The days went by as normal; Jordan would spend his time on the cube, solving the one side he learnt to over and over again, without getting bored of it, and Emily now didn’t mind.
She had a sketchbook now, where she doodled and wrote about the the Elven city.
“Whatcha doing?” Asked Jordan, putting the cube down and leaning his head to observe Emily’s sketchbook.
“I’ve never seen that book before.
Is it new?” Emily replied, “Yes.
I’m writing my stories here” “The stories you told me?” Questioned Jordan.
Emily smiled and shook her head, “Nope!
New stories” Jordan’s eyes widened, “New?” He repeated, observing more as Emily doodled a weird creature with a long tail.
“What’s that?” He asked.
Emily turned to him and back to the drawing, “That’s Gabe.
He’s an elf.
He lives in the elven city.
It’s a big nice city where they have lots of music and play lots of games” she explained, doodling a small animal next to the doodle, “And he has a pet.
Called Gavin.
Looks like a dog and a crocodile…” Jordan switched glances from the book to Emily’s concentrated face.
“And they are fairies too…” she mumbled, “The elves don’t seem to like the fairies too” “Don’t like fairies?
That’s crazy” said Jordan.
Emily giggled, “I guess.
The story’s not over yet…
just over for now” “So you’re gonna tell me why the elves don’t like the fairies?” Asked Jordan.
Emily looked into his bright green eyes, and smiled, “Yup!” ### “Wanna hear a story?” Whispered Emily, late at night, clutching the cube in her hands.
She stood on the hill and looked across the elven city.
It wasn’t as vibrant and energetic as the night before.
It looked dull and poor.
Maybe the cube must have led her to another elven city…
but it was the same gate she met with at the entrance.
“Gabe?
Gavin?” She called out from the outside, then she heard the familiar snarling noises of Gabe’s pet.
“Emily?
Is that really you?” A voice rang from the other side.
Emily nodded, then realized she couldn’t see him, so she yelled back, “Yes!” She heard more snarls and snorts, and some digging noises, and before she knew it, Gavin was clawing at her shoe, motioning for her to use his tunnel.
Emily got down on her knees and hands and crawled through the dark and dirty tunnel.
She got through and stood up to look up at Gabe with a wide smile on her face.
“Good job, boy” Gabe praised the Grorckle and it snorted and shook its head, making the dust fly out of its long hair.
“Nice to see you again, Emily” said Gabe and Emily giggled.
“Nice to see you too, Gabe!” The two went inside the watch house, and Gabe offered Emily some soup.
“Oh, I’m not hungry.” She protested.
Gabe raised a brow, “Are you sure?
If you don’t like my cooking, you can just tell me” “No!” She shouted at her defense, “Your cooking is awesome!
The bestest!
I’m just sooo full from dinner” “What kind of food do you eat over there?” Gabe asked.
Emily pouted her lips, “Hmm.
Normal food, I guess?
My mom cooks everything we eat.
It all tastes amazing.
Maybe I’ll bring some for you next time” Gabe smiled and dropped a bowl of soup in front of the Grorckle who was clawing his legs for some food.
“Well, I’d love to try some of that” he assured and Emily smiled.
“Where’s your friend?
You’d didn’t bring him over?” Gabe brought up the topic.
Emily’s breath hitched, “H-He…
he didn’t want to come…
he was sick” Gabe narrowed his eyes and took a long look at Emily’s nervous face, “You’re not trying to keep the cube for yourself, are you?” Emily panicked, “N-No!
I’ll- I’ll tell him, I promise!
It’s just…
I don’t know if he even likes my stories anymore.
He just spends all his time playing with this stupid toy” She said and brought out the glowing cube, “It doesn’t normally glow and I bet he doesn’t know that it can do this magic stuff…” She stuffed the cube back into the spacious pocket in her nightwear and sighed, “What if I tell him, and he won’t see a reason to play with me anymore?” Gabe looked sad to see his friend look so down like that, “You said he’s your best friend?
If that’s really true, he’d still be your friend no matter how cool the thing is” Emily looked up slowly and Gabe ruffled her hair, “And let me just say, you’re way cooler than a magic toy that glows” “Really?” She asked, her eyes lightening up once again, and Gabe smiled, “Really” Emily sniffed and wiped the tear from her eyes.
“He would never choose a toy over you.
Trust him for that” Gabe said, reassuring Emily once again.
Emily nodded and smiled lightly at Gabe’s response.
Her focus was suddenly shifted away from their conversation when Gavin pounced on her and took the cube in its mouth.
“The cube!” Emily yelled, and Gabe scolded the creature, “Gavin, that is not one of your toys!
Drop it, right now” The Grorckle scurried away before either of the two could catch it, and got them into a wild goose chase.
After a while, the two were exhausted and stood directly before the creature, who still had the cube in its mouth.
It sat and started gnawing the edges.
“That’s it, you little—” Gave marched over to the creature before it could react and pinned it down by its neck.
He pulled the slobbered cube out of the creature’s mouth and handed it over to Emily, who carefully collected it.
Gavin snarled and whined but Gabe glared at it, giving it a firm warning and the creature kept quiet.
“I think it’s best you go home, Emily.
Or Gavin here might eat your magic cube” said Gabe.
Emily agreed and she left the gate, giving them one last wave, then when she was far enough from the city, she looked at it one last time before whispering the words to be said; ‘The story is over’.