The smell of bacon wafted through the room. Natalie's eyes snapped open. Bacon. I like bacon. But why is there bacon today?

  Oh. Right.

  She got up and pulled on some socks, sliding across the wood floor to the door and pulling it open in one easy motion. She still had some momentum, and plowed right into the man on the other side, who had just been about to open it.

  "...Breakfast is ready," he announced, as Natalie bounced off and nearly fell over.

  "Pancakes?" she asked excitedly.

  "Yes."

  Natalie skipped right past her father and down the hall, where a plate and syrup were waiting. The pancake even had a little smiley face drawn in it from the batter, just like she always loved, and the bacon was just the right balance of crispy and soft.

  "Thank you," she said through a mouthful as he sat down next to her at their little table. It was barely big enough for just the two of them, but she didn't mind.

  "Anytime," he said, reaching up to dab off a bit of syrup with a napkin. Natalie took it out of his hand and did it herself, rolling her eyes.

  "Did my new book come yet?" she asked, remembering to clear her mouth this time.

  "It should be here by now. I'll stop by the post office after breakfast, okay?"

  "Okay."

  "What book did you get this time?"

  Natalie shook her head. "It's a secret."

  He laughed. "What's on the agenda for today, turtle? Heading out to Castle Hendricks?"

  She rolled her eyes. "Stop calling me that."

  "Not in a million years."

  "Can I call you giraffe?"

  "I wish I was that tall." He leaned over and ruffled her hair. Sometimes that annoyed her, but right now she didn't mind. "I made you a lunch. It's on the counter in your bag."

  "Peanut butter and jelly?"

  "I think you'll be surprised." He smiled cryptically. "Finish your pancakes."

  As soon as her dad left for the day, Natalie grabbed the lunchbox off the counter. She wasn't about to head out to her fort without knowing what was inside. Sure enough, there was a peanut butter and jelly, as she'd expected, but underneath in the little pocket were a few packed up chocolates, along with a note.

  The Birthday Fairy is coming. Leave her a wish and she'll make sure it gets to you. But don't wait too long!

  Natalie rolled her eyes again, but she smiled anyway. Her dad hadn't forgotten her eleventh birthday. He never did, even when she really hated him. She gathered up her jacket and her best shoes and set off for the day, through the backyard and onto the little path that lead into the forest.

  She knew there was no such thing as a birthday fairy. Her dad was just being silly. But still, he'd always gotten her exactly what she wanted for her birthday. One year it was a bike and lessons on riding it, another was a particular book she'd been wanting to read for years (she really wasted her wish that year…). The best, of course, was the fort she'd wished for on her tenth birthday. Her dad always came through.

  The fort came into view — a sort of half-treehouse, half lean-to built into a massive old oak that had tumbled over long ago. The lumberjacks had rejected it for one reason or another, so it had been left to settle into the ground, where it continued to grow in a strange sideways pattern. The main arch formed the second floor of her fort, while the entrance and the first floor filled the space underneath. Her dad spent a whole week designing it with her, and another week building it. Natalie even got to help, learning all about hammering in nails, staining and finishing wood, tools, what designs would work and what wouldn't.

  She climbed over the fence around the door and entered the cave-like bottom floor, where she had a little folding chair in the dry, dusty corner. Rain in the Olympic forest could come in huge downpours out of nowhere, so having a covered area was always important. Even though the second floor of the fort had a roof, the rain liked to blow in from the sides too, so the bottom was covered by a tarp she could raise and lower with a rope tied to the side. It was hard, but she was just strong enough to pull it off.

  Natalie liked to think of it as her little castle. Sure, it didn't really look anything like a castle — it was way too square and flat, without any cool turrets like the big abandoned library, and made mostly of wood and metal screws and stuff — but it was hers. Even her dad wasn't allowed in without her permission.

  She spent most of the day out there, since she didn't really have anything else to do. Maybe she would have spent the day with Jenny, but she didn't dare go out to that part of town again. Natalie knew better than to push her luck.

  So she made up games alone. She climbed the trees, she worked on making the new extension to the first floor with some plywood she'd found sitting around unused. She practiced shooting her slingshot and her makeshift bow at water bottles and pinecones all around from the second floor. The bowstring kept snapping before she could really loose an arrow, and the stick she was using was warping too much to really work right.

  Maybe that's what I should wish for…

  Natalie had always wanted to learn how to shoot a bow, ever since she'd gotten addicted to stories with princesses in hiding that had to learn how to fight. She liked to pretend that was why they moved out to somewhere so far away, in the middle of nowhere. She was Princess Hendricks, living in her little castle on the other side of the world because someone had chased them away from Chicago, and one day she'd go back to find her mom and reclaim her home.

  Not that she really wanted to go back to the city. The forest was way more fun. She wished her mother had come with them, but her dad insisted it was for the best — that her mom wasn't 'safe'. After the time Natalie had to spend in the hospital though, she believed him. It was her fault… wasn't it?

  At least it's summer. No homework. No listening to Mrs. Nichols' annoying voice all day. I can do whatever I want.

  Which, as it turned out, ended up being games. Just games on her phone, since it started raining halfway through the day. She stayed camped out under the tarp, enjoying the sound of the rain pattering on the roof of her fort. She even turned off the sound on her phone, playing in silence while the storm moved in overhead.

  Weird that it's raining today though… If Natalie remembered right, it didn't usually rain much in July. Sure, a huge downpour could always come out of nowhere — that was just one of the little exciting things about Rallsburg that Natalie loved — but this seemed more random than usual, and a lot heavier.

  She checked the time on her phone, and to her shock, it was already past eight. Somehow, she'd been out all day without even noticing. The sun was starting to go down, but it was hard to tell from inside the thick canopy and her fort.

  It was raining way too hard to go home yet though. Natalie could see an actual river starting to form nearby, as rainwater gathered up and rushed downhill. Luckily, thanks to the tree they'd picked out, the fort was safe from flooding, but it did make leaving a bit hard.

  It's almost like a moat, she realized, a grin spreading on her face. My castle had a moat the whole time!

  She thought about calling her dad, but the signal was always pretty bad this far way. The cell phone tower was on the opposite side of the town, up north by the train station, and Natalie's phone was an old used one that always dropped calls anyway. She sent a text, but it hovered at 'sending' endlessly.

  A bright light flashed overhead, followed by a huge bolt of lightning and a roll of thunder. Natalie looked up, surprised. Lightning storms were pretty rare, too — especially compared to back in Chicago. She'd only seen one storm since they moved. She watched eagerly for the next crack of lightning, but she didn't see it.

  She heard it. Close. Way too close.

  The flash nearly blinded her, as lightning whipped through the trees nearby. It struck the branch of an oak a few hundred feet away, and the whole thing exploded. A blackened stump halfway up the trunk was all that remained.

  Natalie stepped back inside, afraid. Another lightning bolt shot by, and then another. Lightning doesn't do that. It comes from the sky.

  What's going on? Where's Dad?

  She sent another text, but it was stuck just like the first one.

  "Stop it!" someone shouted. "Please, Jack!"

  They were answered by another earsplitting whip-crack. Natalie took cover in the corner of her fort, pulling down the covering over the front so it was totally enclosed, and she waited.

  A noise like a rushing wind. Footsteps, and the sound of a huge crash. Thumps. Another lightning crack.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Natalie stayed right where she was, imagining all sorts of monsters doing battle outside her little fort. It went on for half an hour while she watched her phone, waiting for it to finally get through and send the texts. But it never did, and as the sounds faded away, Natalie couldn't wait any longer.

  She pulled open the tarp, just an inch at first. The covering on the extension to her fort had fallen a bit, blown away by something. The rain was letting up, so Natalie took a few cautious into the open, wincing at the heavy drops falling off the edge of the second floor coverings.

  Something meowed.

  Natalie twisted around. A stray cat hissed at her. It was cowering in the corner of the second floor, taking shelter from the storm and whatever else had just happened. She rushed to climb up, but it bolted away before she could get near, leaping off the side and landing in the underbrush. It slipped a little on the wet leaves, but in moments it had sprinted out into the forest.

  Natalie paid it no mind, because she'd seen something else. A piece of paper, yellow-brown and ancient, was caught against the railing on the second floor. She picked it up, curious, using her phone's flashlight to see it clearly in the dusk.

  Her eyes caught the first word, and everything stopped.

  The world froze in time around her. Even the raindrops seemed to be stuck in mid-air, but Natalie could only barely see them out of the corners of her eyes. None of it mattered. All that mattered was the page. It was like she'd stepped into a new world. Her eyes traced the letters, the strange curves that she couldn't begin to describe, but somehow understood.

  What's going on? she wondered, but her eyes kept sliding across the page. Even if she wanted to stop, she couldn't — and Natalie definitely didn't want to stop. It was better than anything she'd ever read, and as she kept going, her mind felt like it was expanding outward. She was leaving her own body, watching herself hold up the page while she floated away into space, into the forest.

  The animals were waiting for her. The owl sleeping in the tree above her. The hawk taking shelter from the rain. The squirrels and the rabbits searching for food, and the cougar hunting them. The black bear and her cub way down by the stream, looking for fish. The salmon that swam past unaware, and the osprey about to dive to catch one of them. The beavers building a home further up the stream. On and on, so many of them in every direction, living in a perfect cycle, totally unaware of Natalie's presence watching them from afar.

  She reached the end of the page. Her mind reeled in as if on a fishing line, yanked back through the forest to crash into her skull. She blinked rapidly, staring down at the page in her hand again, where sat words she still couldn't read. But something was different.

  Natalie could feel it. It was a warmth in her chest, close to her heart. Something had lit a little fire there, crackling away in a happy little dance — like something she was always supposed to have, but no one had ever bothered to light it until now. She'd been missing it and hadn't ever known it was gone, until it suddenly burst into life.

  What was that? she wondered. She went back down to the bottom floor and set the page into a dry spot near the base of the trunk, intending to look at it more and figure out what just happened.

  "Nice fort."

  The growl came out of nowhere. Natalie whipped around, but no one was inside. He was outside. It took a moment for her to remember the voice, but she'd definitely heard it before.

  She picked up her slingshot, since her bow was still broken, and loaded a pinecone. Armed and ready, she leaned out cautiously.

  Robert Harrison held up his hands in surrender, his brown eyes twinkling behind the huge bushy black beard. "Ye got me," he joked.

  "This is my castle," Natalie said firmly. "Nobody's allowed 'cept me and my Dad. And maybe Jenny."

  "Pretty short list."

  "It'll get bigger. I don't have many subjects yet."

  "Subjects, eh? So this is your queendom?"

  "What?"

  Robert's thick beard crinkled up in a smile. "Queendom. Like a kingdom, but ye're a queen, so it's a queendom."

  Natalie shook her head. "I'm a princess. The queen isn't here right now."

  "Ah, gotcha." Robert shrugged. "Well, princess, ain't it a bit late for you to be out here all alone?"

  She wanted to say no, just to spite him, but it was late — way later than she usually stayed out, and her dad was probably worried sick. Plus, after everything that just happened… She lowered the slingshot and let go of the pinecone.

  He nodded. "Come on. Let's get ya home, alright?"

  Natalie glanced over her shoulder at the inside of the fort, where the little page sat out of sight. She tied down the entrance cover, so that it wouldn't blow away and none of the animals would get inside. "...Okay."

  By the time they got back to Natalie's house, night had settled in. The front light was on, and as they approached, her dad sprinted out of the door.

  "Natalie!"

  She ran up and hugged him, and he gathered her up tight.

  "Are you okay? What happened?"

  "Storm," she said. He was hugging her too tight, so she couldn't get a whole lot out. "At my castle." He finally realized what he was doing and let her down, crouching down to eye level. "I was really scared," she whispered.

  "It's okay," he said, gathering her up for a much nicer hug this time. "You're safe now."

  "She weren't scared at all," Robert commented. "Held down the castle like a pro."

  Her dad glanced up. "...Harrison, right?"

  "Yup. I happened on her little fort while I was out checkin' for slides. Your little girl's a fighter. Ain't no freak storm takin' her down."

  "Thank you." He let go of Natalie. "Go inside, Natalie. Dinner's on the table. Eat whatever you like, okay?"

  "Okay."

  As Natalie walked away, she paused for a minute just inside the door, listening in on their conversation. She wanted to know what Robert might say about her — and if he'd seen the little page of parchment she'd found and hidden inside.

  "...Really, Brian, it was nothin'." Robert paused. "But you're lucky it weren't some of the less seemly types 'round here."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean that some folks ain't all there in the head. Small town, you get those kind here. 'Specially this time of year when there ain't no college in session. University folks're all arrogant pricks but at least they're sane."

  "...I see."

  "Relax. There's plenty o'good men and women still, like Jackie. Just… be careful, y'hear?"

  Natalie privately disagreed with Robert. She'd met more than a few people in town and never run across anyone 'not there in the head'... but her dad was nodding along. He believed the gruff older man.

  I'm never gonna get to have that sleepover… Natalie trudged inside, where dinner was waiting on their little table. A couple pieces of pizza, obviously cold. She went into the kitchen, got out the little stool and put it into the microwave to warm up.

  Right around the time she was finishing the first piece, her dad came in. He warmed up his own slices and sat down next to her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned in for the hug even though she didn't really feel like it. Still, after everything in the forest, getting a hug, a warm meal and a safe house around her was comforting.

  "You okay, turtle?"

  "Yeah, dad." She wanted him to see her as the tough kid, like Robert said. Maybe he'd loosen up a bit if he thought she could take care of herself. Let her have friends over, let her go wherever she wanted. Not that she didn't already, but it'd be nice if she didn't have to be so sneaky about it.

  "Is the pizza okay? I tried something different with the dough this time."

  She nodded. Her dad was always nervous about his pizza, but it had turned out all right. "It's really good, Dad."

  "Thanks."

  After dinner, to her delight, he sat down at his drum set in the corner and began to tap out a rhythm. Something about it was just so fun to listen to, and he could get really creative. Plus, since they weren't next to other people like in the city, they could be as loud as they wanted without worrying about annoying anybody.

  She got up on the stool for the keyboard and tapped out notes to go along with it. It wasn't a real song (though she did know a few), just whatever came to mind. Her dad always encouraged that, playing whatever she felt like playing. He said that was the real spirit of music, not just sticking to the notes on the page that people had figured out years and years ago.

  Natalie didn't exactly agree, since she really liked how those old songs sounded, but it was fun to make up something on the fly with her dad. Still, she didn't last long. Something else was pressing on her mind, something she didn't quite understand. Something inside her was changing, shifting, growing. She could feel it flickering back to life, like it had been hiding ever since Robert found her, waiting for her to feel safe again.

  She turned the keyboard off. Her dad looked up, but she just waved at him to keep going, gesturing to her room. She left the door open to listen, and to drown out anything else that might happen — because she really didn't know what was about to happen.

  In the darkness of her bedroom, with only a tiny sliver of the moon shining in the window, Natalie tried again. She tried to recreate that feeling from the forest, how her mind had disconnected from her body for a moment. The flame inside her flickered and grew, a little larger, a little warmer. She flew out into the open, a part of her leaving her head and floating into the air.

  There was a cat. Not any kind of cat, though — a cougar. She didn't know how she knew it was a cougar, since it was way out in the forest. Natalie's head whipped around to the window. She could see it, clear as day in the middle of the night. The rest of the forest may as well have been a completely black wall, but she could see the big cat, bronze-furred and prowling the thick woods for a last meal before it went back to sleep.

  Natalie called out, barely audible under the drums from the other room.

  The cat twisted around and looked straight back at her.

  It heard me! Natalie tried again, speaking in the way that the page had taught her. Letting her mind fly out and touch the cougar's, making sure it understood her.

  Her knees buckled at the strain. Suddenly, Natalie felt like she'd just sprinted the whole distance there, even though she hadn't moved at all, but the big cat heard her. He began to pad through the trees, slowly approaching her bedroom window. She pushed it open.

   she asked.

  The cat just stared at her. She got a sensation in her head, a feeling. Like he had no clue what she was asking. How do I know it's a he…? she wondered. She was absolutely sure, but still… she asked.

  The mountain lion nodded its head.

  Cats don't nod…

  It nodded again.

  The cat looked down at the ground for a few seconds, then back up. She could have sworn its pale yellow eyes rolled at her.

  It nodded.

  Natalie reached out of the window. She'd been warned about mountain lions, and this one was pretty big. Even so, she knew he wouldn't hurt her. He leaned forward, and she scratched between his ears where she knew he'd like it the most.

  The drumming stopped.

  Natalie panicked.

  Her new friend bolted, straight back into the woods. Natalie went over to her desk, just in case her dad was about to walk in. Sure enough, his shadow approached the door, and she realized she hadn't closed the window.

  But if I run over there to close it, he'll see me.

  In a moment of panic, she wished with all her might that it was closed—and with a loud snap, the window slammed down into place. Natalie's mind released her grip on the edges just as her dad walked in the room.

  He looked over at the window curiously, but since Natalie was on the other side of the room, she couldn't have closed it. She smiled innocently. "Did my new book come?"

  "Yeah." He handed it over. Somehow, though, it just wasn't that interesting to her anymore. He paused. "Did you make a wish for the Birthday Fairy yet?"

  Natalie rolled her eyes. "Not yet, Dad."

  "Well, don't wait too long, or she might not be able to get it in time."

  "Okay."

  He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "Goodnight, turtle. See you tomorrow."

  "Goodnight. I love you, Dad."

  The door swung closed behind him, and in an instant Natalie was on her feet again. She tried over and over to open the window without touching it, but it wouldn't budge. Still, she wasn't about to let that stop her. She knew she could do it again.

  The only thing she worried about was her dad finding out. Natalie didn't think he'd let her keep this… whatever it was. Maybe he would. He was always okay with her learning to protect herself, or going out in the woods alone. He was scared of people, not things.

  But even so…

  Natalie shook her head. She just wouldn't worry about it for now. It was fun, and it wasn't hurting anyone, so she could just keep it to herself.

  After a whole hour of trying, the window budged — just an inch, but she still had to stop herself from shouting in joy.

  Natalie grinned. This is gonna be fun.