Evils of the Night-Chapter 2

Night Elves

Isa took Sylvia up a lot of flights of stairs before they reached a level of the tree that was completely isolated from the rest of it. It was clearly a place for wood elves.

“This begins the sleeping quarters. Here's where the wood elves sleep. Next up is water.” Isa flung her arm toward the wood elves' quarters, then continued on up the stairs. “This is the water hole, as we call it.” she smiled. “This is where you'll stay if you ever decide to sleep over, Brett.” she then turned to Isa. “The night elves are on the next floor. I'm not allowed up there, but that's where you'll find Jayden.”

“Why aren't you allowed?” Sylvia asked.

“There's a hierarchy of importance here. The wood elves are the lowest, that's why they're on the first level. It's only because they're so common. If you hadn't been changed in the water, you probably would have been a wood elf. The water elves are next up on the totem pole. We're more rare than wood elves, and we have more powers. But it's like I said to you earlier, night elves are extremely rare. And one with powers like yours...well, you heard Frederick. But we water and wood elves aren't allowed up in the night elves' quarters. So you'll have to go alone. But don't worry, Jayden's great.”

Sylvia looked up the stairs. There was a purplish glow coming from the top of them, and it made her feel peaceful.

“Hey, night elf, what're you doin' down here?” a water elf demanded.

All three of them turned to look. A boy stood in the main living space for the water elves with his hands on his hips.

“Devon, take a chill pill. She's just passing through.”

No one heard another elf approach until he spoke. “It is the right of a night elf to go into places that are below him, but it is not permissible for those lower to trespass upon a night elf's territory.”

They all jumped and whirled around. There was a very tall night elf standing behind them.

“Damian...” Isa breathed.

The elf smiled at Isa, then turned to Sylvia. “Come, Sylvia. Jayden just received word that you were to come to him. He waits for you now.”

Brett scowled, and as Sylvia and Damian went up the stairs, and Devon relaxed on a bluish couch, Isa sighed dreamily and flopped onto a sofa.

“Isn't Damian just somethin'?” she sighed.

Brett said nothing, but sat in a chair. Devon snorted. “Lovesick much? He is so out of your league.”

“I know he's a night elf, but he's so...perfect.” she sighed again.

Sylvia didn't really know what to make of Damian. But she forgot all about him when she saw the night elves' living space. It was dark, of course, but it was illuminated by soft purple lights. The only colors to be seen were dark purples, blues, and greens, and the occasional accent of silver. They were situated at the very top of the tree, and a huge window let in the light of the full moon. The middle pane of the window was actually a door to a balcony that rested in the tree branches, and on that balcony was another elf. Sylvia guessed it was Jayden. She was right.

Jayden heard Damian and Sylvia come up, and he turned to meet them. When he caught Sylvia's eye, she thought she saw a glimmer of something flash through them. What he saw in hers was a sliver of sadness that was hidden behind a blanket of happiness.

“Jayden, this is Sylvia. Sylvia, Jayden.” Damian broke through each of their thoughts.

Jayden stepped forward. “Nice to meet you, Sylvia.” he said, shaking her hand.

“Nice to meet you too Jayden.”

“Thanks, Damian.” Jayden said. “I'll let you get back to that...whatever it was.” Jayden grinned.

Damian smiled and tousled Jayden's hair. “You'll never know.”

“You know I wouldn't be caught dead in the water elves' territory.”

When Damian had disappeared into one of the rooms that went off of the living space, Jayden turned to Sylvia. “I suppose you think I think I'm better than the water elves.”

Sylvia shrugged. “They didn't want me in their territory.”

Jayden nodded. “I got in a fight with Devon one day because of that same thing. Devon doesn't like the hierarchy, but it's been in place since even before Frederick was born, so he really doesn't have a say.”

Sylvia smiled a little. She and Jayden sat down on a sofa and Jayden began.

“Well, Sylvia, I suppose Frederick told you that your powers are pretty rare. Not all the night elves can control the night.”

“I don't know what that means.”

“It means you can control a lot of things about the night, like shadows, sounds, stuff like that. You can't control when night comes and goes, or when the moon comes up and what phase it's in, but other things. Electricity is pretty simple. See that glass of water there?”

“Yeah.”

“Watch.” and Jayden raised his hand so his palm was facing the glass, and he twitched his fingers ever so slightly. Blue streaks of lightning came from the palm of his hand and zapped the glass. The water began to steam after a few seconds, and Jayden lowered his hand. “Touch it.”

Sylvia looked at him, then touched the water. “It's hot.” she said, jerking her finger back.

“Yes. That's electricity. Telepathy is pretty easy too. It's just being able to communicate through your mind instead of using words.”

Sylvia nodded.

“You try. Do electricity first.”

Sylvia raised her hand and a few sparks of bluish lightning came from it. She bent her fingers ever so little, and lightning bolts flew toward the glass of water. Soon it was steaming again.

Jayden smiled. “Good! That's good for now. Try making a shadow now.”

Sylvia focused her energy on creating a shadow of Sebastian. Soon a shapeless blob appeared on the floor. She tipped her head to the side and moved her fingers around a little bit, and soon a squirrel's shape appeared on the floor. Jayden laughed.

“That's good for now.” he said. Now, I think we can venture down to the water hole and get your friend. Isa and I have to show you how to change from human to elf, and back again. It's tricky.”

“But Isa isn't a human.” Sylvia said.

“I know, but she knows the water elf way better than I do. I'm a human too.”

“Really!?” Sylvia exclaimed.

“Yeah. Let's go.”

Once the four of them were outside again, and headed back to the pool, Brett finally decided that Jayden was alright. He accepted that he'd be around a lot, and that Sylvia would be talking to him a lot.

Once inside the cave, Isa spoke. “I don't suppose you noticed anyone wearing these did you?” and she pulled out of her bag two sets of dog tags.

“No...” Brett began.

“OK that's fine. But these are your tickets back to elf-form.” she said.

Jayden pulled his out from under his shirt and let them hang over it. Brett and Sylvia put theirs on.

“So, how do we do it?” Brett asked.

Jayden smiled. “Rub them together. It recognizes whether you're a human or an elf and it changes you from one to the other.”

“As a water elf, though, you have to put a little water in that one.” Isa said. “Otherwise it won't work.”

Brett dipped his fingers into the pool and let a drop fall onto the tag that had a drop of water engraved on it. Then Isa left and Jayden, Sylvia, and Brett all rubbed the tags together. In a flash, the world was back to its normal size and it was well past 2am.

“We'd better get going.” Sylvia said. “Dad gets up in two hours and if I'm not in bed I'll catch it.”

“You should know that you still have control over your powers in your human form.” Jayden said. “I'll see you around.”

The three parted ways. Sylvia arrived in her room before her dad got up, and she was only too glad to tumble into bed.

When Jared Thompson looked in his daughter's room, he saw her sleeping soundly, covers pulled up to her chin and face buried in her pillow. He smiled and left, closing the door behind him.