The note said that the walk would take an hour, so as soon as school let out, I took a bus to the north side of town, and started following its instructions, which told me to start at the fence at the corner of the old McIver farm. I walked for a while, and it led me around the border of the farm, and then turned north across the hayfields, and then into the woods beyond, following a path through the trees that I swear I could not have found without it.
I wasn’t sure what Selina was doing way out here, but I kept following her instructions, determined to have an answer. The path wound through the forest, turning every once in a while, until I had no idea where I was. The birds and insects had grown silent; there was nothing here save for endless trees and undergrowth, and the foliage grew thicker as I went.
All at once, I emerged into a clearing, a small meadow dotted with little white and yellow flowers, sunlit through the open canopy above. About a hundred feet away on the far side of the clearing, I saw Selina.
She was dressed comfortably, wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and riding on the back of a reddish-brown horse with a dark tail that matched Selina’s own hair surprisingly well. She grinned, gave her horse a gentle kick, and it turned and started toward me, silently strolling through the meadow. When the pair neared me, she gently pulled back on the reins, and they came to a stop.
“I didn’t think you’d come,” she said.
“I had to know,” I said, shrugging.
“You aren’t ready, but maybe you will be,” she said enigmatically.
“I came all the way out here because I want to know what’s going on,” I insisted. “Can’t you just tell me?”
She kneed her horse, and the two circled around, facing away from me. “Follow me,” she said.
“Where are we going?”
“It’s better if I show you,” she said. “Come on.”
“I’m on foot,” I said. “How am I supposed to keep up with your horse?”
“I’ll go slow,” she replied, looking back over her shoulder. “Now come on.”
I shrugged. There wasn’t much of anything I could do about it, so I started walking again. Selina led us back into the forest on another path I hadn’t seen, and the foliage grew in thick again, just barely leaving enough room for her and her horse to pass by.