The clearing was a beautiful spot, with clear pond and lush green grass like a thick carpet. Bright flowers grew in clumps, and the entire area was surrounded by magnificent trees. June gestured around the space. "Isn't this beautiful? It's my personal space."
The family all agreed, though Julie was still sure this was not the way back to the resort. "How far are we from the hotel?"
"Oh, not far." June seemed to dismiss the girl's question, which annoyed Julie. This so-called guide was paying a lot more attention to her brother, and the dopey guy was eating it up. Her parents were happy for the rest, and were laying down in the grass and chatting about what they would do later on today. Ignored, the girl wandered to the edge of the clearing in hopes of spotting some sign of the resort.
Derrick was getting a private tour of the area, with Julie providing the name of every kind of plant and tree. Normally he would have been bored to tears, but with her hanging on his arm and constantly touching and patting him, boredom was not a problem. He shifted uncomfortably and reddened, hoping that June would not notice the bulge in his shorts. After all, he was 15 and there were a lot of hormones making sure he noticed the pretty girl.
Despite not really being interested in plants, her enthusiasm was catching. He was actually learning a few things. The way she talked about the plants it was as if she personally knew each one, especially the trees. He grinned as she told him about the beautiful willow that grew on the far side of the pond, and why it was placed there. "It sounds like you planted it!" He knew that was not possible, since the tree was obviously a lot older than she was.
"Oh, but I did!" June laughed and drug him over to an open spot near the pond. "I planted almost all of the trees here. This is my grove!"
"Ummm, you sure don't look old enough to have planted any of these trees." Derrick grinned, sure she was pulling his leg. "Maybe the flowers."
"Oh, silly child. You cannot go by appearances." June grinned and stroked his cheek. The gesture heated up Derrick's already raging boner, and he was afraid he might cream his shorts. Only slightly less worry was that his parents or sister might see the embarrassing state of his 'tent pole', but a quick check confirmed that none of them were paying any attention to him or June. The girl did not help matters, following the caress of his cheek with a palm that slid over the bulge in his pants, making him jump and gasp, cheeks burning.
"Do not worry. We could make love right here and now and they would not notice us." June slid around him, circling with her arm around his waist. "Yes, you are perfect. Strong, straight, handsome." She knelt before him, and Derrick had a sudden horrified notion that she was going to undo his pants. Instead, she tugged at the laces of his hiking shoes. "Let's these off. You should feel the earth naturally, not insulated by these artificial covers."
Derrick looked down, somewhat relieved, and cooperated as she removed the shoes and tossed them aside, along with his socks. She was already barefoot, though he did not remember seeing her take off her own shoes. She must go barefoot a lot, for the bottoms of her feet were stained green. "There, is that not better?"
Derrick wiggled his toes, letting the soft grass spring between them. It did feel nice. He shivered as she slid her hands down his legs, caressing he knees, and then pressing against the tops of his feet. He felt her fingers dig into the soil, which must have been very soft. She grinned up at him as she pulled dark, rich dirt up from either side and then smeared it across each foot. The sensation was very strange - it was as if he had somehow gotten more solid, become anchored to the ground. He liked the feeling, though he did not understand it. He was distracted from his mild confusion when June stood, sliding her body against his. Part of him wondered how his normally attentive parents and sister would not be paying attention, but they all still looked preoccupied with other things.
"I have always wanted an oak tree here. Majestic, tall, providing shade and support for birds and animals. Can you picture it in your mind? Fifty feet tall, thick green leaves in the spring, golds and reds in the fall." June leaned close to whisper in his ear. "Picture my tree."
And Derrick found that he could. Maybe it was the surrounding old forest, the huge trees around him that provided inspiration, but in his head came the very clear image of the tree she described. It was amazing, enormous, perfect for this open area. He grinned. "That would really be something. Maybe we could plant an acorn, or find a sapling?"
June slid around to his other side and whispered "I already have my mighty oak tree just where I want it. Be my tree, feel your roots digging down deep, your body becoming thick and sturdy, your arms stretching up into the sky and filling out with a million beautiful green leaves."
Derrick shivered, feeling a strange ripple that started below his feet and flowed up his body. Was that a minor earthquake? The girl slid around him again, her hand pressing against his buttocks, then gliding once more across his thighs and crotch. His eyes widened and he gasped at the sudden and unmistakable feel of flesh against flesh - what had happened to his shorts? June blocked his downward view, pressing close against him with her hand still rubbing his painfully erect penis with one hand while she smiled and kissed him softly with her pale green lips.
What was happening? Derrick was almost overwhelmed by a flood of sensations, a rush of emotions. How could his family ignore this? June was practically raping him in the open! And he felt so odd - the sense of being anchored had increased to the point that he did not think a gale could blow him over. Lust, fear, confusion, excitement all raged in his mind. Green lips? That detail suddenly popped back into his head, and he saw for the first time that June was not only all green, but nude. Her skin was a an even olive color, her hair fine vines with tiny leaves, and solid dark green eyes. She was a girl sculpted in plants.
Despite the turmoil in his mind, Derrick was able to identify the strange creature. A Dryad - one of the tree spirits of ancient Greece. He remembered reading something about it connected with their Suite at the resort. But that was impossible! Dryads were not real. Yet the green girl continued to move around him as if he were a maypole, her pale green fingers running up and down his body. But it was not until her hand once again reached his crotch that he looked down and realized what she was doing to him.
At first he was just confused. His legs looked swollen, dark, rough. And the odd nub that should have been his penis drew in under June's touch, merging into that odd, coarse surface. He tried to bend over for a closer look, but nothing moved below his chest. He was rigid as a statue. Or a tree. He tried to cry out, but no sound emerged from his mouth. He had no breath to make sound, for he had no lungs to make breath. A rigid brown covering of bark was sweeping up from where he extended into the ground, the already swollen circle of his merged legs expanding out into a thicker trunk.
No! Panic and fear surged, and he flailed his arms helplessly, silently begging the Dryad to top, not to do this to him. He was a boy, a human, he had a future! He screamed without sound, wanting his parents and sister to see, to help, to save him. But they did not see or hear anything as he felt his body elongate, pushing up and out. His vantage point rose, eight feet off the ground, then fifteen. His flailing arms broke apart, forming a dozen branches that distributed themselves along his sides. Vision blurred and faded, sounds and smell dimmed. Derrick would have cried if he could, but there were no longer eyes, no longer a head. He felt his skull split, each half reaching up and spreading out into more branches, and then became aware of an explosion of soft leaves that opened to the warm sun.
"You are my oak tree, strong and beautiful." He was aware of the Dryad's thoughts, and felt her move within him. His fear was easing now, though he should have still been terrified. Derrick struggled to hold on to his anger, the sense of betrayal, despair, but the emotions were like wisps of fog drying up in the summer sun. There was awareness. He sensed the rich earth, the moisture and air, even the touch of birds and insects as they discovered a new home. Yet he was not new. He was a hundred years old, a long-time resident of this grove. Even as he thought that, Derrick felt squirrels in new hollows, old birds nests from summers past, scars from storms and lightning strikes, the encroachment of ivy and moss.
There was no regret, no sorrow. Derrick no longer had such emotions. He felt complacent, content. The time of warmth and growth was here now. Then the cold would come and he would sleep. Then more warmth and growth. There would be damage, loss, but no pain. Derrick's awareness spread out, diffused throughout his whole being from roots to the highest twig. And slowly, almost pleasantly, what had been a fifteen year-old boy eased into the vague awareness of a tree, with no identity at all.
"Well, are you ready to go back now?" June startled the remaining three family members out of their magically-induced distractions. Julie and her parents blinked and then nodded. "The resort is just over the hill, there."
While her parents got up and stretched from lying on the ground, Julie took a last look around the glade. It really was beautiful here. The amazing oak by the pond would be fun to climb - it was so old it could support a football team. Funny. She didn't remember seeing it when they first got here, but how could you miss a tree that big? Then she frowned, trying to catch hold of a fleeting memory of a boy just a little younger than she was. A school mate? Someone she had met here? No, she didn't know anyone named Derrick.
June came over to here as she rejoined her parents and they started back. Draping a friendly around Julie's shoulder, their guide said "This is such a nice spot. If you want, I can bring you back here tomorrow. I've got just the perfect spot for some wild roses."