Autumn of Elves

by Joanne Vruno

  “Today,” I told Emily, “I’m going to stress the basics. Try to stay calm in movement and breath if you see a creature. Have no eye contact with it. If you see something you may think is a creature don’t focus or stare at it, no matter what they’re doing. Instead, pretend you’re just scanning the room. Trolls can be fascinating in their actions because they try imitating humans, but remember that they always move in pairs. One watches the room while the other usually is stuffing food into their mouth. Both trolls at the fair noticed you when you made your comments, and that’s why we tried to leave the fair so quickly. You suddenly became their focus. You didn’t know the other one was walking towards you. While the first one tried to draw out a reaction from you, the other was studying your facial reactions. We didn’t know what would’ve happened if the cookie stealer got too close to you.”

  “There were two of them? I only saw the one.”

  “You had no reason to look for the other, and Grandma and I could hardly give you a creature lesson right then. Now you know there are always two. Trolls are also the most common creatures you’ll see. They like to mix in with humans and are usually around where there’s food, so be aware at restaurants, grocery stores, cafeterias, parties, and other places where there are lots of people and food. I saw my first troll at the food court in Maplewood Mall.

  “The other thing is, don’t speak of any creatures outside this house or Grandma’s. There are ears everywhere. Creatures come in various shapes and sizes. If you see one and want to motion to me or vice versa, let’s make up a signal.” I paused for a moment, trying to think of something subtle. “I know, we’ll scratch our neck under our ear. We can tell Grandma our signal. Then we’ll all know what it is when we’re together. So remember, don’t speak of creatures until we’re behind our closed doors. Other buildings may have unfriendly creatures inside. Grandma’s and our home are protected,” I turned towards the twins and smiled. “We’re the lucky ones to have you two.”

  Emily also smiled at our tomtes.

  I heard the garage door open, which meant Mom was home. I turned to Emily and said, “Tomorrow we start learning how to ignore creatures.”

  Elsa and Enar vanished right before Mom entered the house.

  Eight

  I was a bit more relaxed having Emily head off to school alone knowing something in the building was guarding her. I was curious about what kind of creature Silver has enlisted to guard Emily and wondered if maybe I had the same type of guard. Probably not, I decided, since my powers were at full strength or close to it. It had been so strange that, in the past few months, I’d changed from an average twelve-year-old into a guardian. I had powers my friends could never imagine would actually exist except in movies. I still had to learn the power of the amulet, which had not been passed down to me yet. It comforted me knowing Grandma was more powerful and always had my back. Grandma was actually guarding the elves as I was guarding Emily. As I waited for Emily to walk through the door, I wondered what to teach her. There was so much information.

  “Aly, I’m home!” announced Emily as she came through the front door. “Nothing unusual happened today. I didn’t even hear the tiny voices in the ceiling. Do you think they were only there for my first day to check out the inside of the school?”

  “I’d guess they’re still there but I really don’t know. I’m glad to hear nothing strange happened. Here, have a snack,” I said and handed Emily an apple and some cheese sticks. “I want you to focus on your food and ignore whatever Elsa and Enar do. No eye contact, no speaking to them, no laughing, nothing! You just sit there and eat as though it’s just you and me in the room, all right?”

  “Okay,” answered Emily as she looked straight at me when she bit into her apple.

  Elsa and Enar in no time were singing and dancing to Pharrell Williams’s song, “Happy.”

  Emily lost it within seconds. She first started moving her shoulders slightly and then burst out laughing at the tomtes’ dance steps, which were outrageous.

  “Emily, watch me, not them. All right you two, try your hardest to stump me,” I said with confidence. I knew they would up their attempt to engage me, but I also knew I could handle it after the tests Lunt put me through this summer. Maybe if Emily saw how I handled it, she would copy my techniques.

  The twins tried everything: dancing on the table, making faces at me two inches from my nose, telling very funny jokes. They stole some of my food. I looked a bit perplexed and said, “Oh, I must have only taken one piece of cheese out for myself, not two.”On my way to the fridge to get another string cheese, I walked right into Enar and knocked him down as if he were invisible.

  When I sat down at the table, I asked Emily, “Did it look like I noticed Elsa and Enar?”

  “Not at all . . . but why did you walk into Enar?”

  “I was in ignoring mode. When you need to ignore creatures, you may have to walk right into them. If you walk around them, you’re showing that you see them. The creature has a choice to move. Most stand their ground. Just know no matter if they move or not, your course must stay straight, even if they are bouncing around like a boxer in the ring. Focus past them on your destination, not on them at all, and move in a straight line. Most of the time you’ll be sworn at. The words can be very harsh. Just pretend you don’t hear them and keep moving. Did I hurt you, Enar?”

  “Not really, a little of my pride when I fell down. I was shocked by the move, I admit. I didn’t know you had it in you. Lunt taught you well.”

  “Yes, he did.”

  “Who’s Lunt?” asked Emily, searching our faces.

  I bit down on my lip a little and I tried to figure how to answer the question. I looked at the twins, trying to read their thoughts. Enar gave me a shrug with a smile, and I knew he was on the same page I was. Why shouldn’t Emily know about the gnomes protecting us, also? After all, she would probably notice them as I did.

  “Lunt is Grandma’s gnome that lives in her yard,” I told Emily. “He taught me how to ignore creature movements. I spent two weeks being tortured by him while working in Grandma’s yard last summer. He got me to ignore creatures successfully, and it’s saved me from danger several times, one being at the fair. While you were walking away from the trolls, I was being majorly tested by the cookie stealer. She was right in my face, grabbing cookies out of our bucket and eating them by my ear. If I gave one slight signal I could see her, we would all have been in danger.”

  Emily stared at me, as did the tomtes. None had realized that had happened. I never told the tomtes because I was so worried about Emily.

  “Aly, I didn’t mean to put you in danger.”

  “Oh, Emily, I know that. You had no idea trolls existed. That’s why we want you to be extra careful. Now to put things on the lighter side, Enar, would you ask Aina and Alf to step inside a minute? I think Emily should meet our gnomes.”

  “We have gnomes?”

  I smiled at my little sister, “Yes, we have gnomes.”

  Enar returned with the two gnomes, who quickly greeted Emily and then returned to their posts outside.

  “Now you know that the yard and the outside of our home is always protected, just like the inside. You also need to know you can’t approach Alf and Aina outside. Another creature may see you, and then our gnomes will be in danger. We never know when another creatures eyes are upon us.” I thought of Asa, Silver’s hawk, at that moment, and I could tell by their expressions the tomtes had also.

  Again the sound of the garage door opening ended the day’s lesson. Mom soon entered the back door, and the tomtes disappeared. This was a change from the magical world back to the normal world. Mom asked us about our days. I watched Emily’s face as she told Mom about her school events. Has she realized yet she will always live in two worlds? I wondered. That her life will never be normal again? Probably not yet. When she does, I will be there
for her!

  Nine

  Training seemed to be going pretty well. Every day Emily was able to ignore the twins for long­er periods. We decided to move the training into my bedroom in case Mom came into the kitchen too quickly. I didn’t want her to see Emily or I doing something strange and inquire about it. Overall, I was feeling good about how the training was progressing—that is, until the second Monday of training, when Emily came home.

  “Aly, Enar, Elsa, something really scary happened at school today. Whatever creature was in the ceiling tiles ended up in a fight with another one! There was a huge battle!”

  “What are you talking about?” I said. “Start from the beginning of the day and take us through it.”

  “The day was just like any day at school until recess. I got bored waiting for my turn in double-dutch jump rope. The line had at least ten kids ahead of me so I started walking around the playground. As I got to the maple trees, I was looking at the leaves. They had just begun turning a peachy-orange color. Then I heard the voice of a dragonfly. It was talking to itself, deciding which leaf to eat before beginning the journey south. I didn’t know I could hear insect voices, so I asked it where it went for the winter. Soon it was right by my face talking about Mexico.”

  “Emily! You talked to a creature without knowing what it was?” I said.

  “Well, yeah. It was a dragonfly. I was curious about their life span. I mean, how cool is it to communicate with an insect?” Emily replied.

  I let out a big breath to stay calm and asked, “What did this dragonfly look like?”

  “Well, she wasn’t colorful like most. Instead she was more silvery-white. Why?”

  I opened the creature book. “Is this your dragonfly?”

  “But that’s a tree sprite. So, not a dragonfly? Oh, no, I spoke to a creature!” Fear blossomed in Emily’s eyes.

  “Yes, you did. We didn’t get to this creature yet so you didn’t know, but we told you over and over to not to talk to any creature. So tell me everything you said to it, and everything that happened afterwards.” I said, glancing over at the tomtes for their reaction, which looked like I felt—shocked! I knew from this summer’s creature training how tree sprites behave and live in huge colonies. This definitely was not good.

  Emily eyed all of us before she spoke. “I asked what she liked to eat and she replied mostly leaves and flower nectar. I asked where she went in the winter, and she said, Mexico, just south of Texas. She asked how long I’ve been able to speak to dragonflies, and I told her she was the first one. Then she asked if I could speak to any other creatures, and I told her I didn’t know yet. I just got this power. Oh, no . . . I thought she was talking about animals but she was talking about the creatures in the book!”

  Emily was in panic, as we were, but I had to calm her down. “Emily, take a few big breaths. It’ll be all right. Did you talk about where you live? Did you mention anything about seeing a troll? Tomte? Gnome?”

  “I didn’t say anything about them, and I didn’t say anything about where I live. I promise, Aly, I didn’t.”

  “Good, what happened next?”

  “The bell rang and I went inside. I was sitting at my desk reading when suddenly I heard banging in the ceiling tiles. The whole class looked up. Everyone heard the banging, but I also heard yelling like a big fight. I think I’m the only one who heard that. Mrs. Sterns called the custodian. When he came it was library time, and we left. When we came back it was quiet, and the custodian was gone. Mrs. Sterns said she’d check later with him.”

  “Did you recognize the voices? Were they the voices of your protectors or the tree sprite?”

  “You think the sprite came inside the school?”

  “Yeah, I do. I think it wanted more knowledge of you and decided to follow you. I think it surprised your protectors, whatever they may be, and they fought. We need to find out who won. If it was the sprite, it may be waiting for you to appear again. We need to find it, so it doesn’t spread news about you.”

  I turned to the tomtes. “Elsa, go tell your parents and my grandmother what happened!” I ordered.

  “I’m off to tell Alf and Aina!” said Enar.

  “Aly, I didn’t know! What’s going to happen now?”

  “Oh, Emily,” I said giving her a hug, “we just wait until we hear more. You’re safe inside. We just need to stay put for the night. News from Grandma will come and we’ll find out what to do. For now, know you’re safe here.”

  Enar appeared right then and informed us that Alf and Aina were on high alert. With sprites living in large colonies, if one knew of Emily, hundreds would soon.

  The longer we waited for news, the more upset Emily got. I decided to talk about safety measures as we waited.

  “Emily, now that you have the power to see creatures, it’s a safety measure to stay around people. Don’t go off on your own on the playground. If I had told you that, this wouldn’t have happened. When you’re alone, creatures have a stronger chance of tricking you, like the tree sprite did today. Oh, and dragonflies eat other insects, not leaves. Also, I can’t hear animal or insect voices. If you hear a strange voice, figure it’s most likely some type of creature. All creatures should be ignored unless you know them.”

  Elsa reappeared. “Your grandmother and some others are meeting right now to find out all the facts. My mom’ll come when they’ve found out what happened during the fight. We’re to stay on alert for several days in case the tree sprite told others before entering the school. Plus, we don’t know for sure the tree sprite was the one fighting the protectors. All is being investigated. We should know in an hour or so. Mom said to tell you, Emily, that we’ll all keep you safe.”

  The bedroom door opened right then. Mom stuck her head in to announce, “Supper’s ready. What have you two been doing in here all this time?”

  “Just hanging out,” I answered.

  “Well, that’s nice. I’m happy to see you two spending more time together. Now come and eat.”

  Neither of us had much of an appetite, and it was difficult making family small talk with so much on our minds. I talked more than Emily, so she could stay silent. I knew her thoughts were nowhere near Mom and Dad’s conversation about maybe needing a new car. Being twelve, I pretended I should have an input because I’d be driving it in four years. The human world seemed trillions of miles away from the creature world that seemed to constantly cross over into our daily lives. It seemed particularly harmless in comparison, too.

  As soon as Emily and I helped with dishes, we were off to my room again. Mom looked puzzled as I shut my door. Normally, I wouldn’t let her see us rush to my room. It looked suspicious, but today we just needed answers.

  Lina was sitting on my bed between Elsa and Enar as I turned around. I suspected she had already spoken to them about the decisions made. I took a seat at my desk.

  “Emily, how are you doing, dear?” asked Lina in her motherly way.

  “Scared and ashamed,” answered Emily honestly. She looked downcast.

  “These kinds of things happen during the training period. Mistakes happen and we fix them. Let me rest your mind some. The sprite was captured. Your protectors set up by Silver survived the battle. One didn’t have many injuries, the other was more serious. Still, they managed to secure the sprite. Unfortunately, she’s not talking, so we don’t know if she told others.

  “That being said, we’ve decided you should fake an illness tomorrow and spend the day at your grandmother’s house. That’ll keep you safe. Sprites are very protective of their colony members. One is missing, so her entire colony will be searching for her. We don’t think it is wise for you to be on the playground where they’re bound to search. They’d be able to sense your nervousness and try to read you to see if you know about their missing member.

  “Your grandmother’s going to train you to
morrow on how to avoid sprites. “That’ll also give your protectors time to heal and regain their strength. Creatures heal fast. On Wednesday we’ll have more protectors stationed at the school.”

  “How will I know who’s protecting me and who’s dangerous?” asked Emily.

  “You won’t,” said Lina, “that’s why you need to ignore all unknown creatures. One never knows. That’s why you always need to be on alert and ignore all voices and movements around you. Focus on your human friends and stay close to them while outside. Don’t ever tell them why. The training is a long process but, in time, all the cautions will become routine for you.”

  “I’ll be going back now,” said Lina as she gave Emily a hug. “You’re safe here. Have no fear in your home. You’re well protected.” With that, she was gone.

  We all sat in silence for a while. Then Emily said, “I don’t think I need to fake being sick. All this stuff has made me sick to my stomach.”

  “Go tell Mom you’re not feeling well, so she can call Grandma.”

  With that, Emily left. Enar sighed. “A tree sprite. Why did it have to be a tree sprite?”

  I knew some colonies were huge, and they were aggressive in protecting their family members. I guessed they were already combing the area outside the school, looking for signs of the missing sprite. If another tree sprite had seen Emily in conversation with the one who disappeared . . . well, migration time or not, they’d be searching for as long as they could.

  Ten

  Emily was still home with Mom when I left to catch my bus. I was relieved she was spending the day with Grandma instead in school. I knew, as the others did, that tree sprites were committed to each other and determined. I stayed awake most of the night trying to find a solution, but none had appeared, so off to school I went.