Chapter
1
Early one morning, Olive Regle woke up in time to see the sun rise. She climbed out of the tent at her family’s campsite and smiled as she heard the birds whistling one another awake. She bundled up, sat down on a camping chair, and waited for her father to wake.
For some reason, Olive felt like it was taking her father forever, but really it had been only about fifteen minutes. Then she heard:
“Argh!”
Olive laughed to herself, realizing their dog, Bailey, had woken up her father with lots of sloppy kisses. She knew there was no way he was getting back to sleep now.
“All right! All right!” Olive heard her father say to Bailey. “Just don’t wake up Ryan.”
“Too late,” grumbled Ryan, Olive’s ten-year-old brother.
“Good morning, Olive,” said her dad as he came out of the tent. “Hot chocolate?”
“Yes, please!” said Olive.
“I’ll boil the water,” he said.
“I’ll get the marshmallows,” said Olive. They had had the same exact conversation the past three mornings.
As she looked around, Olive realized they were the first ones up in the entire campground. But that was fine with her. School started in a few days, and Olive was happy to spend some time with her dad. He worked a lot, and Olive wished he didn’t. They both loved to be outdoors, and this camping trip had been Olive’s favorite part of the summer so far.
Ryan emerged from the tent, groggy and grumpy. He took a cup of hot chocolate and sat down in one of their camping chairs. Unlike Olive, Ryan was not a morning person. He was barely an afternoon person.
“Dad, I was thinking that—” began Olive.
“Dad, can I have some more marshmallows?” interrupted Ryan.
“Sure,” their dad replied, handing him some.
Olive tried again. “I was hoping that—”
“When are we leaving?” Ryan interrupted her again.
Olive pouted. Sometimes her brother was okay, but sometimes he was downright annoying.
“Dad,canItakeBaileyforawalk?” Olive said, super fast so Ryan couldn’t interrupt her.
Her father looked up from his mug of instant coffee. “That’s a good idea before we get back in the car. Don’t go too far, though. While you’re gone, Ryan and I can pack up the tent and gear.”
“Wait! What?” began Ryan, launching into a tirade about the unfairness of life in general, and especially the unfairness of who was packing the car.
Olive saw her opportunity and quickly grabbed Bailey’s leash, scampering off with a hidden smile. “Come on, boy,” she said to the golden retriever. She attached his leash and they headed away from the campsite.
The pair walked down a well-worn trail. Olive could hear birds calling to one another overhead. She often wondered what they were saying. Meanwhile, Bailey was on high alert for any sudden movement or strange smell—from a squirrel, skunk, or other woodland creature. While Bailey kept his head down, Olive looked at the trees towering above. The trees were taller and wider than any building Olive had ever seen. She imagined them being part of a sprawling kingdom, complete with enchanted creatures.
At that moment, Bailey barked and pulled sharply on his leash. Before she knew what was happening, the leash slipped out of Olive’s hand.
“Bailey! Bailey!” yelled Olive. “Come back here!”
But the dog had spotted a squirrel and was determined to catch it. He ran off the trail and into the lush green woods.
Olive had no choice but to follow. She ran as fast as her eight-year-old legs would carry her, calling out Bailey’s name. On her right, she heard a rustling in a bush.
“Bailey?” she called hesitantly.
The noise turned out to be just a squirrel. She watched as it hopped from the bush to the trunk of the gigantic tree next to it. Soon another squirrel joined the first one, and the two looked like they were playing a game of tag.
Olive kept walking and calling for her dog. She heard more rustling up ahead and ran to it, hoping it was Bailey. She carefully walked toward the sound, dead leaves crunching under her shoes. She held her breath, pulled back a leafy branch, and gasped.
It wasn’t Bailey. It was someone else entirely.
Chapter
2
Right in front of Olive was a boy who looked about her age. He was covered in a layer of dirt and was wearing a shirt and a pair of shorts that looked to be made of leaves, mud, and who knows what else. His hair was messy and ragged, and appeared to have parts of an actual bird’s nest in it. His green eyes shone wide and curious. Before Olive could say anything, the boy scampered up the closest tree and onto a high branch.
“Wait!” called Olive.
The boy stopped and peered down at her. Olive looked up. She smiled. He smiled back. A tiny bird poked its head out of the boy’s hair, let loose an irritated chirp, and flew off.
“Please come back,” she said shyly.
Rather than climb down, the boy grasped a vine and swung through the air. Olive gasped as he let go, flipped backward, and landed perfectly in front of her. Who is this boy? Olive had never seen anything like his acrobatics! Speechless, Olive began to clap. The boy seemed surprised by this but immediately started to clap, too.
“I’m Olive,” she said, pointing to herself. “What’s your name?”
“Forest,” replied the boy.
“Yes, this is a forest,” said Olive. “But what’s your name?”
“Forest,” the boy replied.
“Your name is Forest?” she asked.
Forest nodded.
“Oh,” said Olive. “I like that name.”
Forest grinned. “Me too.”
Suddenly, Forest dove toward Olive’s feet and used a stick to help him yank up a three-foot rattlesnake.
Olive gasped. “Wow! I didn’t even see it down there! What a giant snake! Is it a dangerous one?”
Forest nodded. “Rattlesnakes can be.”
“Thank you for saving me,” Olive said shyly but meaningfully.
Forest shrugged. “No problem.” He put the snake down, and they watched it slither away.
“Where is your campsite?” asked Olive. “Ours is over there. My family is packing everything up. Do you want to come meet them?”
Forest looked sad suddenly. “No family. Just Forest.”
Olive looked confused. “You don’t have any parents? But … but … where do you live?”
Forest gestured to the wide expanse of woods around them. “This how Forest lives.” Then he smiled deviously. “Forest watches all the campers. Forest learn many words from them: diaper, pesky bugs, bathroom stinks, poison oak, dead battery, frozen hot dogs, and you kids enjoy nature.”
“That sounds like campers, all right,” said Olive.
“But Forest has question,” he said.
“Yes?” replied Olive.
“What is an Xbox?”
Olive giggled.
Just then, they heard a bark, and Olive turned to see Bailey running up to them.
“There you are!” she said.
Before she could grab his leash, Bailey started barking wildly at Forest.
“Stop, Bailey!” insisted Olive. “This is Forest. He’s … my new friend.”
At that, Forest smiled.
Bailey calmed down, and Olive rubbed behind his ears, making his tongue hang out happily.
Forest knelt down to Bailey’s eye level. The dog barked.
“Bailey says he had to chase the squirrel,” said Forest.
“How do you know that’s what he said?” asked Olive, not quite believing the boy.
“You don’t?” asked Forest.
“No! Of course not!” said Olive.
“Huh,” said Forest with a shrug. “Guess Forest just good with animals.”
“Okay,” Olive said, a bit suspicious. Then she suddenly felt shy and looked down at her shoes. “Um … do you want to come meet my family? They’re just over this way.” She turned to point in the direction she’d come from. When she turned back, Forest was gone.
“Forest? Forest?” called Olive. But there was no reply. Her shoulders sank and she frowned, feeling disappointed. She kind of liked having someone to talk to who didn’t interrupt her all the time.
She looked down at Bailey. “Well, I guess we’d better head back before Dad starts to wonder what’s taking us so long,” she said. She and the dog turned back toward the campsite. On the way there, Olive’s head was filled with questions about Forest: Where does he sleep? What does he eat? Does he get lonely? Does he ever brush his teeth?
Olive let Bailey lead the way back, hoping he was sniffing out their campsite instead of more squirrels. Before long, Bailey barked at the sight of Ryan and their father putting food back into the cooler.
Olive ran the last few yards, eager to share what had happened.
“Dad! Ryan!” she called. “You’re not going to believe what happened to me!”
“Honey, there’s a storm rolling in,” said her father. “Can you tell us in the car?”
Olive looked up at the sky, and sure enough, dark clouds were swirling in the distance.
“But I met this boy who lives in the woods! He can climb trees and swing through the air on vines and—”
Ryan snickered. “Can he find the magic pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, too?”
Olive shot him a nasty look. “I’m not making this up.”
Her dad piped up. “I’m sure you’re not. But if we don’t get packed up lickety-split, I’m also sure we’re going to be caught in the middle of this storm!”
“Yeah,” said Ryan. “You heard Dad. We don’t have time!”
Olive stuck her tongue out at her brother. Then they all raced around to pack away the gear and load up the car.
As soon as the first drop of rain fell, the gray clouds seemed to open up and empty out all their water. Olive and her family got soaked as they shoved the last few things into the car and then ducked inside themselves.
Once they were buckled in and driving away from the campsite, Olive looked out the smeary window, watching the raindrops slide down the glass. Through the gray mist, she tried to spot Forest in the trees above but had no luck.
“It wasn’t a dream,” Olive said quietly to herself. “It was real, right, Bailey? You saw him, didn’t you?”
Bailey, who was in the rear area of the car behind a pet barrier, didn’t respond. Instead Olive heard the dog’s gentle snores. She sighed.
After the long drive home, the rain cleared and everyone was thrilled to finally get out of the car. Olive was happy to see their blue house with its white shutters. Olive’s father opened the garage door to unload the gear. Ryan tried to duck inside.
“Not so fast,” his father said. “Help us unload.”
“Aw, man!” grumbled Ryan.
Meanwhile, Olive went to the back of the car to let Bailey out. When she swung open the door, she was shocked. Sleeping right next to Bailey was none other than Forest!
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