Wood Sprites

“No,” Aunt Kitty said. “Apparently EIA is being a pain. They want NBC to commit to a full season before giving Nigel and his cameraman visas, and that’s all they’re willing to cover. Nigel will have to pull a full working crew from the affiliate in Pittsburgh.”

Jillian tilted her head in confusion. “What are they doing for a pilot show if EIA won’t let Nigel on Elfhome?”

“They’re going to film using animals and plants here on Earth,” Aunt Kitty said. “The kuesi at the Bronx Zoo. Some of the songbirds at the aviary at the Queens Zoo. And there’s a herd of Elfhome red elk at the Philadelphia Zoo.”

“Oh, that’s going to be so lame!” the twins cried. Louise added, “The cool part of Elfhome is the forest and the elves and the weird monsters that need magic to survive.”

Aunt Kitty nodded agreement. “Since they’re calling the series Chased by Monsters, I think that’s the general idea that they’re going for.”

Louise squealed. “Oh, that sounds so cool! Nigel is perfect for it.” Although it did sound slightly dangerous, considering what had happened with the simple fire ants. “I hope he doesn’t get hurt doing it.”

“So this Lemon-Lime video made Nigel more popular?” Jillian asked.

“Yes,” Aunt Kitty said. “So some good came from these people stealing your name.”

The twins were saved from having to come up with an answer by the waiter showing up with their drinks.

19: The Plan

That night, they built a full-scale model of American Museum of Natural History in virtual space. They deleted out the Alpha Centauri exhibit. They used the museum’s database and photos of the traveling exhibit at other museums around the world to create mock-ups of the display cases. The e-mails between employees showed where they planned to position the cases. Once they had the AMNH in June set up, the twins donned gaming goggles and considered the problem before them.

The museum database listed Dufae’s box at two feet wide by two feet high by three feet long and weighing eighty-six pounds. Last week, the twins had used cardboard to create a mock-up and filled it with cans of foods. They only had twenty-seven cans, totaling thirty pounds. They could lift a smaller box filled with the cans, but the mock-up was too large and awkward. Their arms were too short to get leverage on its smooth surface. If they could barely shift the cardboard fake, they wouldn’t be able to budge the real box that was nearly three times heavier.

Their only option was to set up a magic generator next to the box, open its spell lock with the keyword, and take out one or two of the nactka.

“Third floor sucks.” Louise frowned at the ceiling of the gallery. “No skylights.”

“Even if we came in through the roof, we’d have to get past two cameras.”

They used color to represent the field of vision for the cameras, leaving the safe areas in stark black and white. In a glance, they could tell where they could walk without being picked up on monitors. Huge sections of the massive building were monochrome. Elephants could wonder through unnoticed as long as they kept to certain areas. Whoever had set up the museum’s security system, however, had done an excellent job covering access points like doorways, staircases, and elevators.

They could hack into the monitoring system, but they couldn’t actually loop the video like they could on Tesla. Short of teleporting, there was no way to reach the gallery without being seen.

Once they were actually in the hall, however, they could avoid the cameras. By the very nature of the area hosting traveling exhibits, the security hadn’t been tailor-designed for the display cases. The squat box was screened by taller items on all four sides; as long as they stayed under four feet and three inches, they’d be hidden. Since they were only four feet tall, they wouldn’t even have to duck. The Dance of Joy, however, was strictly out.

“It’s going to be a popular exhibit.” Louise blew a raspberry as she realized that their Lemon-Lime videos had probably helped to create a massive desire to see real Elvish goods. “We won’t be able to open the box and ransack it with dozens of people milling around.”

“We’re not going to be able to get up to the gallery unseen after hours.”

“There’s the bathroom around the corner.” Louise pointed toward the restroom in the tower stairwell. “There were no cameras in them.”

Jillian shifted the virtual world and grumbled at what she saw. “A mouse couldn’t sneak through here unseen.”

Louise sighed. “Let’s start over. We need to be able to get inside, to the gallery unseen, and then open the box without any other visitors seeing us. Get the nactka. Lock the box again. Then get out, without being searched.”

“That’s it in a nutshell.”

“What we need is a cloak of invisibility and a time-stop device.”

“We do have a book of magical spells.” Jillian held up her tablet.

* * *