At the Bottom of the Pool

Penn and Terol began to feel the woods were coming alive around them. Birds flitted back and forth in the unusually high canopy, chattering wildly. Were birds normal around this area? They couldn't remember and suddenly they didn't care. They felt different, though neither of them spoke.
      A low humming worked its way into their thoughts, like a voice calling just out of hearing distance. The air had become so thick Penn felt he could reach out and grab it in handfuls. It was heavy, rich somehow. Greens, golds and reds began to pop into view all over, the colours of strange flowers and trees they had never seen before. Thick vines dangled from the shroud of leaves above, appearing to grow from the flickering shafts of greenish light that poured through that living ceiling. Animals revealed themselves briefly, then disappeared into the brush, silently following the two visitors.
      At last they emerged into a large grove, full of light and shadow. The creatures watched from their leafy cover, only their glowing eyes visible. The humming was louder now; Penn could feel it in his chest. Above that, he could hear high, wavering tones that sounded what he imagined wails would have sounded like when they spoke to each other. In the center of the grove there lay a pool, shimmering with soft green light. Curious, Penn and Terol approached it.
      As they peered into the pool, a part of their awareness returned to them. In their reflections they saw that, impossibly, they had hair. Penn, a long mane of wild, curly golden locks and thick, wild eyebrows of a matching colour. He touched his face in disbelief. He saw Terol then, in the pool, looking like a wizard out of legend. His hair was black, shoulder length and wavy. It fell in a tousled mess about his face. Through the pool, Terol grinned at him.
      "Can you believe this?" he said, jumping up in excitement.
      Penn was smiling, but he felt scared. What was this place?  Terol was running around the glade, testing his hair against the breeze, touching it, playing with it, feeling no alarm at all. "Isn't this the most beautiful place you've ever seen? It's so strange!" he called giddily.
      Then Penn noticed something he had missed before. What he thought was a small tree covered in vines just beyond the pool he now saw was a statue.
"Terol, come look at this." His dark haired friend wasn't listening though; he was dancing happily back and forth across the soft emerald grass.
      After a long delay, Terol asked, out of breath, "What?" He jaunted to the pool and bent over it, his hands on his knees. "No need for a cloud stick with this, eh?" he jested.
      And then laughing he pushed Penn into the pool.
      A fluttering cascade of bubbles rose in front of his eyes and his newly acquired hair floated lazily as he sank. Penn found that he could see quite clearly in the water. The walls of the pool were lined with smooth stones, which reminded him of a wishing well. Suddenly the humming grew in intensity and seemed to be coming from just beneath him. He looked down to see a long, flat object lying at the bottom of the pool. Penn opened his mouth in surprise and accidentally took in a breath of water. Panic washed over him and he kicked off the bottom and made for the surface, but not before grabbing the object.
      The sound of the world returned to his ears as he threw himself halfway on the grass, coughing and sputtering. Terol was laughing like a madman and his voice echoed around the glade. Upon noticing Penn's discovery, he calmed down a bit.
      "What have you found, a piece of driftwood?" He tittered. Penn gave him a scowl and flopped over onto his back, holding the thing up to the light.
      It looked like it came in two pieces; there was a handle and a long, flat section. The humming was louder than ever.
      "Do you hear that?" Penn breathed.
      Terol tilted his head, widening his eyes in mock surprise. "Nope."
      It was like a ringing now. He could feel it in his hands, like all of his cells there were vibrating ever so slightly. Terol was watching silently now as Penn wrapped his long fingers around the handle. The birds in the branches above took flight. The shafts of light shone brighter. The trees seemed to hold their breath in anticipation.
      "-ing? Penn, hello! Hey!" Penn looked up, startled. Terol was frowning down at him. "What are you doing? I've been yelling at you like an idiot for the past minute!"
      "You have?" came the confused reply.
      "Yes! We should get out of here, it's getting late." Penn saw that the grove was still brightly lit.
      Terol helped him up and they started for the woods. He had his Navigator in one hand. Penn could see the screen display: Acquiring Location... Acquiring Location...
      "It's not working?" He asked. Terol shook his head.
      A few minutes later it started working again, when they were further into the woods. Terol looked up to announce this but said instead, "Hey, your hair is gone!"
      Penn felt the smooth skin of his scalp. "So is yours."
      Using the Navigator they made it home an hour later, Penn with the flat object tucked safely under his arm.