“Aw, you big baby!” Maria teased, walking up to the Bloodhound.
But then she got a good look at the Gnome. It was not what she’d expected at all. What should’ve been cute and cuddly was anything but. When someone mentioned a Gnome, Maria’s mind immediately went to one thing: Garden Gnomes, naturally. The Gnome in front of her was nothing like a garden gnome. She only knew this for sure because he opened his mouth and croaked out a curt response to the two aliens gawking at him.
“Never seen a Gnome before? Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he said in a nasally voice. Then he scurried away on two stout legs, clutching his bowler hat to the top of his head.
That’s right, Maria. A bowler hat, she thought to herself. What is going on with my life?
Not just a bowler hat, but the Gnome was wearing a suit as well, like someone had dressed him up as some kind of joke.
“Ah,” E’olin said, spooking Maria. “That’s Grumpy…he’s one of the more vocal Gnomes.”
“Are you sure that was a Gnome? And ‘Grumpy’? Is that really—”
E’olin waved a hand. “No, no. His name is—” Then E’olin went on, speaking in a language Maria could not understand. “We just call him Grumpy because, well, you’ve witnessed why firsthand.”
Maria nodded and looked at Gramps, who was standing impatiently down the hall. “He really thinks a creature like that is going to help us?”
E’olin shrugged, as if to say Told you so.
They walked on to meet up with Gramps, and Sherlock began growling and muttering about what he’d do if he saw another Gnome.
I was caught off-guard, that’s all. My neck hurts from hitting the castle wall outside. I’m hungry. I need a nap.
“Yada-yada-yada,” Maria whispered toward him.
Maria thought seeing an invisible castle and a Gnome for the first time would be the only things to take her breath away, but she realized she was wrong as she stood in the doorway of the library.
“H—How…?” she managed to say, her voice coming out in a wheeze.
Gramps looked at her and shrugged, and Maria already knew what the answer would be.
“Magic,” E’olin and Gramps said at the same time.
The library stretched for what seemed like miles. There must be a million books…maybe even more than that!
There were various creatures Maria couldn’t identify walking through the nearby stacks with large, leatherbound books held under their arms…or what she thought were arms. She also spotted a few more Gnomes—the little flowers on their bowler hats swaying with the movement of the wearer. Mighty fast movement, that was, too—faster than they had any right to move, given their body structure. Maria wondered then if that was also by way of magic, and she came to the conclusion it was.
“Ignatius, I must leave you in the hands of the Gnomes.” E’olin gave Gramps a sweeping bow, and not one strand of his long, silky hair fell out of place.
This was also what Maria thought of as magic. She would’ve given away most of her possessions to know that spell on a hot and humid day in Akron. She’d never had very well behaved hair, which was probably the reason she never tried to brush it. Maybe she could get the spell off E’olin before she went back to Earth for her date with Joe.
Oh, Gosh, with all this insanity I’m witnessing, I almost forgot about the date again!
“And you, Maria, it was a great pleasure finally meeting you,” E’olin continued, startling Maria out of her daydream. Her hand had almost, on instinct, gone to the sword hanging off her hip.
“Oh—sorry,” she said. “It was a pleasure meeting…Wait! What do you mean finally meeting me?”
E’olin smiled. It was the type of smile you’d see on the movie stars of Earth. Still doesn’t hold a candle to Joe’s smile, though.
“Oh, Maria, many of us on Oriceran know of you and your grandfather. Not all, but many. Your story is a legend to some here,” he told her.
Maria looked at Gramps with so many questions on the tip of her tongue, but Gramps just looked back and said, “In time, my dear Maria. You will know all of this in time.”
“Yes,” E’olin said, still smiling. “If you snoop around the stacks for awhile, you might even stumble upon a few books with you in them.”
Maria’s jaw dropped open. Me? Inside of books, like I’m a character or something? That’s just crazy! But looking at the Light Elf in front of her, she could tell he wasn’t lying. Why couldn’t it be true? Stranger things have happened to me.
“I do wish I could be of more help,” E’olin said, his smile now fading. “But if I know Ignatius Mangood—and I do—he will not accept the Light Elves’ help.”
“Now, E’olin,” Gramps said. “Living out these last few Earth decades has humbled me. I’m no longer one to shy away from help, and with the stuff we are currently dealing with, I may need help from more than just the Light Elves.”
“What are you dealing with?”
Gramps shook his head.
The smile appeared on E’olin’s face again. “Ah, just like I remembered you, Ignatius.”
Gramps smiled back. “I guess I haven’t changed too much. If I need the Light Elves’ help, I promise I won’t hesitate. So far, this is our own problem; I wouldn’t want to get that nice garb of yours dirty.” He gave E’olin a wink and E’olin patted him on the back before leaving the way they had come.
A Gnome was standing near the group, and he had been looking on impatiently as the Light Elf made his farewells. His face said I know it’s my job to help you, but could you hurry it up a little, for crying out loud?
Sherlock was being bold, inching closer to the Gnome with his nose thrust out, sniffing deeply.
He’d done the same thing to some particularly rank spilled garbage not far from Salem’s last week, ultimately
