Wood Sprites

Jillian obviously was hoping that if she garbled the replies enough, the policeman would assume any holes in their story were from bad translation and not because they were fabricating almost everything.

The policeman frowned and replayed her answer. A very good sign. “Yes, this is a translator. It translates what I’m saying in English to Elvish.” And then obviously not trusting the machine now, he pointed to his mouth and said “English” and then pointed at the machine. “Elvish.” And then muttered quietly, “I hope.”

The twins waited for the translation, which was perfect.

“Oh! How clever!” Jillian stated.

“Yes, it is wonderful!” Louise cried.

“Please help us!” Jillian cried. “Madly galloping into the night, we transfix. Please help Crow Warrior. His leg is broken! They put us in cages and fed us zombie donkeys. Pickle questions? They stomped on his leg and broke it and they had knives and they were going to cut him up!” Jillian mimed the elves attacking with the butcher knives. “Dirty dog! Train biscuit train! If they find us, they’ll kill everyone and put us back into the cage!”

“You’re safe,” the police officer stated after the machine struggled to translate the mix of good and purposely garbled Elvish.

“They have a hidden army here on Earth!” Louise warned. “The EIA has been infiltrated. The ambassador to China is one of them. Ambassador Feng!”

“Female dog breath yelping,” Jillian added quickly.

“Purple!” Louise stated firmly, nodding.

Crow Boy stared at them as if they’d both grown two heads.

“The ambassador of China?” The policeman latched onto the first clear lead they had given him.

“Purple!” the twins cried in unison.

“He came to the mansion asking for help. .” Louise started.

Jillian continued, “He needed help because royal marines from his country were coming to arrest him. They found out he’s oni.”

Louise added. “Crown Prince Kiss Butt of the oni told him to run and hide and not come back!”

Jillian held up her right hand and smashed thumb and pointer finger together. “Dokadokadokadoka.”

“Purple,” Louise breathed. “The hidden prince tortured him with magic before telling him to run away. It was scary.”

Jillian nodded. “They put us into a cage, but we managed to escape! They caught us again and broke Crow Warrior’s leg. They said they were going to cut off his feet. But then there was big explosion. Boom! Everything was burning, and we got away.”

They had to wait a long time for the machine to translate and then Officer Cohen to puzzle out the basic gist of their night.

“How did you get here?” Cohen asked.

Good question. Louise frowned at the translator as if it had said something strange. Intermixing babble with actual real information was harder than she’d thought.

“The box that moves on wheels,” Jillian made a motor noise while indicating spinning tires by twirling both pointer fingers in circles.

“Automobile!” Louise provided the term that the elves used for cars.

Jillian clapped with excitement. “Purple! Purple! Automobile! We came in an automobile!”

The police officer looked to Crow Boy.

“Purple,” Crow Boy confirmed faintly. “Automobile.”

The police officer frowned at the machine with frustration. He obviously wanted to ask all sorts of questions, but they had him on the ropes.

“They’re going to kidnap Tinker domi. .” Louise started and faltered.

“She invented hoverbikes.” Jillian launched into an elaborate mime that seemed to involve weaving cloth. “They are full of eels!”

“Her father made the gate that the oni created in space.” Louise pointed up at the sky.

“The oni thinks that the apple never falls far from the raccoon.” Jillian stood up, picked up one of the hospital gowns stacked nearby, and tossed it over Louise’s head.

Luckily Louise had realized what Jillian intended to do. She did not startle at being blindfolded. As the world vanished, she was filled with a sense of calm. She knew exactly what to say. “Black wings murdered time and now wait in timeless darkness. The dream crow stirs. She will cry out and the blood of her beloved will answer. The promised time is at hand. Let the flock be gathered and stand strong against those who enslaved them. Providence will provide. His child returns, bringing forth all that is needed for salvation. Impatience will—”

There was a loud outcry as Crow Boy suddenly lunged off the table and landed at her feet. Catching hold of her hands, he gripped them painfully tight. “Jin is alive?”

“No, no, no!” the doctor shouted. “Orderly!”

“Is Jin alive?” Crow Boy cried.

Louise squeezed close her eyes, trying to hold on to the sense of calm knowing. “His prison is about to be broken and he will be set free to fly again. The door is closing, but evil has taken root on Elfhome. All can be lost—”

The blindfold was torn away as Crow Boy was muscled back into his bed, gently but firmly, by two large male orderlies.