2
AVERY
While Danica gazed at what she said: “The hugeness,” of my house in wonder, I peered at myself in the mirror, my eyes always drawn to my new grown elf ears. A little thought crept into my brain: So, Am I an elf or a human now?
Fortunately, Danica didn’t make me wonder for long. She started bouncing up and down on my mattress, so hard I could hear the springs creaking. She was bouncing up and down and laughing, her face a look of happiness.
“Stop, Danica, STOP!!!” I shrieked, but I couldn’t stop smiling when I saw the look of happiness on her face, unable to stop. “Avery, your bed is the bounciest in the WOLRD!!!” she said, laughing.
Suddenly, I couldn’t help myself either, even though the amount of times my mother told me to stop bouncing on my mattress flashed through my mind. I climbed onto my bed and started to jump too, and I hit Danika with my pillow and she fell onto my bed, continuing to laugh. I hadn’t seen her this happy before.
Suddenly, the phone in my living room started to ring, and I managed to climb of my bed and reach for it. I pressed the talk button and spoke into the phone: “Hello?”
“Um, hey there, Avery. Is this a bad time?” It was Jackie’s voice, but something was wrong, I could tell. Usually when she rang me she always started a conversation like: “Yo, whazzup, girlfriend?”
“Jackie,” I said, and pressed speaker when I saw Danica climbing off the bed and walking towards me as soon as I said her name. “No, this isn’t a bad time. What’s wrong?”
“Um, could you come over?” she asked, her voice quivering. I was instantly alert. What was wrong with her? Why did she sound so nervous? I think Danica found it weird too, even tough she had only known Jackie for less than a day. “Jackie, can I come over, as well?” she muttered into the phone.
“Oh, Danika! You’re there too?” Jackie asked, almost sounding like her old self again, but we could still hear the nervousness in her voice, creeping up like a snake. “Yes, you can both come over. I don’t see why not. I need to talk to you guys about something…”
I and Danica looked at each other, panic stricken. She sounded way way nervous, and I had a pretty good idea why.
*****
When we arrived at Jackie’s place she looked absolutely and utterly shattered, but she still managed to lift her head up and smile weakly at us. Her homework and head phones were both on the floor, her homework’s pages ripped, her headphones mangled beyond recognition. Me and Danica both stared at the tow mangled objects sitting on the floor, shocked.
“Sorry about that,” Jackie muttered wearily. “I had a bit of an outburst.” I looked up at Jackie with my jaw open. Her headphones were one of her most prized possessions. What took over her to make her shred it into this mutilated form?
“Jackie,” I whispered, unable to find my voice. “What happened?” She frowned at me, than at Danica, then rested her head on her hands, sighing. “Avery, Danica, tell me what to do.”
“Jackie!!” I said, yanking at her shoulder with such strength it surprised both me and Jackie, but I managed to yank her enough to see to her in the eye, and I said: “Tell me what’s wrong, Jackie, tell me what is wrong with you! We’re best mates, aren’t we? Don’t we tell each other everything?”
Jackie’s dark eyes bored into my sapphire ones as she sighed, and hooked her hair behind her ears. I froze, and I could almost feel Danica’s shock as well.
Elf ears. Just like mine and Danica.
Jackie had elf ears.
Danica suddenly collapsed where she was standing, her hands covering her face. Me and Jackie both leaped into action and ran towards her, asking her what the heck was wrong?
“I knew it,” she said, sobbing into her hands. “I’m the one to blame, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
Jackie looked confused, so I showed her Danica’s elf ears, than mine. She stiffened, and then said: “What the hell?”
“Never mind that now, Jackie! Just help me convince Danica it’s not her fault!!” I said, and I saw her gaze at my elf ears, than said: “What, she thinks it’s her fault?” She turned to Danica and asked: “You think it’s your fault?” and when Danica nodded Jackie burst into laughter. Both me and Danica both stared at each other and then at her and then at each other and then at her and the at each other an back at her again, until I asked: “What’s so funny, Jaclyn Deforest, what is so funny?”
“That’s weird!!!” Jackie said between gasp of breath. “I didn’t know elf ears were catching!!!” Then she immediately calmed down and said: “It isn’t your fault, Danika Forsythia, and even if you still continue to think it’s your fault-” She stood up straight, and looked down at Danika. “-than you’re forgiven. Right, Avery?”
I stared at her for awhile before breaking out of my trance. “Y-yes!!” I said a bit too suddenly. “Absolutely!!!”
Danica stared up at Jackie with her big green eyes and smiled, tears still streaming down her cheeks. “Thank you,” she said softly, wiping away her tears. Jackie helped her up and smiled back at her.
Suddenly, a blinding flash made us all scream in shock. Suddenly, the room which we were standing in was covered in white, and a figure started before us. I recognized her immediately.
It was the girl who was always in my dreams.
“Welcome, girls,” she said, smiling at us, her long blonde hair swaying in the breeze. Danica, unsure of what to do, backed away from her, Jackie, however, stared at her in wonder, while I didn’t know what to do. She started walking towards us, and soon, after a few quick steps, she was right in front of us.
After some looking I finally noticed that she also had elf ears. I blinked but they were still there. I wondered whether she always had those, or whether Danica’s elf ears were contagious after all. She smiled at us.
“I am Mercedes, the supreme ruler of the elves,” she said, introducing herself to us. “But alas, my time has come, so someone else has to look after my kingdom.”
“Ooh, ooh!!” Jackie said, raising her hand. “Can I be it? Can I be the ruler of the elves? I’ll take care of everybody!! Please? Pretty please??” Mercedes looked at her, not unkindly, and shook her head. “I am sorry, I am not the one to select a new heir.”
She glanced around the white room, her hair swaying even though no air escaped the white windows. I was confused. “Merce-Your Highness,” I said, realizing that just saying her name was disrespectful, now that we were probably elves now. “You are the Queen, aren’t you? Why can’t you pick an heir?”
She looked at me and smiled. “It is all the choice of the Great Spirit, the one that looks after all the elves.” She looked at all of us. “The Great Spirit says that my heir will be one of you three, and the two others are to be elders of my town. However, to meet the Great Spirit, you must go on a perilous journey.”
Danica gulped. She hadn’t said a thing before Mercedes appeared. “Your highness,” she muttered, still nervous. “What kind of perilous journey?”
“One that contains a lot of terrible creatures and terrible curses. I cannot tell you everything. It has been too long since I last did that journey,” she said, and smiled at us. Her smile faded in a moment. “However, if you go and fail, you will be reborn as a spirit of the afterworld, and no one can save you.”
We gulped and shivered. Then she continued: “But if you go and succeed, you will find the Great Spirit, and she will tell you who the elders are, and who the heir will be. Then you will be transported to the elf town, Elvaeda.”
“’scuse me!!” Jackie said, raising her hand. We all looked at her. “But what are elders? Are they some sort of god or goddess of Elvaeda? Or are they some sort of person responsible for helping the queen take care of the town?”
“It sort of in-between,” Mercedes said. “They are not gods or goddess’s, but they do take care of Eruell when I’m gone. But they are gods or goddess’s on their own element.”
“Element?”
“Like, for example,” Mercedes said, smiling. She seemed to have loads of patience. “Elder of War, Elder of Magic, Elder of Life….”
“Oh!!” Jackie said, slapping a hand to her mouth. “I totally get it now!!” Then she started to giggle. “I want to be an elder now!!” I elbowed her in the ribs. Clearly she did not know how to act in front of royalty. If she was in front of the queen of
But luckily for her, Mercedes seemed really nice and looked as though she wouldn’t mind us saying: “Wow, you are UGLY!!” but of course, she wasn’t. She looked beautiful, elegant, and ladylike all whirled into one.
Mercedes sighed, and even that sounded elegant. “However, you can refuse the journey, and resume your life here, and sooner or later, your ears will become normal, as well. So, do you choose to accept it, or decline?”
“I accept,” Danica said, tucking an escaped tendril of red hair behind her ears. “Even if my ears turn back to normal, my parents don’t care about me and I’m used to being an outcast. I have nothing to miss in this life.”
“I accept too,” Jackie said a bit too quickly. “This great an opportunity is too good to pass up!!”
The three of them then looked at me, their eyes boring into mine. I didn’t answer as quickly as the two of them, because I didn’t know what to answer. I had a life to return to, parents who care and a place in school, but somehow, I just couldn’t say no.
“I accept.”
“Wonderful,” Mercedes said, smiling. “I am glad you three accepted. Now, the journey will now begin!”
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