Jerod and his sister Rose had wandered far, and stayed out much longer than they were supposed to. It was already late afternoon, and if they returned the way they had come, it would be well after dark before they got home. They stood at the edge of the Murkfall Forest and Jerod thought about how much trouble he had gotten into the last time they'd come home late. He felt sure that if they took the shortcut through the forest, they would arrive home before dark and in plenty of time for supper. He had heard all kinds of stories of things that happened in the forest, but he thought he and his sister were much too grown up to believe in fairies and hobgoblins.

"Are we going through the forest?" asked Rose. "Yes," said Jerod, "unless you're scared." Rose thought she could see things in the woods, things that hid, and watched her. But Jerod was always making fun of her for being scared, so Rose gathered what courage she had, took her brother's hand, and said "Ok…let's go then."

And with that, the children made their way into the Murkfall Forest.

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Cinema 4D and Photoshop.