was unlocked, but even with the softly crackling fire and food cooking in the oven, no one was there to manage them.
Lucas thought about leaving but he decided that whoever the cabin belonged to might have an idea of how to get back to the camp or get out of the forest entirely. He just hoped that they wouldn't mind finding him waiting for him when they returned.
Time dragged by slowly. Lucas couldn't tell if hours were passing or minutes. Eventually he hopped up into one of the armchairs by the fire. It was strange. Even though it was a warm summer afternoon, the heat of the fire didn't bother him at all.
He had no concept of how long he had sat there staring at the fire when he heard two sets of footsteps approach the cabin and mount the porch. Fear gripped him as he realized how far he may have overstepped his boundaries. Though they kept a nice house, these strangers might not be friendly. He also suddenly remembered how scantily clad he was. He hid behind the arm chair trying to decide on what to do. To his surprise though, the footsteps stopped at the door and then someone knocked.
Lucas could hear his heartbeat and thought that whoever was outside could certainly hear it too. He waited, and nothing happened. Eventually the strangers knocked again. Lucas had just begun to wonder if he should answer the door when he heard a frightened whisper from the other side.
"What if no one's here?" At the sound of the voice, Lucas sat bolt upright and his eyes widened in surprise.
"Of course someone's here." A deeper voice replied with a familiar sarcasm. "Smell the smoke? Smells like something's cooking too."
"Gavin!" Lucas cried out, rushing to the door. "Skylar!"
He threw the cabin door open and rushed into the powerful arms of his very confused older brother. Skylar, equally taken aback at first, recovered quickly and joined the hug.
"Lucas?" Gavin knelt slowly to wrap him more tightly. "What are you doing here? Where's the Founder?"
Lucas pulled back slightly and frowned at his brother. "What do you mean? I just found this place a little while ago."
"I think I can provide some answers." A small voice called quietly from back inside the cabin.
Lucas practically jumped into Gavin's arms. He was absolutely sure there had been nobody in the cabin only seconds ago before Gavin and Skylar had arrived.
When the three of them stepped across the threshold they must have looked quite the sight. Three faces with varied age and complexion all wearing identical expressions of baffled confusion. Standing by the fireplace was a small boy wearing clothes that looked like they might have been quite common about a hundred years ago. He was young and thin, appearing older than Lucas but only about an inch taller. The boy's disheveled hair and wide brown eyes were as unmistakable as the timid expression he wore.
"Will!?" Gavin found his voice first.
The boy gave him a shy smile in response.
"What are you..." Gavin shook his head. "You're the Founder?"
Will shrugged a little. "Well... yes and no..."
"Umm..." Skylar raised his hand as if he was back in school but didn't wait to be called upon to echo the question in everyone's mind. "What...?"
Will's innocent face blushed as he smiled again with genuine humor. "Come inside. I'll explain. We can talk and eat."
The three exchanged wary looks, but there probably wasn't a soul on earth as disarming and harmless-looking as Will. They moved into the cabin and took seats around a well-worn but sturdy wooden table.
Will opened the oven by the fireplace and the aroma of food grew even stronger. The small boy knelt and pulled out a large steaming pan. Lucas noticed that he didn't use any kind of potholder, but the temperature did not seem to bother him. There was a large haunch of meat with vegetables stewing around the sides of the pan.
"Venison." Will told them as he set it in the center of the table. "I thought maybe you'd come today."
Although the boys were hungry, they were too confused to react when Will sliced portions onto plates and passed them around. Each of them was trying to wrap his mind around the idea that tiny helpless Will could be responsible for the entire lost side of the lake.
Noticing their expressions, Will paused in his work and sat down. "Maybe I'd better explain first." He said, embarrassed.
"You created this place and brought all the boys here?" Gavin asked in disbelief.
"Hmm..." Will looked off in thought. "I brought the boys here, but I only helped to create it."
"Helped who?" Lucas chimed in.
Will smiled at him. "You three."
Skylar cocked his head as if he had misheard. Gavin raised an eyebrow, silently asking the small boy to elaborate.
"You woke me up." Will told them. "When you came to my house. I was asleep for such a long time, so I wanted to do something fun. But I wanted it to be fun for you too. So, while you were dreaming I looked at what you liked and made the lost side of the lake out of it!" He smiled expectantly around the table as if this explained everything.
Gavin raised his finger in the air. "Hold up... That was only a few days ago. You couldn't have done all that in one night."
"What do you mean we woke you up?" Lucas queried.
"How could you see what we liked?" Skylar wondered aloud.
Will looked around again, overwhelmed. "Okay... one at a time." He took a deep breath. "I've been sleeping here in this cabin for a long time." He addressed Lucas first. "Not literally but like... I don't know how else to describe it besides sleeping. When you came here and stayed the night you seemed like so much fun that I just had to wake up." Will turned to Skylar and continued. "There's lots of cool stuff I can do." He grinned. "But sometimes I can kind of see what people like and think about based on their dreams."
Finally, he addressed Gavin's question with a more serious tone. "It sort of was only a couple days ago, but time doesn't always work like that here, especially for me. This forest is so old. Sometimes one night can feel like a hundred years."
"Who are you?" Gavin asked more pointedly. "What are you?"
Will seemed hurt by his question and Gavin was tempted to reach across the table and take the smaller boy's hand. He resisted the urge and let the question stand.
"I'm just... me..." Will answered quietly. "I've been here in this cabin for... a very long time" His deep brown eyes stared into the fire and his voice grew thicker. "There was an accident..." Will shivered visibly. "The forest, it's not just a normal forest. I always loved playing here, and it felt bad about... what happened." He sniffed. "So, after it was over, the forest it... brought me back and made me strong again but it couldn't wake me up, not really. Not until you came anyway."
Lucas reached out impulsively and patted Will on the shoulder. The little boy wiped his eyes and smiled at the redhead.
"So, the other boys, back at the camp?" Gavin asked. "Where are they from?"
Will shrugged. "They all got lost in the forest some time. Only a few find the lost side of the lake though."
"How long has it actually been here then?" Gavin frowned. "You said time doesn't always work that way so if it's been longer than a couple days how long has it actually been?"
Will looked apologetic. "I don't know. Every boy that's been lost in this forest that meets the standards, past, present, and future, can be found there. No one that lives there remembers exactly how long they've been there because it could have been months, or only a few seconds and it would feel the same."
"What does that mean for us then?" The way Will was describing the flow of time here was making him uneasy. "When we get home will it be just a few days or weeks or even longer?"
Infuriatingly, Will shrugged again. "I don't know."
"What do you know?" Gavin demanded angrily but immediately regretted it as Will's face fell. "I'm sorry, we just need to get home."
Lucas gave Will's hand a sympathetic squeeze and the boy nodded eventually.
"It's not that hard. If you keep walking and focus all your thoughts on finding your way home, then the forest will guide you... I'll guide you..." He amended, embarrassed.
"Why don't you come with us?" Skylar asked. "You could show us how to do it."
Will shook his head. "I can't leave here. I'm not... like you." He held up his hands and stretched his fingers. "This is... how I was. But I'm not like that anymore. Not really." He smiled around the table. "Besides, I like it here. It's my home. I wish it could be yours too but... I wouldn't make you stay against your will."
"But... you could if you wanted too?" Gavin asked warily.
Will gave him a reassuring smile. "There's lots of things I can do but I just want people to be happy. If you want to leave, you're free to go. You just need to make sure that's what you all want and focus your thoughts on it."
"What about Lucas?" Gavin put a gentle hand on his brother's shoulder. "Can you put him back to his normal age?"
With a small frown, Will slowly shook his head. "I can't do it directly. But there is a way. I just need to think. Let's eat first and then I'll try to help you."
This was an agreeable suggestion since it had been some time since the boys had last eaten. They found that the venison Will had prepared was delicious and tender. None of them knew if the little boy had actually cooked it or just somehow caused it to appear. Neither one would have surprised them at this point.
They talked a little throughout the meal. Will told them about how he had lived in the forest his whole life and loved to wander the paths and discover new wildlife. His mother and father had been there, but he wasn't sure what had become of them.
"I always wanted brothers or friends." Will said with a hint of sadness. "That's why I liked it so much when you came to my house."
"Well now you've got lots of friends at the camp!" Skylar said cheerfully, and Will nodded with a smile.
"So about changing Lucas's age?" Gavin brought the conversation around again.
"Yes, so as you know the oil from the darata leaves can be used to age someone backwards when it's... done right." Will blushed, and Gavin found it amusing that he was still so shy even though the three of them had all seen him in the midst of passion with Tyler on more than one occasion. Will continued. "The oil from the root of the darata plant though can be used for the opposite."
"Great." Gavin declared. "Where do we find one?"
Will sucked in his bottom lip. "Well... that's the problem. The darata plants we use at the camp are starting to die off. Taking the leaves is one thing because they will grow back but taking a root will kill a whole plant."
"We need it though, unless there's another way?" Gavin asked.
"There's no other way." Will shook his head. "But we barely have enough plants for the camp as it is. But..." He raised a hand to cut of Gavin's objection. "This wasn't the first place I thought to put the camp. When I decided to make the bath tent I had to find a new spot with a spring closer to the surface. There may still be darata plants growing at the old site."
"Where's that?" Lucas piped up.
"It's to the north of the camp, it's a bit of a hike though. And... there's another problem..." Will said apologetically.
"Go on..." Gavin coaxed.
"Well, after some time, the change from the darata can become permanent, and aging has to happen naturally."
Gavin rose quickly from the table. "How much time?" Skylar and Lucas followed suit.
"If it happened this morning then probably about twelve more hours." Will said sheepishly.
"Alright, let's go!" Gavin herded the boys toward the door.
"Wait!" Will said urgently. "You'll need to stop at camp, it's a hard trip and you'll need food and water. I'll make a path for you, but it still won't be easy. That part of the forest hasn't been visited in... I don't even know how long."
"Why didn't you tell us all of this this morning?" Gavin demanded.
Will looked down at the ground. "Because... Tyler doesn't know that I'm not... normal... Please don't tell him?" He added hopefully.
Gavin sighed heavily. He wanted to be upset, but Will's demeanor and pleading voice made it impossible. "Fine. Just help us get there."
Will nodded. "You won't see me. But I'll help." He looked around the cabin suddenly. "Oh! And take this!" He grabbed an old-fashioned iron lantern from the corner. "You're going to have to hike through the night. You'll need it."
Gavin took the lantern and nodded to Will. "Will we see you back at the camp?"
"Maybe." Will answered with a shrug. "But please don't tell anyone. Not even Jonah knows."
Lucas and Skylar hugged Will and the three of them left the cabin. It had gotten darker in the time they had spent inside and was now late into the evening with not much sunlight left. Gavin thought about lighting the lantern, but they had only taken a few steps into the tree line when he was able to see the bonfire at the camp some distance off.
It took them only a few minutes to break through back into the clearing with the ring of tents. The fire burned brightly in the center and the boys were gathered around it. As Gavin heard cheers and the sounds of sex coming from the group he remembered that Jonah had said the claiming ceremony for Noah and Damian would be held that night. He almost wished he could watch Damian be further humiliated but he knew that time was short.
They had to walk by the group of boys anyway to gather supplies for their hike and as they did so, the crowd shifted slightly, and Gavin got his wish.
In the center of the circle, younger Damian was on his hands and knees with an athletically built boy that Gavin didn't recognize behind him hauling on Damian's hips as he pounded his ass.
"Harder! Ohhh harder!" The formerly arrogant teen begged in his new high-pitched voice, and his new owner obliged, pushing Damian's face down into the dirt as he fucked the small boy relentlessly.
Both Lucas and Skylar had stopped in their tracks. Even from a distance, the smell of darata was having a slight effect on them. Gavin, as horny as the sight made him, had to haul them after him to find their food and water.
Gavin sent Skylar to grab a sheet from their tent to use as a bundle and he and Lucas began to gather up dried fruits and nuts and strips of meat. Gavin knew that if the trek was as difficult as Will had made it out to be that they would need a great deal of water, not just for the way there but the way back as well. The camp drew water from a well just past the tree line and always had several large skins of water ready to go at a moment's notice. Gavin grabbed four of them and handed one to each boy while carrying two himself. Skylar offered to carry the pack of food first.
The three of them made a point to take a wide path around the center of the camp to avoid being influenced by the darata at all, however they were still able to hear Noah's voice cracking as it came to his turn to be claimed.
They headed north as Will had instructed. Gavin lit the old lantern and it bathed the area in a bright orange light. Just as Will had promised, they quickly found a trail that led out of the camp and into the darkness. They picked up as quick of a pace as Lucas's short legs could manage, hoping only that they would be able to make it in time.