Plant Girl raced back to the jungle and paused. Curses! She had forgotten a light!

No time, she thought. She raised her hands and chanted, "Dark and dim, fade away; sunlight, come to light my way!"

Light flooded what had been dark forest seconds before.

Why she hadn't thought of this before, she didn't know, but she pushed the thought aside. She kept running. Soon she reached the dry place she had seen marked on the map of Lehmannii Jungle. She saw nothing at first, but then she noticed a butterfly. It was trying to fly forward, but was being held back by some unseen force.

Plant Girl walked forward and placed her palm flat against the unseen force. It was definitely the same sort as the one back by the corner store, only more permanent. There had to be a way to get rid of these barriers, for it seemed she would be seeing quite a bit of them. Suddenly, she recalled something her sensei had told her when she had been training in the Black Forest.

"You don't always have to use a spell to get rid of an enchantment if you can find a weakness in it," Plant Girl recited to herself. Easier said than done, she thought as she felt along the barrier. All I can think of is that the enchantment is evil. Evil is weak to kindness, manners, and good. She looked at the barrier she couldn't see. Of course, she thought.

Plant Girl looked straight at the barrier and smiled. She felt it shudder. Great! It was working! Still smiling, she said, "Please, may I pass?" She felt very foolish talking to an unseen barrier, but it seemed to work. She could no longer feel the barrier, for it had seemingly melted away at the friendliness.

Plant Girl was now sure she was going the right way, for there would not have been a barrier if she wasn't. She proceeded. She came to many more barriers, but melted them with friendliness too. Presently, she came to a large, well-built fort.

Plant Girl had to admit her cousin had style. The fort was made of white marble and silver, with solid walls and no visible entrance. The walls had ornate designs carved into them, as well as warnings to anyone clever or unwary enough to actually reach the fort.

Plant Girl stepped forward and slowly paced around the fort, running her hand along it. As it ran over bumps and carvings, her eyes also searched for any concealed entrance. She circled the entire fort three times, and found nothing.

Plant Girl stared in disbelief at the walls. There's got to be a way in! she thought firmly.

Well, they didn't get in through the walls, as near as she could figure. That left an underground tunnel or a way over the wall. If anyone could tell her, it would be the plants and trees. Plant Girl chanted an ancient spell, and at once dryads, or tree spirits, became visible to her.

Plant Girl walked over to a small dryad that seemed to belong to a baby pine tree.

"Hello," she said. "Do you know who lives in that fort?"

"Oh, yes, I do," the dryad said in a high-pitched voice. "A girl who looks a lot like you and her husband."

"Can you please tell me how they get into the fort?" Plant Girl asked.

"They go in through that tree," said the pine dryad, nodding toward a thick oak that didn't seem to have a dryad.

Plant Girl thanked the pine dryad then went over to examine the tree. Soon she decided on a spot and kicked the tree there. That may have seemed strange, but Gmqa would have already known that Plant Girl didn't like to hurt plants, and she would have built her defense around that.

At once a concealed door swung open to reveal a deep pit. Plant Girl climbed into the pit and fell down into the darkness.

As she had expected, her fall slowed down after a bit, and her feet met the ground softly. After all, Gmqa came down here, and she wouldn't have liked to collide with the floor any more than an intruder! Plant Girl looked around the inside of the fort. It was a series of tunnels built from what seemed to be thick, amber glass panels.

Plant Girl scanned for security systems. Sure enough, there were three life form detectors and a high-tech security camera just a few feet ahead.

She stepped back and pulled out a pouch of glittering purple powder. This was Deep Powder, a rare powder that made any mechanical devices within a half-mile radius either malfunction or clog.

Plant Girl dropped a pinch of the Deep Powder on the floor. At once the cameras and life form detectors emitted sparks and shut down. The lights, however, didn't.

Plant Girl looked up at them. She had expected them to go out with the security mechanisms, even if she didn't like the idea. Now that she actually looked at them, she saw that they weren't electric lights at all. They were really large chunks of a smooth, white, glowing stone. Glowstone!

Glowstone was a very rare, majorly expensive and valuable stone located only in the center of Planzila. Only one shipment a year was ever brought up to the surface. This is because it took a lot of time to chip out even a square foot of glowstone without damaging it. Plus the miners had to dangle in a bottomless pit to get it. HOW did Gmqa and Kexin get hold of this much?!

Plant Girl made a mental note to ask them this when she found them, then continued along the passage. The tunnel was relatively straight, but it did go on for a very long way.

But it would only need to go in a couple meters to reach the fort, thought Plant Girl suddenly. Gmqa and Kexin must have concealed the entrance a second time, and I've already passed it!

Plant Girl turned to study the wall of the passage. Soon enough, she noticed a slight difference in the amber glass panels' spacing. She carefully wedged her fingers into the crack she saw and tugged. A secret door swung open.

She started along the passage behind the secret door, which had more glowstones lighting it. She came to a door through which she could hear a low chanting.

Oh no! They're already at it! Plant Girl thought frantically.

"Stop!" she cried, flinging open the door.