She heard the centaur lady calling after her. "That forest's dangerous!" That was the strangest looking creature Jenny had ever seen, like an animal and a bird and a woman all jammed together, but she seemed nice. She had a foal, she had said, which meant she was somebody's mother, and that was a good sign. Mothers were a class unto themselves, a good class. It had been very nice of her to find the magic spectacles; Jenny had never known such things existed. They made all the difference in this strange world! But she just couldn't stay and talk when Sammy was taking off.

She tore through the brush, and in a moment spied Sammy ahead of her, running up a slope, dodging around bushes that grew pretty colored pillows. Pillows? That was crazy; pillows didn't grow on bushes, they had to be made of bird down and cloth, sewn together and all. When the hunters and their wolf friends brought back birds for eating, they always saved the feathers. Nothing was wasted. But those certainly did look like pillows growing!

Sammy ran on over a ridge and down the other side. Here there were cornlike plants, with their ears getting ripe. Jenny brushed by one, and it exploded, sending bits of puffed corn out. It was popcorn! She snatched some out of the air and stuffed it in her mouth, because she was hungry after chasing Sammy this far.

Now the cat got on a nice little path through the jungle, leading to a giant tree with hanging tentacles.

"No, Sammy!" Jenny cried in alarm. She had seen one of those trees before. The tentacles had tried to grab her, and she had been lucky to escape them. In fact she had lost her knife in the process, which upset her considerably. "Don't go near that tree!" At least now she could recognize it from a distance, instead of blundering into it. She would have to thank Chex for the spectacles, once Sammy stopped and they could go back.

Sammy jumped off the path and scrambled back through the thick brush. For once Jenny was glad for that; she didn't want him getting caught by that dreadful thing!

They came to a region of larger but more peaceful trees, and it was easier going here, because the thick leaf cover above shaded the ground and there wasn't much brush. Sammy slowed to a fast walk, but didn't stop moving; she could keep up but not catch him. She would just have to follow until he found what he was looking for this time, and then see what to do next. She was tired, but still had no choice; she just couldn't let Sammy get even worse lost alone.