Phillip sat in class, pretending to pay attention. Mrs. Doneaway talked on about ancient Egypt, and he fidgeted in his seat, wondering how Cedar was doing. He stared at the clock, willing it forward. He had seen the ambulance come and take Cedar away on a stretcher. Her face looked a shade of bone grey, and her eyes remained closed as they wheeled her out. The class seemed like a fog had settled around them. They were quiet, subdued. Mrs. Doneaway even seemed out of sorts. She lacked her spirited sarcasm and quiet disdain. Her eyes flickered to Cedar’s empty seat, and the line between her eyes deepened.
Phillip couldn’t stop thinking about the newspaper article. Where was this new development planned? Why hadn’t they heard about it? What would happen to the Order?
Phillip rubbed his eyes, and heard the bell ring. He jumped up and ran for the door. Shoving his books in his backpack in one move and throwing it over his shoulder, Phillip barely noticed Miranda in the doorway.
“Have you thought anymore about the party on Saturday?” she said, batting her eyelashes.
Phillip pushed by her; he yelled behind his back, “I’ve got to go!”
“Where are you going!?”
But Phillip was already out of the door, his feet pounding the hallway floor. He burst outside and stood for a moment, thinking. Just like flipping a light switch, he made his decision and ran up Shady Rill Road toward Bear Swamp.
The evening sun felt soft and warm on his back, but he paid it no notice. He ran focusing on what he was going to find. His feet thump-thumped on the dirt road, his breath rhythmic, pushing in and out.
It can’t be, he thought. It’s just not possible.
His glasses slid down his nose, causing him to lose his vision for a few moments. He sucked in and out, gasping for breath, trying to keep moving. As he turned up Bear Swamp, Phillip prayed he wouldn’t see his mom or Cedar’s parents on the road. He didn’t want to answer any questions about why he was running, or why he was splattered with mud.
Please let her be okay, he thought, please. My only friend.
When he reached the Worcester trailhead, he stopped and turned in. He nearly ran right into the machines that stood like soldiers waiting. It was exactly like a punch in the gut. He rubbed his face in disbelief, trying to make sense of the platform, the missing trees, the equipment. He turned quickly away. He had to know if their forest was okay.
The trees made a colorful tunnel for him as he started walking at a brisk pace. The woods glowed, bathed in late orange light as he pushed on. The trees stared at him, silently watching.
Finally, he came around a bend and stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at their clearing, at Stella, Magdalene, Rose and the rest of the trees in their sacred place. His jaw dropped as his eyes darted between trees. Phillip held his breath, noticing the small orange ribbons tied to each tree. Some around the center, some around a small branch. He counted the trees with this marking, sweat dripping down his forehead. In the center of them all stood the wide and graceful Stella, with the same thick orange tape tied around her wide girth. The color was blindingly unnatural against her earthy brown form.
Forty-two trees in all! This has to be it, he thought, this is where the houses are going. When did all these ribbons go up? He pushed his knuckles down, heard the loud pops. Phillip looked back, and realized the trail he walked in on would be a road. Not a tunnel of beautiful trees, but a road for this new development. Pavement to their secret place. Pavement to the place where he met his first friend. He clenched his fists, took a deep breath and yelled.
“Nooooo!!!” Hot tears pushed to his eyes, and pattered down his face. The only friend he had, the only place they were safe from the world, gone.
He had to get to her. He had to tell her. But what would it do? She was sick and in the hospital, she couldn’t do anything about it. Phillip rubbed his temples. The air pushed in around him.
Why was she sick? He thought. What was happening?
He looked out at the grove of trees. At Stella, the grooves in her bark like intricate highways leading up her wide, powerful trunk. The air stopped around him, waiting. The trees seemed to whisper in his ear and suddenly, it was clear.
If Cedar was born under this tree, if the tree falls, she’ll die. Phillip shook his head. How could that be true? Everything he had ever learned screamed inside his mind that he was crazy; there was no magic, no relationship between the impending development and Cedar’s sickness. A tiny voice, coming straight from his heart, told him it was true, that Cedar’s life was in danger and they didn’t have much time. Phillip felt the blood leave his face and he turned into the pumpkin-colored woods to run straight to his house.
Once he reached his parents’ small rented farmhouse, he stopped to walk, to gather himself. His T-shirt was soaked and clinging to his back. Phillip wiped his brow with the back of his hand.
He pushed in the door, and burst into the kitchen where his parents were getting ready for dinner. Phillip couldn’t keep in it. All in one sentence he blurted out, “Cedar’s in the hospital I need to go see her right away.”
Silverware clanked on plates. “Oh!” his mom said, jumping up from setting the table, “Oh, God, Phillip, what is it now? That poor girl’s been so sick.”
Phillip gulped, and pushed out words. “Mom, can you give me a ride to the hospital? I just need to see if she’s okay.”
Phillip’s mom shot her husband a look. She turned her eyes back to Phillip and raised one eyebrow. Phillip felt his face go prickly hot, turning the color of the orange sunset.
“Tomorrow’s Saturday, I can catch up on sleep this weekend. I just want to be there.” The heat flamed his face, deep red by now, but Phillip held his mom’s gaze.
Painfully long seconds passed until Philip’s mom said, “All right, all right. I can see you really care about her.”
Phillip ran to his room, grabbed his backpack, shoving in random items they might need: his laptop, flashlight, blankets, the newspaper. His plan solidified in his head as he whirled around the room.
Riding to the hospital, Phillip pretended to listen as his mom talked. What if they couldn’t do it? What if they were caught? His heart pounded in his chest. Cedar was in pain, he knew, and it might not stop. It would only get worse. They couldn’t help her at the hospital. They didn’t know the secret, and wouldn’t believe it if they did.
Trying to sound casual, Phillip said, “Mom, have you heard about the development going into the Worcester woods by the trailhead?
Glad to have something else to talk about she said, “Oh yes, its been all over the news, isn’t it terrible?”
Phillip nodded, trying to keep his voice even. “What do you know about it?” He stared out the window, avoiding her eyes.
“Oh, its some businessman from Burlington, he will be developing that whole hillside, putting in a neighborhood of about 20 houses. It’s such a shame. Traffic will increase on our road, but you know, it will be good for the school. More of a tax base, they say, more funding for our tiny, old school, which Lord knows we need.”
“Do you know when they will start cutting the forest?” He tried to control a wince as he spoke.
His mom turned to look at him for a second—a look that said, “Just why are you so curious?” But she continued, “Our neighbor says they’ll start soon, to try to get the site ready before the snow falls. He even thinks it will be this week, because they’ve told him to expect logging trucks to be active on the edge of his land.”
“That soon?” Phillip’s heart shot up into his throat. Cedar!
“What is it, Phillip? You can play somewhere else, you know?”
“It’s. Not. Playing,” Phillip said. They pulled up to the hospital roundabout.
“Thanks Mom,” Phillip called as he burst out the door, before she could reach over and kiss him.
“Call when you need a ride home,” she called after him. The door had already slammed shut.
Phillip strode down the hospital sidewalk, thinking about how he could talk to Cedar alone, what they would do, and how she would react. Would she think he was crazy? Or would she know he was right? He walked faster.
At the hospital reception desk a woman with orange lipstick and sprayed perfect hair said, “May I help you?”
“Yes. I’d like to see Cedar Montgomery please.” His voice was shaky.
“Are you family?”
“Well, no, just, um, a friend.”
“I see.” She shuffled some papers, looked down. “Visiting hours are over at 7:00 P.M. Please sign out a few minutes before that. She’s in room 316. Take the elevator up, and turn right. It’ll be the fourth room on the left.” She paused and looked at her clock. “You’d better hurry.”
Phillip looked at his watch. 6:45 P.M. He tore down the hall, his feet clapping against the tile floor. He pushed the elevator button three times.
“Come on!” Phillip wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. He tapped his foot. What if she was asleep? Busy with family? He gulped, straightened his hair in the reflection of the gold metal elevator door.
Bing! The door opened and Phillip sailed through the hall, past people in wheelchairs, and busy nurses and doctors walking as fast as he was. He got to 316 and the door was partially closed. He peered inside, tightening his stomach around the butterflies. Inside Cedar lay stretched out on the hospital bed, with an IV stuck in her arm, dripping mysterious fluid. She was looking at her parents, who had their seats pulled up around her bed. He stood there for a moment and she turned her head, as if she knew he was there. She waved him in.
“Phillip!” Sara said, jumping up, “Well, I didn’t expect you. How nice of you to come!” She looked between them quickly. Kevin offered his hand for Phillip to shake.
“How is she?” he asked.
“She is doing quite fine, and can speak for herself,” Cedar said, a smirk blooming across her face.
Phillip smiled for the first time in hours, and Sara offered him a seat. Cedar stared at Phillip for a moment, and his smile quickly retreated as he noticed how pale she was. You could almost see her blue blood vessels under the skin. Her eyes were red and deeply shaded underneath. She looked as though she’d been awake for days. Despite this she said, “Phillip, I’m not dead yet, so don’t look at me like I am!”
He nodded and looked away quickly, unsure what to do with himself. Sara picked up on this and said, “Kevin, why don’t we go down to the cafeteria and get some coffee. Kids, do you want anything? Ice cream?”
Cedar stared at Phillip while she said, “No Mom, we’re fine.” Phillip nodded in agreement and Kevin and Sara disappeared out the door.
“How are you really?”
“I’m OK, it’s just that I don’t feel like myself, and these people keep giving me medications that have nasty chemicals in them and they overpower me. I feel like an alien in my own body.”
“What do they think it is?”
“They have no idea. They are going to do a bunch of scary tests on me tomorrow. Needles, X-rays, CAT scans, the works, just awful. I don’t want to be here.”
Phillip looked out the window onto the dark parking lot. He knew he just had to come right out and say it.
“What is it, Phillip? Did Miranda and Sam do something today?” Her face crinkled up with concern.
“No, no. It’s just that I think I know why you are sick. And I don’t think it has anything to do with all this.” He gestured to all the medical equipment around them.
Cedar’s eyes opened wider. The light seemed to shine out of them again.
“Look at this.”
He handed her the crinkled-up local paper, folded open to the development article. “I went to our spot today, Cedar. There is orange tape everywhere, on Magdelin, Rose, and even … Stella. Forty-two trees. Scheduled to be knocked down any day now for that new development. I mean, you were born there, right? That is your place, your family. Maybe in some weird way, your life depends on that forest.”
Cedar’s eyes filled with water, and her hand reached for Phillip’s. “Of course,” she said quietly, “of course.” She looked up at Phillip. “If Stella dies…”
Phillip strained to keep looking at her deer-like eyes. “Don’t say it. We’ll figure out a way to stop it.”
“But how?”
Now it was Phillip’s turn to be strong. “We don’t have much time, but I have an idea. It is going to be incredibly risky and it may not work, but what other choice to we have?”
Cedar nodded. “Go on.”