“Are you sure this will be enough?” Maguire asked, checking his basket.

  “It’s close enough, and we got some good roots on a lot of the plants,” I replied. “Should fill their immediate need and then some. We can always do another search, though I’ll probably try to renegotiate what debt is left. It’s going to take forever to get these stains off my fingers.”

  “It’s worse than glitter.”

  “At least it smells good.”

  “That is true. We should be near where we left those picnickers,” he commented.

  “Yep. Time to switch to a more normal topic of conversation.”

  He chuckled, arranging the cloth over the basket to better hide its contents. Some of the plants we collected looked a little strange and I didn’t feel like answering more questions about our nature studies. We had spent the past few hours collecting herbs and fungi to pay off a favor to some druids who helped us get out of a tricky pickle involving a swamp creature. The beast was a touch territorial, and for good reason, and the druids used their influence to calm it enough for us to get somewhere safe.

  Thankfully, the creature was located deep within a different wood and we wouldn’t have to travel far to deliver our payment. I ran through the list of places we could stop for lunch as we walked while half paying attention to the increasing signs that we were approaching the picnic area.

  The first person we ran into was one of the teenagers, a girl in a light blue jacket. I gave her a friendly wave, which she returned with a smile that felt a little odd.

  “Did you two have a nice hike?” she asked.

  “We sure did,” I replied, smiling past my slight confusion. I saw her when we passed through, but she had been too engrossed in her phone to pay much attention. We had spoken to her father, though. Perhaps she heard him talking about us.

  “I might have to give it a try myself,” she continued. “People are always telling me that a good walk will do wonders for my constitution.”

  “It will indeed. Hope you have a lovely day.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Likewise. Drive safe!”

  Maguire sent me a questioning look but didn’t say anything until we were far enough away for her to not hear his whisper. “Something about that felt wrong.”

  “Agreed, and I can’t put my finger on why,” I replied quietly. “Could be a case of people being weird, but keep an eye out. There might be something to this.”

  He nodded and we continued along the path, eventually reaching the picnic area. The rest of the family was milling about like normal. The uncles were still handling the grilling while their wives arranged the rest of the food and the kids played. It seemed ordinary, idyllic even, but I could shake the faint sense of something being amiss. I slid my basket up my arm, freeing my hands to start digging through my bag. Maguire did the same.

  “Let’s mingle a bit,” I muttered. “Maybe get some water before we head out. Make sure we are just being paranoid.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll pretend like I left something over near the playground area.”

  I bumped my elbow against his and we split up. He went towards the playground area, which had a few benches facing it. I went to the picnic tables, where most of the people were starting to congregate. They were a little wary of me at first, but they were friendly enough. We exchanged a little small talk and they handed me a few bottles of water, which I gratefully accepted.

  “You and your friend are welcome to split a plate, if you want,” one of the women offered. “We have more than enough.”

  “We might have to take you up on that. Let me check with my friend,” I replied, trying to not appear too distracted as Maguire made pointed eye contact with me and nodded for me to come over. If she noticed, she didn’t say anything and I politely excused myself.

  It didn’t take me long to notice what had caught Maguire’s attention. The dad we had spoken to earlier sat in one of the lawn chairs, huddled over his phone. I let Maguire approach first, keeping my distance to watch the body language. I palmed a medallion in my bag, pulling it out to run my finger along the edge, letting its innate power show me what I might be missing.

  “Did your brother kick you off the grill?” Maguire asked. The dad looked up.

  “First off, I don’t have a brother and second, I don’t grill,” he said snottily. “And before you try another dumb pickup line, I’ll have you know that I already have a boyfriend, so you can buzz off.”

  “My apologies.” Maguire took a few steps back, then circled around to meet with me, concern evident in his eyes. I stared at the dad for a few minutes longer, before turning my attention to Maguire.

  “We have a problem,” I said quietly. “Something is causing them to change consciousnesses. I don’t think it's permanent yet, but if we don’t find a way to reverse it, things are about to get very complicated.”

  “I think they are already complicated. How do we fix this?”

  “Good question. Let’s figure out what’s wrong.”