Jungle

Disaster

The doorbell rang and I jumped out of my armchair, startled. When I didn't hear anyone demanding to be let in or else, I calmed my anxious heart and went to answer the door.

When I opened the door, I found myself face to face with one of the relatives who was always pestering my employers about me. She looked mildly surprised to see me standing at the door.

"I thought your kind are too precious to be used to answer the door," she sniffed.

I gave her a look. "Right now I'm the only person in the house, so who else would answer the door?"

She gave me a look of shock. "They leave you in the house all by yourself?!"

"Why not? I'm not four years old, you know!" I snapped.

She looked taken aback. "But... you're an elf!"

"I'm no less trustworthy than a human being," I said as calmly as I could. I could feel my magic itching to unleash itself upon this racist woman, but fortunately I was able to restrain myself. "Are you coming in or are you just visiting?"

"Coming in, of course," she said. I then stepped aside to allow her through and then jumped back when I saw the small dog following her in on a leash. I didn't like dogs and they returned the sentiment. Fortunately, this one appeared to be of a breed that was more the whimpering type than the barking-and-ripping-out-elven-throats type. The dog just gave me a wide berth as it came through the door. The woman glanced back at me, a look of distaste on her face. I then shut the door, hoping no more relatives came in today.

"What do you do in this house all by yourself?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "I mostly sit and read."

The look on her face suggested that she didn't know I could read and she considered it something only humans were allowed to do. I really, really didn't like her.

"What do you eat?" she asked.

I sighed. "What do you think I eat?"

"Don't get smart with me," she snapped. "I asked you a question."

"I eat plants!" I said through gritted teeth. "Do you mind telling me what you're doing here and who exactly you are?"

The woman gave me a look that suggested I didn't deserve to know anything. "I am the aunt of Adriana, Eric, Ivan, and Sarah," she told me. "My name is Marie, but you ought to call me 'aunt' seeing as you're part of the family apparently."

I didn't want to ever have to talk to her, but I saved that name in my memory anyway.

When the children got home, they all greeted their aunt happily. Apparently she was an aunt they hadn't seen in many years. She hugged them all tightly and told them how glad she was to see them. Unfortunately, she said other things, too.

"I hear that Willow is treated like family," she said. "I don't really hate Willow, but she's... not exactly human, is she? I bet you she doesn't hug you or anything like that."

Sarah, to her credit, told the truth. "She lets me hug her. She says she doesn't like it because it gives her headaches."

Their aunt snorted. "No doubt." She cast a glance in my direction, noting how uncomfortable I looked in this showing of affection. "Does she have human emotion, young ones?"

Ivan snorted. "I bet you she doesn't. Remember when I switched out her sandwiches for the ones with tuna fish? Her face hardly changed expression when she realized she had eaten meat!"

"Ivan!" Adriana scolded. "That was you?! She was sick for days after eating that! You ought to apologize!"

"Sorry," he muttered, looking at me guiltily.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest. Now I checked all my food to make sure no one had switched out my tofu for tuna, but with this new information, I resolved to keep a closer eye on Ivan.

Sarah then came over and hugged my leg. I let her, same as always. "Ivan is so mean to you!" Sarah said. "I will taste all your sandwiches first so you don't get sick again!"

I smiled down at her. "That's okay, Sarah. I can taste my own sandwiches. I suggest you go finish your homework so you can play."

Sarah then ran off to play. Eric was already in his room, leaving Adriana, Ivan, and their aunt. Adriana was looking at Ivan and her aunt like they were poisonous creatures.

"I don't understand why you must be so cruel to Willow!" she told them. "She's only trying to help! And you treat her like - like - garbage!" She then stormed away. I quickly excused myself to head into the secret room. I could use a break myself.

Later that evening, we were all sitting around the dinner table eating our food. Even I was eating with the family tonight because I remembered that we would have 'visitors' at six o'clock, which was very soon.

"It's so nice that you're eating with us," Sarah was telling me. "You should do it every night!"

I smiled slightly as I carefully cut my giant jungle leaf into smaller pieces. "I would, except that I prefer my food as fresh as possible. Except for tofu-salad sandwiches."

The aunt almost choked on her water. "You eat tofu?!"

"Why not? It's plant-based. She can digest it," Eric said.

"It has an awful lot of protein in it. I'm not sure that's the safest thing to feed her with..."

"If you're wondering whether or not I gain superpowers from eating tofu, I must tell you that I do not," I said with a laugh. She was so racist that it was kind of funny. "I don't actually like tofu, but it's healthy and provides good nutrition. I need to be healthy in order to carry out my duties."

"Ah, your duties. Which apparently include answering the door. A little beneath your station, don't you think?"

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. I rose out of my chair and went to answer the door, my ears still tuned to the conversation taking place behind me. I opened the door and my eyes widened. There were five police-looking people and the meanest-looking dog I had ever seen standing in front of me. The dog growled at me and I took a step back. I did not like this at all.

"Excuse us, but we have a warrant to search this house," the police person in charge said, holding up a sheet of paper.

I then stepped out of the doorway and the entire team came in, the dog coming with them. The dog barked at me, but the police people tightened his leash and dragged it away before it could do worse. I followed the team into the dining room, where they surrounded the rest of the family.

"What are they doing here?" Sarah asked, her voice trembling with fear. She yelped when the dog barked at her.

"Willow?" The aunt turned to glare at me.

I shrugged. "They said they have a warrant to search the house. I don't know what they're searching for."

Adriana, who had been sullenly silent the entire meal, raised her head and addressed the lead police-person. "Excuse me, but why are you here?"

"We are searching for your... elf," the police-person said pointedly, looking down at my plate, which had the half-eaten leaf on it.

"What for?" Adriana demanded.

"Classified." The police-person scanned the room, searching for the missing elf. Her gaze looked at every plate and every face until she concluded that there was only one empty place and only one person not sitting at the table. She whirled around, drawing her taser and pointing it straight at me. Sarah screamed and the rest of the family all looked shocked.

"Hands up!" the police-person demanded. "Don't move and don't use any magic! If I have any suspicion that you are using magic, I will drop you so fast you won't know what hit you! Got that!"

Despite her tough words, her voice was trembling. What was she so frightened of?

TO BE CONTINUED...

***

Yeah, sorry, it's a series. The next one should be up within the week, all finished. :) I hope you enjoyed it. Who's your favorite character so far?

- Sky Traveller