Wood Sprites (23 page)
Authors: Wen Spencer
Judging by the fact that all the Chinese children held one or two in their hands as they lined up at the check-out counter, maybe it was.
“Are you sure?” Louise had hoped that finding the right-sized object didn’t fall to her.
“Yes. And I saw some snow globes you might like.”
Louise followed Jillian, cringing inside. People were going to start thinking she loved snow globes if she picked out a second one for her birthday. The Pittsburgh on Earth/Elfhome one had a coolness factor that she doubted could be topped. A snow globe, though, would require a box.
She bit down on a sigh when she saw the selection. There was a small but adorable red panda globe that Aunt Kitty pointed to. There were also a handful with various dinosaurs encased in indestructible plastic. Snow flurried around the poor creatures as if their doom were quickly approaching.
With face carefully set to “excitement,” Jillian pointed to the largest, a replica of the
Tianlong Hao
suspended over Earth. Instead of snow, stardust littered the face of the planet, waiting for movement to send it whirling on a solar wind. In a band around the bottom were the words:
Spread your wings, fly free
. There was Chinese lettering, apparently repeating the sentiment, just showing on the curve of the band.
Two of the Chinese girls were intently inspecting it with surprisingly blue eyes. There was only one globe left, so if Louise wanted it, she was going to have to buy it out from under their noses, which were unfortunately large for their faces.
The
yamabushi
appeared between Louise and the girls. The tall boy was like a ninja or something; Louise hadn’t noticed him until he was right in front of her. “No, Arisu,” he told the Chinese girls clearly in English and then dropped to Mandarin. “It’s too big. No.”
“Mail?” Arisu apparently was the younger girl. She fumbled with the Mandarin word and then dropped to English. “Couldn’t we have it mailed . . . ?”
The
yamabushi
sighed and shook his head. He spoke slowly and clearly in Mandarin. “No. I’m sorry. We can’t mail anything to Pittsburgh.” The boy tapped his wrist, indicating a watch that wasn’t present. “We need to go. Hurry.”
Shutdown was on Saturday night at midnight, giving them less than three full days to get to the border.
The three Chinese children turned with easy grace considering the close confines of the gift shop and circled around, gathering up the rest of the flock. With speed unheard of in a group of American kids, the Chinese were gone without a trace.
It left Louise no reason not to buy the snow globe. Jillian sharpened her look. At least it wasn’t expensive.
“Oh, it’s wonderful. I just love snow globes, and this one is so cool.” She did love that it took them one step closer to stealing the
nactka.
* * *
They had Tesla’s recording of the museum’s security camera placements, the number of security guards and their positions, floor plans, verification that the floor where Dufae’s box was going to be displayed was marble, train schedules from their house and school to the museum, and the gift-shop box (and the decoy snow globe). Louise wanted to get started on figuring out how to put them together into a logical plan.
Impatient as she was to get started on a plan, the twins had to entertain Aunt Kitty for the rest of the day. After the museum, they walked to Celeste on Amsterdam Avenue between 84th and 85th streets. The tiny Italian restaurant was packed with lunch rush. Louise would have been happier going home and ordering something delivered, or even a frozen pizza. Eating at the restaurant, though, maintained the image that the twins were perfectly fine.
The twins knew that they wanted margherita pizza, so they ignored the menu. They ordered Sprite. Aunt Kitty considered a glass of wine before telling the waiter that she’d have a San Pellegrino. She added in an order of the carciofi fritti.
While they waited for their drinks and food, Aunt Kitty checked her phone and answered a text. Whatever she read on the screen made her wince and sigh.
“What’s wrong?” Louise asked.
Aunt Kitty sighed again. It was probably more bad news; she’d already warned them that if their performance of
Peter Pan
was changed because of the bombing, she wouldn’t be in town for it. She had set up several business meetings the week after the original date. “Do you remember a little while ago—well, you probably think it was a long time ago, it was like the beginning of last year, I think—we talked about production companies?”
It had actually been three years ago, shortly before they posted their first video.
“Maybe,” Louise said cautiously. Perhaps Aunt Kitty had talked to Jillian about it last year.
Jillian caught Louise’s glance and gave Louise a surprised look to say she had no idea what Aunt Kitty was talking about. “No.”
“I’d told you that when people did videos, they had a production company and a logo? Like Spike Lee’s production company is 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, and the logo is the number forty over the letter A?”
That was the conversation from three years ago. Adults had a weird, loose concept of time. It was a full third of the twins’ life and they still remembered it completely.
“We remember that,” the twins said. Jillian added an impatient, “And?”
“Well, you picked out the name Lemon-Lime Jello.”
Louise’s stomach turned to stone and dropped to the floor. “And?”
“You can’t use it,” Aunt Kitty stated.
“What?” both girls cried.
“I just found out that someone else is using it,” Aunt Kitty said.
“They are?” They glanced at each other. Was a musical group taking advantage of their popularity?
“I was approached to do a TV show soundtrack with an elf fusion music element to it. The network people brought with them a sample of what they’re looking for, and it was from a company called Lemon-Lime Jello. I’m not sure if they’re spelling it the same way you two were, but it’s close enough that you’ll probably have to find another production company name.”
“We had it first,” Jillian pointed out.
“Oh, Jilly, I know you thought of it first, but they got to market first. Apparently they’ve gotten quite famous even though they’re based on Elfhome.”
“Wait!” Louise realized that it wasn’t another company; it was her and Jillian. “This was an elf fusion soundtrack from a film production company called Lemon-Lime Jello?”
“Yes, the network copied the music from one of their videos and played it for me.”
“Did you see the video?” they both demanded to know.
“No.” Aunt Kitty waved them down, mistaking their alarm for being upset with the supposedly stolen name. “It was a short meeting. They’re after a very specific sound, something very authentic. People are starting to be elf fusion snobs and they want the sound of traditional Elfhome instruments.”
Jillian started to sulk. Obviously she was thinking of all the money they could be making if the networks hired them. Louise had to agree that it sucked that so much of their problems could be fixed if their parents wouldn’t be so focused on “letting them be children.” What was so wonderful about being a kid? They had to lie to go anyplace that they wanted to go to, and they wasted hours sitting in a classroom, supposedly learning how to fit in with the rest of humanity when quite frankly it seemed fairly pointless to try. They weren’t really humans; they were elves.
“So what are you going to do?” Louise asked as casually as she could.
Aunt Kitty looked at her in confusion.
“About the soundtrack?” Jillian clarified.
“I had to turn the gig down. They specifically wanted instruments that I don’t have.”
“Oh.” The twins shared a guilty look. They could have given her their software, but that would mean explaining about the videos. They couldn’t tell her the truth; everything would start to unravel. Lemon-Lime led to YourStore that led to a joint bank account under Esme’s name that led to what they really were doing at the museum.
“I know you really like the name,” Aunt Kitty continued. “But you need something new. I’m sorry to have to tell you, especially after such a bad day yesterday. If you promise me not to tell a soul, I’ll tell you a secret that might make you feel better.”
“Okay.” At least they were good at keeping secrets.
“NBC is going to green-light a series on Elfhome by Nigel Reid.”
“Really?” they both cried with amazement. Last they’d heard, Nigel had been blocked at every attempt to get to Elfhome.
“They do focus groups and such like that. And this Lemon-Lime Jello production group apparently used Nigel in one of their videos and suddenly he’s the hottest thing on the face of the planet. So the network is going to do a pilot and see what the focus group thinks.”
“Nigel got a visa for Elfhome?” Louise cried.
“No,” Aunt Kitty said. “Apparently EIA is being a pain. They want NBC to commit to a full season before giving Nigel and his cameraman visas, and that’s all they’re willing to cover. Nigel will have to pull a full working crew from the affiliate in Pittsburgh.”
Jillian tilted her head in confusion. “What are they doing for a pilot show if EIA won’t let Nigel on Elfhome?”
“They’re going to film using animals and plants here on Earth,” Aunt Kitty said. “The
kuesi
at the Bronx Zoo. Some of the songbirds at the aviary at the Queens Zoo. And there’s a herd of Elfhome red elk at the Philadelphia Zoo.”
“Oh, that’s going to be so lame!” the twins cried. Louise added, “The cool part of Elfhome is the forest and the elves and the weird monsters that need magic to survive.”
Aunt Kitty nodded agreement. “Since they’re calling the series
Chased by Monsters,
I think that’s the general idea that they’re going for.”
Louise squealed. “Oh, that sounds so cool! Nigel is perfect for it.” Although it did sound slightly dangerous, considering what had happened with the simple fire ants. “I hope he doesn’t get hurt doing it.”
“So this Lemon-Lime video made Nigel more popular?” Jillian asked.
“Yes,” Aunt Kitty said. “So some good came from these people stealing your name.”
The twins were saved from having to come up with an answer by the waiter showing up with their drinks.
That night, they built a full-scale model of American Museum of Natural History in virtual space. They deleted out the Alpha Centauri exhibit. They used the museum’s database and photos of the traveling exhibit at other museums around the world to create mock-ups of the display cases. The e-mails between employees showed where they planned to position the cases. Once they had the AMNH in June set up, the twins donned gaming goggles and considered the problem before them.
The museum database listed Dufae’s box at two feet wide by two feet high by three feet long and weighing eighty-six pounds. Last week, the twins had used cardboard to create a mock-up and filled it with cans of foods. They only had twenty-seven cans, totaling thirty pounds. They could lift a smaller box filled with the cans, but the mock-up was too large and awkward. Their arms were too short to get leverage on its smooth surface. If they could barely shift the cardboard fake, they wouldn’t be able to budge the real box that was nearly three times heavier.
Their only option was to set up a magic generator next to the box, open its spell lock with the keyword, and take out one or two of the
nactka
.
“Third floor sucks.” Louise frowned at the ceiling of the gallery. “No skylights.”
“Even if we came in through the roof, we’d have to get past two cameras.”
They used color to represent the field of vision for the cameras, leaving the safe areas in stark black and white. In a glance, they could tell where they could walk without being picked up on monitors. Huge sections of the massive building were monochrome. Elephants could wonder through unnoticed as long as they kept to certain areas. Whoever had set up the museum’s security system, however, had done an excellent job covering access points like doorways, staircases, and elevators.
They could hack into the monitoring system, but they couldn’t actually loop the video like they could on Tesla. Short of teleporting, there was no way to reach the gallery without being seen.
Once they were actually in the hall, however, they could avoid the cameras. By the very nature of the area hosting traveling exhibits, the security hadn’t been tailor-designed for the display cases. The squat box was screened by taller items on all four sides; as long as they stayed under four feet and three inches, they’d be hidden. Since they were only four feet tall, they wouldn’t even have to duck. The Dance of Joy, however, was strictly out.
“It’s going to be a popular exhibit.” Louise blew a raspberry as she realized that their Lemon-Lime videos had probably helped to create a massive desire to see real Elvish goods. “We won’t be able to open the box and ransack it with dozens of people milling around.”
“We’re not going to be able to get up to the gallery unseen after hours.”
“There’s the bathroom around the corner.” Louise pointed toward the restroom in the tower stairwell. “There were no cameras in them.”
Jillian shifted the virtual world and grumbled at what she saw. “A mouse couldn’t sneak through here unseen.”
Louise sighed. “Let’s start over. We need to be able to get inside, to the gallery unseen, and then open the box without any other visitors seeing us. Get the
nactka
. Lock the box again. Then get out, without being searched.”
“That’s it in a nutshell.”
“What we need is a cloak of invisibility and a time-stop device.”
“We do have a book of magical spells.” Jillian held up her tablet.
* * *
There was no time-stop spell, although the
nactka
suggested that the elves had one. What they did find, however, was a “light-bending” spell that was for all practical purposes the same thing as invisibility.
And entirely too cool not to experiment with.