Emily placed back and forth in her room, contemplating if she should tell Jordan about the cube or not.
It had been over a week now and she had kept her nightly adventures a huge secret from him.
Jordan, unknown to Emily, had obviously noticed but kept quiet.
She drew random creatures from her mind, and hadn’t finished the story she’d told him since that day, which was odd, since she finished a story right away.
Even though, Emily was acting strange and odd, and had never kept secrets from him before, he didn’t want to pester her, or pressure her into telling him.
When she was ready, he promised himself to not judge her for whatever it may be.
Emily groaned, “What if he hates me?
For not telling him something like…” she looked at the cube and gestured at it, “THIS?!” “If he hid this from me, I’d be very very mad!” She mentioned, “But…
mad at him?” she added.
“I could never be mad at Jordy” “So maybe…” she mumbled, “He won’t be mad at me?” Emily’s mom called her for breakfast and she dropped the cube on a shelf and dashed out of her room.
“Goodbye, sweetie.
I’m off to work” said Mrs.
Pillers, giving Emily a kiss on the forehead while she dug in her breakfast.
“Where’s dad?
He didn’t have breakfast” Emily asked curiously.
Mrs.
Pillers gave her a sad smile, “Oh, honey.
You know how early your dad has to leave for work, but don’t worry, he took his lunch to go” Emily sighed and Mrs.
Pillers left, locking the door, “Don’t leave the house while I’m gone!” Mrs.
Pillers shouted from outside the house.
Emily finished her meal quickly and dropped her plate in the sink.
She heard the doorbell and ran to the door immediately.
She opened the door and found Jordan there, as usual.
“Good morning, Em” he greeted her with a shy smile.
Emily grinned, “Morning, Jordy” ### “Hey, Em.
Did you figure out why the elves hate fairies?” Asked Jordan.
Emily blinked, “Huh?
No, I forgot” “Forgot?” Jordan repeated, confused and curious.
Emily hummed and continued to play with her toys.
She was undergoing a silent battle in her mind, the two opposing sides were ‘To tell Jordan about the cube’ and ‘To not tell Jordan about the cube’.
“Well…” she started, hesitating for a mini second, then taking in a deep breath.
“Jordie, there’s something amazing you gotta see!” She said.
Jordan’s eyes widened, “What is it?” Emily took the cube from him and started rambling, “One night, I was wide awake and I was angry…
with the cube!
And then I wasn’t angry anymore and thought we could be friends, and my grandma told me something long long ago, about stories and I remember so I got to this beautiful place, and—” Jordan stopped her and asked her to slow down.
Emily panted, her face all red, “How would you feel if the stories you’ve been told were actually real?” Jordan blinked at the sudden question, “Real?
Emily, it can’t be real” Emily whined, “But if it were?”.
Jordan sighed, “I- I don’t know.
I like listening to stories but living them would be a dangerous nightmare” Emily rolled her eyes, “It’s not that dangerous, Jordie.
Don’t you think it will be the even prettier than what you thought?”.
Jordan groaned, “It could be, or it could be worse than I thought” Emily gathered up all her courage and held Jordan’s hand, “Well…
wanna hear a story, Jordie?” She asked and wiggled the cube in her hands.
Jordan gasped when he saw it glow, and the two were taken to the hill where they got a perfect view of Elven city.
Before the two could move, Jordan had thrown up his breakfast for the day on his floor.
“Oops!” Said Emily, “Forgot to tell you about the teleporting” Jordan groaned and clutched his stomach.
Emily apologized, “I’m sorry, Jordy” The boy spluttered at last, “What…
is that?”.
He pointed to the cube and Emily smiled, “It’s what I think my grandma called a storyteller.
It takes us to the worlds of stories” Jordan blinked in disbelief and rubbed his eyes to take a better look at the glowing cube.
“You don’t…” Emily whispered, “You won’t leave me now, will you?” Jordan was confused, “What?
Why?” “B-because!
The toy has cool awesome magical powers now!
It’s amazing!” She exclaimed.
Jordan huffed, “I wouldn’t say that.
Emily, let’s go back home please” Emily frowned, “Come on, Jordie.
Don’t be a scaredy-cat.
You have so much to see!” She roughly grabbed Jordan’s wrist and dragged him down the hill to the big city gates.
Emily started to crawl through the dirt tunnel Gavin had dug for her then, but Jordan hesitated.
“Emily, are you sneaking in?
Are we even allowed to be here?” He hissed.
Emily echoed from the tunnel, “It’s fine, Jordie!
Don’t be a wuss!” Jordan huffed, “I’m not a wuss!” He moaned quietly, before crawling through the tunnel as well, coming out after Emily.
Emily smiled brightly, “See?
Not so hard?” She said, wiping the extra amount of dirt from her hair.
Jordan humphed and begun to dust off all traces of dirt on his clothes, body and hair.
“My friend, Gabe, lives here!” Emily stated and walked up to the house.
Emily knocked on the heavy looking door of the house and it was opened by an older elf, with golden hair, and strands of gray, his ears looked less sharp, and he had a long white tail.
“Who are you?” Emily inquired after seeing that the man who answered was not her friend.
The man sneered, “The question is, who are you, little girl?
Where did you come from?” His gaze quickly switched from Emily to the tunnel, and to Jordan who was desperately trying to smoothen out his hair, “You’re from the outside, aren’t you?
You one of those fairies?” Emily shook her head and the man narrowed his eyes, giving her a long stare.
Emily spoke, “My name’s Emily.
And I’m looking for my friend, Gabe.
He lives here” The elf scoffed, “No he doesn’t.
This is the guard’s watch house.
You must be talking of the night shift elf.
Green hair, yes?” Emily nodded eagerly, and she heard a familiar snarl.
She peeked her head and found the barrel, which Gavin was tied to.
“Gavin!” She exclaimed happily, running to the creature and hugging it, letting it lick her.
Jordan walked up slowly behind her, “What…
is that?” “It’s Gavin!
The creature in my sketchbook.
He’s a Grorckle.
Very good at digging” The Grorckle wagged its tail and ran towards Jordan.
Jordan squealed and ran from the weird creature.
“He doesn’t bite, Jordie” said Emily.
“Those large teeth say otherwise!” Cried Jordan.
“Gavin.
Sit” The creature stopped dead in its tracks when it heard the orders.
“Back into the barrel” the old elf ordered again and Gavin retreated.
“Why’s Gavin here?
I thought he was Gabe’s pet?” Emily asked him.
“It is, but it’s still guarding, so he keeps it here at all times” the elf replied.
Emily hummed in response and after a few seconds of silence, she finally asked, “Could you tell us where Gabe is?
Please?”