Wood Sprites

Louise gave the flour bag a hard shove, sending it skidding across the polished stone. She shouted the trigger word. The bag exploded as all the particles blossomed in all directions like an instant dry blizzard.

In the whiteout, Nattie cursed loudly. “Oh, shit! The wood sprites!”

Flour was drifting down. When it settled it would be useless. Louise needed a spark to cause a dust explosion!

Jillian screamed as Celine suddenly caught her from behind.

“I’ve got one of them!” Celine cried. “The other one is here—”

“Let her go!” Louise snatched up a skillet from the sink and swung as hard as she could at the female’s knee. The elf screamed and lunged toward her. Louise backhanded her with the skillet like a tennis racket. There was a satisfying clang as the stainless-steel pan connected with Celine’s face.

Celine lost her grip on Jillian. Louise caught her twin by the wrist and dragged her away from the elf. Celine staggered backwards, glaring at Louise as blood seeped from her mouth.

“You little breeding bitch,” the elf snarled and picked up a meat cleaver. “We only need one of you.”

Joy reared up on Jillian’s shoulder. Her mane flared out, and the baby dragon breathed a blast of fire at Celine’s face.

Celine’s scream was drowned out by a massive fireball as the flour hazing the air exploded.

Louise felt the explosion quake the floor under her feet, but the flames rushed past, a swirl of orange and reds, not touching the twins.

“Mine, stupid poopy face, all mine!” Joy stood on Jillian’s shoulder, mane bristling, muttering in anger as the firestorm raged around them.

The entire kitchen was on fire. Flames crawled up the walls and raced across the ceiling. The stove erupted in a secondary blast.

“We have to get out of here!” Jillian cried.

Celine seemed dead, curled into a tight ball of burnt flesh. Her body, though, reminded Louise that Crow Boy was somewhere in the kitchen.

“We need to find Crow Boy first!”

They found him halfway across the room, crawling toward them instead of toward the blown-open door.

“I was afraid you would be trapped.” He coughed as they got him up. Using his wings and a hand on either of their shoulders, he managed to balance and then half-hop, half-fly toward the door.

“That was stupid!” Louise cried. “There were dozens of ways we could have gotten out of there without them even knowing we were free. Next time, wait until we tell you what to do.”

He grimaced in pain. “I sincerely hope there isn’t a next time.”

The three of them couldn’t fit through the shattered doorway at the same time, so Louise stepped through first. It took her outside the protection of Joy’s shields, and the sudden flare of intense heat and thick smoke made her stumble forward, coughing.

She saw the gunman just as he saw her. She stared unbelieving as he raised his rifle and took aim at her.

But then the male fell over, twitching.

“Hooyah!” Chuck Norris squeaked as she fist-pumped. “Taser is in the mouse!”

“Chuck!”

Chuck waved her tiny hands. “I totally saved you!”

Louise scooped up the mouse robot. “Yes, you did. Thank you.”

* * *

The detached garage had obviously been built to hold horse carriages. It was a massive, dimly lit building with heavy timbers supporting its barnlike roof. It housed a dozen sleek modern cars. The light of the growing house fire flickered through celestial windows over the bay doors. From deep pools of darkness, the light gleamed off polished chrome in pinpoints like demonic eyes.

A box truck sat in the oversized end bay. Louise’s heart sank as she envisioned trying to find Tesla in a tightly packed truck. As they rounded the back end, however, she was relieved to see that the elves hadn’t started to load it yet. Carefully labeled boxes sat in stacks, obviously organized into groups. The Jawbreakers stood on one of the larger cardboard boxes, waving.

“That was so scary!” The two broke into excited squeaking. “We were so scared. And Lou! Bang! That was awesome. And then boom! Better than fireworks!”

“Are you in here?” Jillian asked.

“Yup! Yup! We’re right here!”

The box had been labeled: “Wood Sprites’ toys, possibly dangerous.” It had been sealed shut with strapping tape. Louise pulled out her Swiss army knife. While the mice all sang “Boom, boom, fireworks bloom” in four-part harmony, Louise cut open the box and folded back the flaps to reveal Tesla.

The mice fell silent as Louise snapped open the storage hatch. The nactka was still safely inside. The twins breathed out with relief, and all the mice cheered. The elves must not have realized that Tesla had a hidden compartment.

“What is that?” Crow Boy looked like he was going to fall over.

“The most important thing in the world.” Louise closed up the hatch. “We need to get out of here. Fast.”

“Lou.” Nikola tugged at her hair. “Put this mouse someplace safe and I’ll drive Tesla.”

She tucked the little bundle of fur into her carpenter pants leg pocket. Tesla shook awake and wagged his tail. She hugged him tightly.