The Elf Girl (20 page)

I felt ashamed when I realized Blaire was waiting for me to pay attention so she could finish. I had somehow drifted off, my head in the clouds. After I muttered a quick apology, Blaire resumed her story.

“Anyway, I was left alone and without a home. The city, feeling ashamed, decided to raise me together. I stayed with various families at different times. They accepted me as different and tried their best to ignore it. Unfortunately, when my sixteenth birthday came around and my ability was non-apparent, everyone questioned what kind of elfen I would be as I grew older, or if I was an elfen at all. Then an idea came to them. With the war raging and most elf men – and some elfens – racing off to battle, the city was in shambles. Elfen wives and mothers were finding it hard to keep up with the cleaning while taking care of their children and the men who lived in the city had to work. Their solution: Have Blaire be the city’s personal “maid.” In exchange, I could acquire my own house, food, clothes, and personal items free of charge. So here I am, twenty-two years old and a house cleaner.”

“The war has been going on for over twenty years?”

It was all I could ask, because I didn’t know how to respond to her story. It was awful, and I didn’t know what to say to comfort her. I could detect tears in her eyes, and when Blaire caught me looking, she quickly brushed them away with the back of her hand.

“Twenty-nine years, actually,” she replied.

Trying to keep the subject away from straying back to her parents, I asked, “So why do you have such a different house? Did the elves here actually build you a house like this?”

“No, I decided what it would look like. Then I paid elves to build it for me. I liked the houses in the Human Realm. My belief is that if I’m different, I should embrace it; different elfen, different house.”

“I’m sorry for what happened to you, Blaire. Believe me; I know what it’s like to be different. It’s not that my life is any harder, but being different as an elfen, or as anyone for that matter, is hard. I know that.”

“
That
is why I am going to help you,” she said, clearing her throat, all traces of earlier sadness gone. She was serious now.

“How can you help me?” I inquired.

“Zora and I were close friends, believe it or not. She wasn’t like the others.”

“I believe that,” I realized, a little stunned at how well I was beginning to know my sister without even meeting with her face to face.

“Before she was taken, she knew they were coming for her,” Blaire confirmed.

“She hinted on that in the journal she wrote for me,” I said with surprise.

Blaire responded with a nod. “One week or so before she was taken by the Element fairies, she came to my house to ask me for a favor. She wanted me to give you something just in case something bad happened to
her
. I asked her what she meant and she said it didn’t matter. I just needed to promise. I was the only one she trusted with this task.”

“Did you accept?”

“Would you be in my house now if I had not?” she asked me.

“I guess not,” I agreed. “So what was the promise?”

“I promised I would give you
this
.”

She pulled a velvet box from her skirt pocket and opened it. Inside, shining like a falling star, was a slender, diamond-shaped crystal. Blaire took it from the box, revealing a thin black cord attached to it.

“What is it?” I asked, admiring its beauty. “It’s gorgeous.”

“It’s called a Mood Diamond,” she said.

“Is it like a Mood Ring? We have those in the Human Realm. They change color depending on your mood.”

“It’s not quite the same thing,” she said, her face showing the same confused expression as Stellan’s did when I talked about human things. “For two people who are bonded or related by blood like you and your sister, this necklace serves as a connector. Zora wore one as well, at least during the week they took her. It’s a tool elfin Spell Masters created years and years ago, as a way for loved ones to keep in contact over long distances,” she explained.

“What do I do with it? Will it help me find her?”

“It might, if it’s strong enough.”

“What happens when I wear it?” I asked.

“You can connect to her. When it glows, it means you will have a vision.”

“What do you mean by a vision?”

“If the diamond is strong enough, Zora will sense you. She can use the connection to show you where she is. You will experience an out-of-body feeling. You can be there with her, but only spiritually, not physically. Then, if the bond is strong enough, you can connect and become one being. For example, if you connect with Zora but she can’t speak to tell you where she is, you can become one with her and she can tell you with her mind.”

“How can that happen?” I asked with wonder.

“Elf magic is wondrous…and utterly complex. You would have to ask those who created the diamond to fully understand it, but I must also warn you to be ready for whatever comes. The connection may not be pleasant.”

“I will do anything I can to find her, Blaire, no matter the cost. She is the only real family I have left...that I know of,” I added. “And many other elves are counting on me.”

“I trust you will do whatever you can. Wear the diamond, Ramsey. With luck, Zora will be able to connect with you and tell you where she is. Then you can find her and bring her home.”

“Thank you for this, Blaire. I won’t forget it,” I told her. I reached over and placed my hand over hers. “And I won’t let you down. I’ll make sure the promise you made to Zora was worth it.”

“You are just like your sister, Ramsey. You are compassionate and you truly care about others.” For the first time since meeting her, she showed a genuine smile. “You are a
good
kind of different.”

“It makes me glad that others think that, because being different has been so hard for me to accept.”

“It’s true,” she replied.

I smiled and nodded, feeling a new surge of hope and self-confidence from her words.

***

We finished our tea, and it was time for me to go. With the Mood Diamond fastened around my neck, I got up to leave.

“Ramsey, I must say one more thing before you leave,”

“Yes?”

“I do not know your secret – Zora does – but I do know one thing. If the Element fairies find out about you, our Realm could fall into the Dark Times once again, and you can’t let that happen. Everything depends on whether you find Zora or not, for she is the key to unlocking your secret before the Element fairies do.”

“The Dark Times,” I repeated, pondering. “What was that?”

“They began shortly after all the Realms were created. They were a time when goblins, trolls, and dark spirits arose. All were evil things, filled with darkness and hate.”

“What happened?” I wondered.

Blaire’s message was both fascinating and ominous to me. I was interested because I wanted to learn more about the Elf Realm, but fearful because of how terrible the Dark Times sounded. I hadn’t even heard all of it yet, and I didn’t know how I fit in.

“Some say the Dark Times were created by the same magic that made the Realms. All magic has mistakes, or loopholes. That great amount of magic had the power to make countless mistakes. Those mistakes were the Dark Times.”

“What exactly occurred during the Dark Times, Blaire?”

“The dark creatures bound together. The goblins were grotesque and hateful, the trolls giant and merciless, and the dark spirits cruel and mysterious. Other lesser beings followed them, creatures filled with light that succumbed to their evil ways. The dark creatures vowed to rule our Realms and destroy us. They wanted to dominate every Realm, even the Human Realm.”

“How would that ever be possible?” I asked.

“Have you ever heard of the mysterious plagues that have hit the Human Realm over many hundreds of years?”

“Yes. I learned about them in school,” I remembered.

“Those were the dark spirits. They did not know how to travel to the Human Realm, so they used their sorcery to kill. They sent evil magic to the Human Realm. Every creature in the Realms fought these evil beings. It took over one hundred years to achieve peace. Those were the Dark Times.”

“Are the dark beings dead now?”

“They are either dead or imprisoned throughout the Realms,” Blaire explained. She sighed. “At least that is what I’ve heard. You never know what can happen when it comes to magic, but since then, our Realms have become more modern.”

“Why?”

“If any dark magic arises again, we will be prepared. We need some of the skills and tools humans have so we can be one step ahead.”

“But the Magical Realms are not as modern as the Human Realm, are they?”

Blaire shook her head. “No, and they will never be. No matter how much we want to be safe, some things will never change. Most of the creatures throughout the Realms would never allow technology to destroy our beauty and peace. Elves don’t want to lose their culture. The fae – the general grouping for all types of fairies – despise modern things even more than elves. You don’t find many things modern in those Realms. The fae also can’t bear the touch of iron, because it burns their skin, so that leaves metals out.”

I nodded, remembering my conversation with Addison my first day here, when she explained why the bathrooms were fashioned out of iron.

“Too much technology and modernism would hurt us more than one million dark beings, because it would change us completely. No one here wants that. We live and breathe our own cultures,” Blaire explained.

“I understand completely. But how can my secret make something worse than the Dark Times happen?” I asked.

“If this war goes on much longer, every Realm will be involved. They cannot hide from it forever. One day, each Realm will have to choose a side, elfin or fae. Once every Realm is involved, no one will survive. That much magic released into the Realms….” She sighed. “No side will come out of the destruction alive. Even the humans may find a way inside it.”

“How can I stop a war, Blaire?”

“I don’t know, Ramsey. Only Zora knows. That is why you must find her. All I know is that you have a secret within you that the Element fairies would kill to posses. You can’t let that happen to Zora or to you.”

I nodded silently and looked down at the Mood Diamond hanging from my neck. “I don’t know about ending a war just yet, but I
will
find my sister.”

“I believe you will,” she said.

Blaire and I hugged and she wished me luck. I told her I would see her again when this was over, if it ever was over. She said she would like that. I knew I would. Blaire was just another me. She was different in one place and different in the next. She had learned to accept it. I suppose I would have to accept it, too.

Nevertheless, how would I stop a war? How could my secret hold the key to so many lives? How could I, an elfen so new to this Realm, ever hold that much power? I pushed the thought away. I wouldn’t understand any of it until Zora was safe. She was the key to all of my questions, just as Blaire said. I would have to find her to open the doorway. I would decide the rest afterward.

I promised myself to stop thinking about the war and focus solely on my sister instead. I felt a little guilty for abandoning all that Blaire had shared with me, but I couldn’t do everything at once. Zora was the “first clue.” It had to start with her.

Slowly walking away from Blaire’s modern home, I realized it was time for me to stop by the jeweler and see Aaron again. It was next on my list.

The walk there took longer than I expected. I was anxious about the Mood Diamond. I didn’t know when a vision might come, or if any would come at all. I wanted to be prepared, but what happened if I suddenly had a vision in the middle of a street? I was afraid something would go wrong, and that didn’t do good things for my already piling handful of worries. I tried to focus on the present, but it was difficult.

Seeing Aaron smiling from behind the counter lightened my spirit as I entered the store. I walked over and smiled as well. Then I noticed his eyes fixated on the Mood Diamond hanging around my neck.

“Is that…?” he started to ask.

“It’s a Mood Diamond, if that’s what you’re asking,” I told him.

“And Zora has one as well, I take it?”

“You are a very good guesser,” I complimented him.

He ignored my comment. “What you are doing could be dangerous; you know that, right?”

“What do you mean?” I wondered.

“If Zora is feeling any pain when she connects with you, you could receive it,” he informed me.

“I could really feel what she feels?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said gravely.

“Blaire forgot to mention that one…but I don’t care,” I admitted. “I have to find her, and I have to bring her home.”

“I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I do,” I told him. “And even if I don’t, the most interesting parts of life are the ones that surprise you.” I smiled, trying to shrug off his negative attitude.

But Aaron would have none of my optimism. He shook his head and sighed. “You need to be careful, Ramsey. This is an entirely different world to you. You can’t just jump right into it and expect to know all the tricks.”

I shut my eyes tightly. “I have to trust that I can do this, Aaron.”

“I know you’re strong enough to find your sister,” he explained. “I just want you to be aware of your limitations along the way.”

I breathed in deeply. “I grew up believing magic has no limitations.”

Aaron half-smiled. “I may have been wrong before. Maybe you know more about this Realm than I realized.”

***

The day was glorious as I stepped out of Aaron’s shop, bag full of jewelry in hand, this time avoiding any run-ins with beautiful-eyed strangers. The sun shone beautifully through the fluffy white clouds, and the birdsong filled me with delight. The day was getting a lot better, and I felt optimistic about things…for once. But who knew how long that would last?

Like I mentioned to Aaron, life was full of surprises.