by Wilson, Maer
The figure, who appeared to be male, was dressed in a tunic style white shirt, with long billowy sleeves and loose beige trousers tucked into soft beige boots. A gold belt glittered at his waist. He had long golden blonde hair pulled back, showing definitely pointed ears.
He spoke in a deep, velvety voice, which was almost hypnotic even through the TV. His English was clipped, with a definite British accent and completely modern. He smiled down at the reporter. “Hello, Megan, I believe the conventional saying is 'Take me to your leader.' You may call me Belus.”
The reporter dropped her microphone and fainted. The elf caught her and, with a bemused expression, asked for medical attention for her. Two men came forward tentatively, and Belus handed the unconscious reporter into their care. He had a surprisingly current grasp of our world, since he picked up the mic, turned to the camera and spoke into it. His next words were well known and held a touch of irony, “We come in peace. Please, don't be afraid.” He smiled straight into the camera.
To the camera operator's credit, the camera stayed firmly focused on Belus.
A voice from the crowd called out, “I always said you folk were here somewhere. Thank you for coming back. We're finally vindicated.”
We heard laughter from the crowd, and Belus graciously nodded his head to someone off-camera.
We cut back to the studio again, where they recapped the events.
“No, go back!” I demanded of the TV.
Thulu looked at me and shook his head. “You're losing it, girl.”
“Well –” I gestured helplessly at the TV, “That was a stupid time to cut, you know?”
He tried and failed to hide his smile. I hit him with a pillow before snuggling next to him.
The recap went on for a few more minutes. There was no real new information. They were just repeating scenes from earlier.
Eventually they returned to the portal in Scotland. Belus had surrendered his mic to an older, presumably more seasoned reporter. This woman was in her forties and was sturdily built. She appeared to have a no-nonsense way about her as she questioned Belus. Her manner reminded me of a Scottish Jane.
Two chairs had been provided and the two sat, apparently chatting comfortably. The sun was starting to rise and threw a golden glow over the scene, in addition to the lights that had been set up.
“So you're saying your people did not open the portals?”
“Exactly right. We tend to keep an eye on things here on Earth. We have descendants here, so we do like to know what is going on. When we saw the portals were being opened, we decided that we should come through and lend any assistance or advice, should your leaders care to have it.”
“Do you personally have descendants here?”
“Yes,” he answered, “I come through occasionally to check on them. I disguise myself at those times. This time, I didn't feel that subterfuge was necessary, and we came through in our usual forms.”
“What advice or assistance can you offer?”
“That will depend on each situation, and who else might be coming through the portals. Information is one thing we can offer immediately. My people are familiar with the people and creatures coming through.”
“We've heard that the – you called them portals?”
“Yes, that's correct. They are portals to other realms, worlds, dimensions, whatever you choose to call them.”
The reporter remained stoic at this news. “Thank you. We've heard that they have all gone quiescent and nothing has come through in the last hour, except you folks here. Is this a lull before any others come through? Can you tell us what to expect?”
“Please understand that while we opened this portal, we are not the ones who opened the others. Until we actually speak to those responsible, we cannot speculate as to their motives or their future intentions. However, we have begun monitoring the portals and have asked the other races to please not use them for the time being.”
“Who is responsible for opening the other portals? Any advice for anyone who makes contact with them?”
Belus hesitated. “We have always called them the 'Light Ones.' As for advice, I would urge people to have little contact with those from other worlds. Until your governments can stabilize the situations, it's best to not – encourage them.”
“Judging by some of the reports we're hearing, Mr. Belus, I'd say some people are already out of control in some areas.”
“It's just 'Belus.' Well, actually Prince Belus. My father is our king.”
At that moment, three black SUVs pulled up. The camera swung around to catch their arrival. The impromptu interview was interrupted by people I assumed were agents of some kind. Belus and his people were ushered off and into the waiting vehicles, which immediately drove off again.
We were switched back to the studio, where anchors did more recaps, but no other portals opened. They focused on stories of people interacting with the various “guests.”
A report came in that the first basilisk had been found and killed. A young man had caught it after hearing that fire extinguishers were an effective weapon against them. Unfortunately, he hadn't thought to use the nozzle, and he clubbed it to death. The animal was so deadly that it's toxins spread through the canister and onto the unfortunate young man, who died within moments.
His friend, who attempted to help, moved the fire extinguisher and also died. The friend's screams had alerted neighbors, who had sense enough to call the authorities. I was sorry at the loss of life, but relieved the animal had been found and killed.
However, this was a perfect illustration that humans were out of their depth.
When there was little news and a lot more rehashing of earlier events, Thulu and I decided to rest while we could. We asked the kids to please stay inside and went upstairs.
Thulu and I sat in the window seat in our bedroom, looking out over the city. It seemed deceptively calm. I wondered how long the shock would last and when the panic would set in.
Thulu stroked my hair gently. “She called you Mama Fi.”
“I know.”
“Is it wise to get attached to a dead child, love?”
“No, Thulu, it isn't wise at all.”
He continued to run his fingers lightly through my hair.
“It's too late for that, though, isn't it?”
I sighed. “Yeah. It will be hard to let her go. But when the time comes, I will. It's the right thing to do.” I tried to sound firm.
I changed the subject. “So, what do you think Jones will decide to do?”
“I don't know about Jones, but I say we go ahead with our original plan. Find the relics, banish the Light Ones back to their realm and seal their portal.”
“Yeah, but the genie is well and truly out of the bottle – literally. I have a feeling it's not going to be so easy to get some of our visitors to leave. I don't think I want them to go either.”
“I agree. The world is changed forever, love. That doesn't mean we can't go ahead, though. It just means we have a bit more reason to try to find the relics quicker. Reo needs to convince Mason to wake up. Or at least remember where the dagger is, if he refuses to come back. I'm completely clueless for the other items, though. Sometimes, I almost feel like I'm getting a sense of – something – but then I lose it. It just fades away.” It was becoming a refrain, and I could sense his frustration.
I didn't answer, except with a sigh. I just leaned into the circle of his arms, comfortable and loved, as I always was, wondering what the new day would bring to our new world.
Chapter 26
I didn't get to sleep in late the next morning. I woke to Parker shouting for me and Thulu. I stumbled downstairs to the kitchen where Thulu sat reading the paper and sipping his coffee. Jenna sat at the table almost on the booth, and Sophie was in the air next to her.
“You have to go to your office right now!”
Thulu looked at me. Parker had spoken too fast for him to read his lips.
“Parker says we need to go to our office ri
ght away.” I was already moving back up the stairs, two at a time. I took the fastest shower I could to wake up and jammed myself into jeans and a T shirt, slipping into sandals.
Thulu had already gathered my purse and tablet. We locked up, calling for Jenna and Parker to go with us.
Reo drove up as we were getting into the car. He parked and quickly joined us in our SUV. Thulu drove fast, but carefully. Traffic was very light. I guessed people were doing as told and staying home.
We pulled into the small lot behind our building. Thulu unlocked the door, and we let ourselves into the small back hallway. The alarm hadn't been tripped, so I wasn't sure what we would face. Thulu unlocked the next door, and it opened into chaos.
We stood in the doorway, humans and ghosts alike stunned, watching creatures milling about. Sophie started barking.
Our office was in shambles. The felt on the pool table had been shredded. A pixie swung from the Tiffany lamp that hung above it. The sofa and chairs had been ripped open and overturned and stuffing had been thrown around the room. The refrigerator was open, with its contents strewn across the floor. The microwave was also on the floor, door hanging askew.
One entity, a poltergeist, had Thulu's computer monitor in his hands. He was about to throw it onto the pile of smashed electronics I recognized as my own monitor and keyboard, lying on the floor.
“You put that back right now!” I yelled. The rest of the room froze. The poltergeist looked up, a cunning expression on his pointed little face. He stood about three feet tall. I'd dealt with poltergeists before and didn't much care for them.
“I mean it! You throw that, you little bastard, and I will banish you to the farthest dimension I can find!”
“I think I would listen to the lady, if I were you.” The voice sounded from behind us and seemed vaguely familiar. I turned to see Belus and one of the elf women who had come through the portal with him.
He was about seven feet tall, and she was a maybe half a head shorter. The TV had not conveyed the sheer power emanating from them. Their skin glowed and their hair shone gold in the sunlight coming through the door. His voice was even more hypnotic in person.
The poltergeist got a look of fear on his face and gently lowered the large flat screen monitor back to the desk. I was amazed he could have picked it up since it was almost bigger than he was. He backed slowly away, small hands held out. He turned and fled through the front wall.
Belus motioned to the pixie, who immediately flew off the lamp and onto the pool table. Belus continued to look at her, and she flew down to the floor. She stood about eighteen inches tall, with dark wings that shifted color. She seemed to be trying to make herself even smaller under Belus's mild gaze. She slunk off to hide behind a genie as her wings kept changing colors.
I felt my eyes fill with tears as I looked at what the creatures had done to our office.
“Out!” I demanded. “Out, right now!”
“But we need your help!” protested a goblin.
“You should have thought of that before you trashed our office.”
“We didn't do this,” said a fairy, perching on my desk. Any charm I might have felt at seeing her was dead before it began. I felt sick at the destruction.
“You didn't stop it, either, now did you?” I glared at her. About nine or ten inches tall, her iridescent wings drooped as she hung her head. I wasn't sure what she could have done, but some of the others certainly had been capable of stopping the poltergeist.
“He was here before we came in. We told him to stop when we got here,” said the goblin who had spoken earlier. His surprisingly deep voice held a defensive note.
“I can see that was very effective,” I said as I looked around. Thulu and Reo had moved into the room. We looked at the mess around us.
I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I looked at the hand, which was beautiful and slender with long fingers. I looked up into the elf girl's face.
“I'm Aurelia. If you will permit us, we can fix most of this. However, the electronics are beyond what we can do.” I nodded, not trusting my voice any more.
As we watched, she and Belus moved into the office. Touching nothing, they stood serenely in the center, while the pieces of furniture were magically turned upright and returned to their usual places. Stuffing returned to the chairs and sofa. Rips came together and sealed without a mark. The felt on the pool table knitted flawlessly together before our eyes.
Thulu and Reo moved back to stand on either side of me, near the door, to avoid flying objects.
Jenna thought this was all fantastic fun. She darted around the room trying to catch bits of fluff. The two elves looked at her with indulgent smiles. One of them, Aurelia, I thought, kept a ball of fluff just tantalizingly out of Jenna's reach. She and Sophie chased after it, swooping around the room for a minute or so after everything else had been put to rights. The ball of fluff zipped into a cushion, which promptly sealed and settled back on the sofa. Jenna giggled all the while.
The fairy and pixie watched her with wistful expressions, as if they wished they were playing with her. They kept stealing glances at me, Thulu and Reo as they and the others cleared food containers from the floor.
Since most of the containers were plastic, there wasn't a lot of food actually on the floor. One juice container had broken open, but the liquid disappeared before I could get to it with paper towels.
The pixie was struggling with another juice container. I sighed and took it from her and returned it to the fridge. The sodas I set aside. There would be no opening those for quite a while. Frozen items were still solid, and they went back in the freezer.
Within minutes, the entire room was back to normal, with the exception of the computers and microwave. A close inspection showed that only my monitor and the two keyboards had been destroyed. It could have been worse. He hadn't gotten to the towers or printer.
The genie cleared away the electronic jumble. Both of the mice were intact. I wasn't sure how, though.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Yes, thank you very much. That would have taken us a lot longer to clean up, and there's no way we could have fixed things the way you did,” Thulu added.
I looked at the people in the office a bit closer. The two elves still stood in the center of the room. Both were dressed much as they had been when they came through the portal last night. Aurelia was dressed in a white tunic and light gray, loose trousers and soft boots.
I looked around. “Please, sit down.” I doubt I succeeded in keeping the grudging tone completely from my voice, but I did try.
A sigh of relief made its way around the room as everyone found places to sit. The elves sat side by side on the sofa.
The fairy chose my desk and was joined by the pixie and Jenna, who kept trying to touch them. Parker called her and Sophie to him as he went to his usual spot in the corner. Jenna seemed reluctant, but Parker turned, went to her and whispered something. He held out his hand and she took it. They went back to his corner, floating in mid-air, where he could watch everything without his view being blocked.
The goblin sat in a chair, swinging his feet back and forth. He was joined by another goblin, who I assumed was female. They were both definitely green, although he had a slightly yellowish cast to his skin, while she had more of a blue tint to hers. They were about two and a half feet tall. She had short and spiky blue hair, and his was longer and bright green. They both had very long and pointed ears that stood up from the sides of their heads.
She looked at him as she climbed up into the chair. He gazed at her fondly and pulled her up to him. I could tell they were a couple. They had that feeling about them.
Another chair was taken by the genie, who seemed very solid and carried an engraved brass bottle with him. He set that on the table next to him. He looked very human in his linen slacks and colorful Hawaiian shirt. Whether this was his natural form or he'd adopted it for this visit, I had no idea.
I sat at my desk out of habit and star
ed at the empty place where my monitor had been. The desk looked and felt naked, even with a fairy and pixie on it. Thulu rolled his chair next to mine and sat nearby. Reo had moved a third chair over and sat on my other side.
“You said you need our help?” Thulu asked. “May I suggest introductions first? I'm Thulu. I find things,” he said. He put his hand on my arm. “This is my wife, La Fi, who's a supernatural translator.” He gestured to Reo. “And this is our friend and colleague, Reo. He's a psychic, telepath and empath, both sending and receiving, among other things.”
The beings from the other realms nodded politely, some smiled tentatively. The elves took the lead.
“I'm Aurelia and this is Belus. We are elves and our realm is quite close to yours. Goblins –” she indicated them, “are also from our realm.”
“What is your realm called?” Reo asked.
Belus smiled. “Your name for it is 'Avalon.' In our language, it's a bit more complicated.”
Reo smiled back. “Avalon it is.”
Belus stood. “I need to get back to the others, so I’ll leave you in Aurelia’s hands. We left abruptly. It was a pleasure to meet all of you. I'm sure we will meet again soon.” He nodded his head, the air around him shimmered and he was gone.
The male goblin spoke next. “My name is unpronounceable for you. I think you should call me Legolas.” He had an accent I couldn't identify. He had enormous eyes, a very long nose and a wide mouth.
His wife elbowed him lightly and rolled her eyes in exasperation. “You can't be called Legolas.” Her voice also had an accent, but considerably less than his. She also had big eyes, but her long nose was upturned and mouth was smaller. She seemed thin and her cheekbones were very sharp, as if she hadn't eaten well.
“Why not? I have to have a name.”
“Yes, dear, but people will associate it with the elf from that man's book.” The rest of us watched this exchange with interest. Frankly, I thought Legolas, the goblin, had a nice ring to it. “Pick something else,” she directed with a light pat on his arm.
“Fine, I'll be Bilbo.”