Transcript of this chapter:

turnip: I'm not sure, but I think that tree looks familiar.
crystal: Oh, it's the same tree, all right... unless every tree in the woods has "CGZ" carved in it.
turnip: Well, maybe they do. Maybe they're all branded.
crystal: No, I carved my initials in this tree... along with an arrow pointing the direction we were going.
turnip: Then that cinches it, we're officially going in circles!
crystal: I can't believe I was stupid enough to walk into this place!
turnip: So you regret your actions?
crystal: No, I'm angry!
turnip: Maybe we should keep our voices down, so we don't attract anything that would want to hurt us.
crystal: I don't know. I don't hear anything out there. Complete silence.
crystal: We have to keep trying. We can't go in circles forever.
crystal: Although, it feels like I've been going around in circles all day.
crystal: Maybe it's time to give up.
turnip: You really want to give up? That's not like you.
crystal: I doesn't matter. Nobody ever gets out of here. It's only a matter of time before whatever monster lives here finds us and does us in.
turnip: Hey, do you hear that?
crystal: I don't hear anything.
turnip: Well, you don't have ears as big as mine. I hear something coming... heading directly for us.
crystal: Oh, great. It's probably another hallucination or phantom or whatever, trying to lure us deeper into the woods.
alex: Hey, we've been looking all over for you!
alex: You two shouldn't be in here. This is a place of great danger.
crystal: If this place is so dangerous, help us find a way out!
alex: What do you think I'm doing here? You think I'm here taking a walk and just happened to run into you?
alex: I'm the rescue party, most notable because I'm the only person who's ever been in these woods and returned.
crystal: How can I be sure that you're the real Alex?...
crystal: What if you're some kind of shape-shifting monster trying to lure us to a violent end?
alex: You're the only monster around here.
crystal: Ouch...
alex: And while I have to admit I'm somewhat to blame for you being here, I'm trying to correct my mistakes by bringing you back out. You'll just have to trust me.
crystal: How can I believe anything you say, after all that foolishness about the curse?
alex: What... what are you talking about?
crystal: We found the box, Alex. The squirrel figurine that came with the espresso machine.
crystal: I suspect that you had a hand in this, since you're the one who throws the trash away out here.
alex: Alright, I confess. I set the whole thing up. You were supposed to find a cure in the doctor's office and everything was going to be fine. I never expected that you'd come way out here.
crystal: We want to leave this place. What does it take to get you to help us?
alex: Well... I'll take you out of the woods, but you have to promise to do one thing.
crystal: This better be within reason.
alex: You have to never tell Barlow that the chickaree curse was a hoax. It's bad enough that you found out about it. All of this would be useless if you both knew.
crystal: Why did we even bother with this stupid curse quest? I mean, the whole thing was made up... I don't get it.
alex: I'm just trying to make up for what I did with the mayor's urn.
crystal: Oh, but the judge made you apologize to me... and you had to sign the paperwork to let me stay here.
crystal: I thought you were adjusting to my presence and... oh... I get it. This was all instructed by the judge, wasn't it?
alex: Yeah. I guess you could say that the judge is really behind all of this. In the judgment, I was directed to make up a scenario where you save Barlow's life.
alex: I got my mother and the Sheriff to help out. The sheriff spread the story of the cure and my mother poisoned Barlow with something to make him turn purple.
alex: But somehow, you didn't get the cure that we'd left out for you. We never expected you to enter the Smoggy Woods. That was really foolish, by the way.
crystal: Yeah, point taken.
crystal: How did the whole chickaree thing come about?
alex: Well, I just made it up... the curse part at least. There really was a chickaree invasion back in 1923, but they didn't bring a curse with them. They just bit a bunch of people.
alex: One night I was throwing away the packaging from that espresso machine, and saw that statue... and knowing that Barlow had no interest in the history of Spider Cliff, I made up the whole thing about the curse.
crystal: Okay, I promise not to tell Barlow. I doubt I would've anyway, he doesn't really need to know.
alex: Okay, then follow me.
crystal: But how can you navigate through the woods and we can't?
alex: Because I tied this string to a tree at the edge of the woods. We just follow it back.
crystal: Why didn't we think of that?
sheriff: Hey, you made it!
sheriff: There's not many good reasons to go into that place. I hope you found what you were looking for.
crystal: Yes. Yes, I think I did.