Wood Sprites

by Wen Spencer

  Second floor. Akeley Hall of African Mammals. Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda.

  Third floor. Reptiles and Amphibians.

  Her phone’s screen showed the exhibit area empty of people, but the lights were still on. The glass display cases were full of taxidermied reptiles. A Komodo dragon gleamed in the perpetual dimness. She had been worried that the museum staff would start turning off lights, but now she was starting to wonder why they hadn’t. It was now after 6:00.

  The Lost Treasures of Elfhome exhibit was in the hall beyond the reptiles. When the twins had checked earlier, there had been a barrier up, directing the visitors back through the upper level of the African Mammal hall. While they’d been on the train, the barrier had been taken down.

  Dufae’s box sat against the west wall, screened on all sides by the taller displays. According to e-mails, the case would receive a glass lid after the elves visited the exhibit. The lighting had been aimed so it gleamed off the gold inlay of the spell-lock glyphs.

  Louise had won the flip of the coin earlier. She shimmied the box up and off. She checked her phone’s screen. It was still showing the empty exhibit hall. Wetting her mouth, she spoke the keyword to unlock the spell.

  The band of glyphs gleamed and a seam appeared in the wood with a quiet thunk. The lid slid up and off easier than she’d imagined for not having been opened for hundreds of years.

  Inside were a dozen spheres nestled in velvet-lined holes. They were much bigger than chicken eggs, but had the same oval shape. A spell had been etched into the surface of the nactka. When she picked one up, it seemed oddly warm and heavier than she expected. It wasn’t made of gold as she had first thought; the material felt more like ivory under her fingers, feeding her impression that it had once been the bone of some magical creature, cut into an egg shape and hollowed out. She shivered and carefully placed it into the snow globe box from the gift shop.

  Jillian’s voice came out of nothing on the other side of Dufae’s chest. “Incoming!”

  Louise quickly put the lid back on the chest and spoke the locking word. The glyphs gleamed and with another quiet thunk the seam vanished. Back toward the reptiles, the elevator dinged quietly.

  “Go,” Louise whispered as certainty filled her. “If we’re both here running blind, we’ll get caught. Take the backup route. Go! I’ll catch up.”

  Jillian gave a muffled curse, but she went because she always got caught when she didn’t listen to Louise.

  Louise tucked the boxed nactka into her backpack, felt around to find her invisibility box, and lifted it up and shimmied it down over her. There were footsteps coming quickly in her direction.

  She was almost to the door out of the exhibition area, into the primates, when the elevator in front of her also dinged and its doors opened. She bit down on a squeak and skittered sideways until she hit a wall and backed into a blind corner.

  On her screen, Louise saw that three people had gotten out of the elevator. The first was a man with a museum badge pinned to his shirt pocket. She nearly squeaked in surprise to see that the two people following him were elves. It was the queen’s delegation to inspect the exhibit for culturally important pieces! What were they doing here now? They were supposed to come tomorrow during a big black-tie event.

  Despite the grainy texture of the surveillance camera, Louise instantly recognized Sparrow Lifted by Wind. The female elf wore a fairy silk gown, and her gleaming hair spilled down to the floor all braided with beads and jewels and ribbons and flowers. In the center of her forehead was the blue bindi triangle that she alone wore. Most importantly, the female elf was trailed only by Bladebite. Where were the other four sekasha?

  “Look out!” Louise frantically texted to Jillian, who was moving somewhere through the museum below. “Elves!”

  Bladebite was stating something forcefully as he gestured about them. He was using High Elvish, which Louise couldn’t follow at all.

  “It is a treasure house,” Sparrow answered in Low Elvish. She flicked her hand, dismissing him. “The doors are locked. There are dozens of guards. It is safe. Go. Look.”

  Bladebite continued to protest even as Sparrow moved away from the elevator.

  “Go. Look.” Sparrow walked past Louise without pausing to see if the sekasha followed.

  Nor did he. Far below in the stairwell there was a slight noise, like a muffled sneeze, that Louise knew in her heart of hearts had to be Jillian.

  The warrior glanced toward Sparrow and then, shaking his head, started down the stairs.

  Oh, for once, Jillian, please don’t get caught, Louise thought as hard as she could. Blindly charging after Bladebite, though, seemed like the wrong thing to do. If for no other reason than the fact that the museum staff member was walking in circles, trying to keep both elves in view. Louise was afraid that she’d collide with him.

  The man wasn’t sure which person to follow. “Um, I thought we were going to, um, wait, I’m not sure if you can . . . Right.” He turned and spotted someone across the room. “Yves? What are you doing here?”

  “The EIA asked us to facilitate this since we’re trustees for most of the museums that donated to this exhibit. I brought Ambassador Feng with me. He’s the United Nations’ representative for these negotiations. His translator has taken ill. Parlez-vous Français?”

  Ambassador Feng could have been mistaken as an elf even though he wore a dark business suit. He was tall and elegant and handsome, with long black hair and almond-shaped dark eyes. Only his round ears marked him as human. He stirred uncomfortably, looking annoyed at the museum staff person.

  The staff person blinked in surprise. “Um. That’s French. No. I took Mandarin in high school. Nǐ hǎo.”

  Yves waved the implied offer away. “I doubt very much that the husepavua knows Mandarin, and mine is quite rusty.” He turned in question to Sparrow.

  “Oui, je parle Français.” Sparrow answered that she spoke French and proved it by continuing the conversation in that language. “What is this stupidity? I have guard dogs with me.”

  “They are distracted.” Yves waved his hand in a circle to take in the museum. His back was to the camera so that Louise couldn’t see his face. “This is the most inconspicuous place we could meet. If I need, I can have your holy dogs killed off.”

  “We should not be meeting at all,” Sparrow stated. “And please don’t kill my dogs. Yes, I loathe them with all my heart, but it would make my position tedious.”

  “There has been a change in plans,” Yves said. “You must return to Elfhome as soon as possible. Go back to the border and wait.”

  Sparrow hissed out what might have been a curse and flicked a glance toward the museum staff member. “We need more privacy than this.”

  Yves turned and addressed the staff member in English. “Do you have the insurance paperwork?”

  “No. I thought—do we really need them?”

  “Yes. Please, go get them.”

  No, no, don’t go! Louise didn’t want to be alone with these people. She felt like she was in shark-infested waters; if they found her, they’d kill her instantly.

  “Oh! Okay. I’ll be right back.” The man hurried away.

  Louise shrank back, putting her hand over her mouth.

  Sparrow waited until the elevator dinged closed before growling out, “You demanded I come, and I set all my plans in motion and came, and now you’re telling me I must go back? I will not be able to stop what I have started!”

  “Shut up and listen,” Ambassador Feng snapped. “We do not have time for this. Your dogs might return at any moment, and I do not want them sniffing at me.”

  “They will not recognize you, especially in those ridiculous clothes.”

  “At least I’m not in the same rags I was in four hundred years ago.”

  Sparrow glared angrily at the male who seemed more and more an elf.

  Yves moved between them. “Dufae has an heir!” His voice was full of annoyance at their petty fighting. “A child b
y the name of Alexander Graham Bell. We need him.”

  It was good that Louise had her hand already over her mouth. She muffled the whimper of fear. Alexander!

  Sparrow huffed slightly in exasperation. “What does this have to do with me?”

  “He is in Pittsburgh.”

  “He is human.” She flipped her hand toward the Chinese ambassador. “He’s the one with the spies within the EIA. I can do nothing with humans without attracting attention.”

  “Dufae’s child tested fluent in Elvish, both in oral and written sections of the application, and claimed our gods as his religion. Obviously he’s been raised by an elf. His guardian might turn to the Wind Clan when we take him. We cannot afford to get the sekasha or anyone else involved. You need to be there.”

  “Are you sure that he will be useful? Neither Dufae’s sister nor his nephew matched his genius. This child could be an idiot.”

  Yves still hadn’t turned to face the camera. It almost seemed as if he knew exactly where it was located and how to avoid it. “Someone in the NSA had the brilliant idea of screening college applicants for prodigies. They came up with test questions on building a gate that weren’t meant to be answerable. For almost three decades, no one has been able to. During the last Shutdown, Dufae’s child applied to Carnegie Mellon University and answered all the questions.”

  Yves paced in the camera’s blind spot. “The humans have noticed our activities and have decided to put Bell into protective custody. The NSA has borrowed some operatives from another American agency to go to Pittsburgh and fetch Bell. They’ll be heavily armed and difficult to eliminate. It is possible that the Americans can make Bell disappear so not even we can find him. You two need to reach him first.”

  Sparrow huffed again. “This would not be an issue if that idiot cat didn’t keep killing everyone who could build us a gate.”

  Ambassador Feng reacted as if struck. “The scientists are not cooperating once they understand the situation. They’re smart enough to know that opening a gate between the worlds will result in full-out war.”

  Yves waved aside the male’s comment. “She is right. We cannot afford another dismembered genius. Tell that cat of yours that if he harms Dufae’s child, we’ll have him skinned. Alive. Slowly. I’ll make him into a coat for my little sister.”

  Ambassador Feng gave a slight bow. “I’ll have it explained so even he understands.”

  What did they mean? Surely they didn’t mean an actual cat with fur? And yet that was what the words seemed to suggest. Was she mistranslating the French? And why were they even speaking French? Why weren’t they speaking Elvish?

  “Can this not be delayed?” Sparrow seemed determined to not be involved in the plan. “Was that not the point of infiltrating the EIA? So that we controlled what humans came and went from Pittsburgh?”

  “We cannot delay the visas for the two agents,” Yves stated. “The United States is expediting the papers using the fact that Dufae’s child claimed joint United States and Elfhome citizenship. The EIA has to give full cooperation to allow the USA the ability to protect its citizens; it’s part of the United Nations agreement. You must return to Pittsburgh immediately.”

  “I can’t be there when Wolf Who Rules is killed.” Sparrow took a step backwards. “Your summons was the perfect excuse to be absent when he was attacked. Everything is set. He’s in Pittsburgh. I’ve brought one of his Hands with me to weaken him. A trap has been set that Yutakajodo says will succeed. I cannot compromise my position by returning until the deed is done.”

  “My father commands it,” Yves stated coldly. “You must obey. Finish up here and return immediately to Monroeville and wait for Shutdown. Do what you must to make sure that you arrive in Pittsburgh first.”

  “But—But—” Sparrow struggled to refuse.

  Yves cut off her protest. “By the time you cross the border, the viceroy will be dead. No one will lay the blame on you.”

  Louise realized she was crying. Alexander was an idea of a perfect older sister and a handful of photographs. Windwolf was much more a real person to her. Louise had watched hours of video of the viceroy and pored over all the known facts of his life. She knew him better than most of her teachers. How could they talk so casually about killing him?

  Yves turned to Ambassador Feng. “We will need Shoji on this. He is the only one we have clever enough to verify that the work we get out of Dufae is correct. You have him on leash now?”

  “Firmly. We’ve got the child caged in an obscuring spell at a secret compound. Shoji will not be able to find him.”

  “Be sure to keep him well hidden and unharmed. We’ve missed our chance at taking the other children of the Chosen bloodline. Without the others, we’ll lose our hold on the tengu if the child we have is killed or freed.”

  “We have Shoji.”

  Yves snorted with contempt. “The male would kill himself before being used that way. It’s the dragon influence on the bloodline. If it comes to that, you’ll have to cage him.”

  There was the scrape of boots and they all went silent, turning, clearly frightened.

  Stormsong stood in the doorway of the Lost Treasures exhibit. She frowned at the three assembled in the hallway. She asked something in High Elvish.

  “Good God, tell me that she doesn’t speak French,” the ambassador murmured, although neither his tone nor his face betrayed the fear of his words.

  Louise muffled a whimper, remembering how Yves had so casually mentioned killing off the holy warriors if they learned too much.

  Sparrow snorted. “Not a word.” She switched to English to address the warrior. “Not all humans speak English. We are speaking French.”

  Stormsong studied Ambassador Feng for a minute and then asked in fluent Mandarin, “Why aren’t you using the Chinese official language? Would not that be more polite?”

  Ambassador Feng went white and took a step back. He caught himself and bowed, stuttering out, “I’m—I’m amazed. I did not know that you spoke my language.”

  “We’re not speaking Mandarin because I don’t know it.” Yves returned the conversation to English. His tone was bold and fearless. “This is a common problem with humans. Earth has nearly seven thousand distinct languages. We have a legend that at one time we tried to reach the heavens and one of our gods cursed us so we would fail. He made it so not one man spoke the same language as his neighbor. And in a babbling of voices, the people abandoned their great work and fled in confusion.”

  “The tower of Babel. I know the story. I’ve read your Bible.”

  “Singing Storm of Wind has helped the viceroy study human culture since they were doubles. Wolf Who Rules hired tutors to teach them several of Earth’s languages. Together they have read most of the classic works of human literature.”

  “But you didn’t teach them French?” Ambassador Feng asked in French but proved that he had been following the English conversation.

  Sparrow locked down on a flash of anger, trying to pass it off as thinking carefully before answering the question in French. “I’d been banished to the farthest corner of hell by his father. I did not join Wolf’s household until after the first Startup.”

  The elevator dinged and the staff person tumbled out, shuffling through papers. “Yes. Sorry. I should have had these ready.”

  They all turned to face him. Yves, however, was the one who addressed him.

  “Yes, we’re going to have to prepare claims on three items. You can ship them tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow? We were hoping that the elves would allow us to keep the exhibit together until the end of this show.”

  “Tomorrow,” Yves said firmly. “Let me point them out.”

  Ambassador Feng frowned as Yves swept the staff person back into the exhibit room. “I know your people still see him as our emperor,” he murmured quietly to Sparrow alone. “But much has changed since the pathways between the worlds were closed. Our goals are no longer strictly the same.”

  Sparr
ow sniffed with disdain. “It seems to me that your people are the ones who lost sight of the truth. Playing with your ugly little monsters. We are meant to be gods with angels serving our every whim.”

  “We needed an army to take back our world. Monsters were the only way to build one quickly. Once we have what is ours, we’ll go back to making angels.” The ambassador glanced toward Stormsong. “More obedient ones this time.”

  Sparrow and Ambassador Feng followed Yves as Zephyr Blade came trotting upstairs. Stormsong nodded to the male warrior in greeting.

  “This is the strangest place I have ever seen.” Zephyr Blade eyed the primates in the glass display cases down the hall. “Those are not real humans mounted downstairs?”

  “I doubt it,” Stormsong growled. “I believe they’re cleverly made dolls. Like that mechanical dog at the hotel. Humans are very good at deception.”

  Louise huddled inside her invisible box. What should she do? Should she reveal herself and explain what she’d overheard? Would they believe her? Would she even have a chance to explain if she suddenly popped up out of nowhere? The warriors sounded somewhat freaked by the museum.

  “Is something wrong?” Zephyr Blade asked Stormsong.

  “I’m not used to being surprised.” The female started to pace in a wide circle, nearly brushing up against Louise’s box. “I feel half blind and half dead.”

  “It’s because this world has no magic. It’s blinding your ability. All of us are feeling it. It’s like we’ve been coated with lead. How long are we staying?”

  “Sparrow will not say. I’m not sure that she knows. It will depend on how cooperative the humans are. It could be months. I’m not sure why she felt the need for us to come; almost everything on Earth, we sold to the humans outright.”

  “She is right that something important might have been lost when the war broke out and we pulled down the pathways.”

  Assuming that Louise didn’t trigger some automatic “hack first, ask questions later” response, what would she actually say? That Sparrow had laid a trap for Windwolf? Louise didn’t know where or when or how. Nothing but honor would stop Sparrow from denying it, and everything Louise had witnessed indicated that Sparrow would do anything and say anything to keep her secret. Obviously she had lied about why she wanted to be on Earth. According to Stormsong, humans like Louise were “good at deception,” and Sparrow was her trusted leader.