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Wicander is having the weirdest dream ever. He’s in his room, but he can’t move at all, and every time he tries to get up, something pins him down. It’s oddly realistic, but he’s pretty sure he isn’t awake. He shuts his eyes really hard, then opens them again, and nearly shatters the window with how loudly he screams. Or would have screamed, if a hand hadn’t shot out and covered his mouth.
“Shhhhh,” Tyranny hisses, putting a finger to her lips. “C’mon, Wicky, I gotta show you something.”
Wicander scrambles up, trying to get away, but he can’t, because Tyranny is sitting on his chest, pinning him in place. “Tyranny, how did you get in my house?” he demands.
She grins wide. “Don’t worry about it. Come on.”
She scampers away, and Wicander has no choice but to follow. What else is he going to do? Tyranny is his best friend. Plus, he won’t deny that he is interested in what she’s going to show him.
The moon is full, casting enough light for Wicander to see where he’s going. Tyranny leads him out of his house, through the yard, and around the back, heading straight for the woods. Wicander stops, and Tyranny keeps going for a few feet before realizing that he isn’t with her.
“You’re not going into the woods, are you?” he asks nervously. His parents always told him not to go into the woods, that it was dangerous.
“Yeah, I am.” Tyranny crosses her arms. “What are you, chicken?”
Wicander swallows hard. “My- my parents told me not to go in there.”
“Why?”
“They said it’s dangerous. Tyranny, I really don’t think this is a good idea.”
She scoffs. “It is not dangerous, Wick. I go in there all the time, and I find all sorts of cool stuff. There’s nothing scary in the woods.”
“But it’s dark, and—”
“I can see in the dark! Trust me, we’ll be fine. I’ve gone in the woods so many times, I know exactly where I’m going. This is super cool, you’re not gonna wanna miss it. Promise.”
“Pinky promise?”
“Pinky promise.”
Wicander links his pinky with Tyranny’s, and it might be stupid, and he might be too old for this, but it makes him feel better. “Okay,” he says. “Let’s go.”
Tyranny grins. “Let’s go!”
She grabs his hand and takes off, pulling him along. Wicander isn’t looking at the ground, he’s looking at Tyranny ahead of him, and he nearly trips multiple times. Honestly, he loses count by the time they reach the tree line. He never has been the most coordinated, and running full tilt in the dark really isn’t helping.
Tyranny keeps going, dragging him further into the trees. Wicander looks around nervously. Every tree is a monster’s long fingers, every shadow is a creature lying in wait for some foolhardy kid to get close enough to be snapped up. He wants to say something, to tell Tyranny that this is a bad idea, and to turn back, but he’s afraid to speak. The woods are so quiet, every rustle of leaves or crack of branches breaking is earsplitting.
Wicander tries to trust Tyranny, he really does. To her credit, she seems to know exactly where she’s going, even in the pitch dark. She hasn’t even run into any trees or anything, something that Wicander cannot say for himself. He’s gonna have to explain all the bruises in the morning.
“How much farther?” he asks, mustering the courage to speak.
“Only a little bit,” Tyranny replies, still walking. She’s not running anymore, but her pace is quick, making Wicander stumble. “It’s super cool, I promise. You’ll like it.”
He hopes she’s telling the truth. He’s trying to trust her, he really is, but he’s scared.
Finally, as Wicander is getting ready to tell Tyranny to take him back home, she starts running. “It’s right up here!” she cries, yanking him along. “Come on!”
She pulls him into a clearing, and towards one large tree on the outskirts. In the tree is a tree house.
Tyranny turns to Wicander, and he can see her massive grin even in the pitch black. “Sick, huh?” she asks, and he can feel the air from her tail whipping back and forth. “There’s a ladder, I’ll show you where it is.”
There is a ladder, made of planks hammered into the trunk. Tyranny sends Wicander up first, promising to catch him if he falls. That doesn’t exactly fill him with confidence, but he climbs, and eventually pulls himself into the tree house. The floor is made of old, uneven planks and covered in dust and leaves. He clears off a spot and lies down. Tyranny climbs up after him, and she hovers over him, beaming. “Isn’t this so cool?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Wicander admits. Tyranny lies down next to him, draping her tail over his legs. “My parents are gonna kill me if they find out I snuck out, though.”
“Why?” Tyranny asks. “It’s not like you’re doing anything bad. You’re just hanging out with me.”
“My family thinks you’re a bad influence.”
“What? Me? Why?”
“Well, you don’t have parents, you just live in that house with your sisters, and you do stuff like drag me out of bed to come see a tree house. I don’t think my parents are huge fans of that.”
She nods. “Fair.”
Wicander closes his eyes, enjoying just being here with Tyranny, before he remembers a question he had. “Tyr?”
“Yeah?”
“How did you get in my house?”
“Climbed in your bedroom window.”
“Actually?”
“No, not actually, Wick. Your front door was unlocked.”
“Oh.”
They sit in silence for a few minutes, until Wicander is suddenly struck with the urge to say something. “I don’t think my parents like you very much,” he says, staring at the sky.
“Yeah, I don’t think they do either.” Tyranny laughs. “That’s okay, though. You like me, right?”
“Yeah, Tyr. I do.”
“Then that’s all that matters. You’re my best friend, and that’s all I need.”
Wicander lets out a soft breath. It’s summer, and the air is warm, and he’s with his best friend in the whole world. For now, his parents can’t reach him. His worries are miles away. He is content.