Louise had a terrible feeling that “more” was in store in the near future.
“I’m sorry, Lou.” Jillian distracted Louise from her quiet fears. “I lost it at the mansion. I was so scared for the babies. They’d become real to me — as real as Mom and Dad. They’re our baby brother and sisters — and I couldn’t see how we were going to save them. I’m angry at myself now. I should have known that the two of us can do anything when we put our minds together. We robbed the Museum of Natural History! We stole millions and millions of dollars from Ming the Merciless. We checked into the Waldorf Astoria and lived like queens. We rescued all those kids and…and…and…we’re Lemon-Lime JEl-Lo! We’ve been internationally famous video producers since we were seven years old with millions of fans around the world. We can do anything!”
Louise wanted to believe that Jillian wasn’t that broken after all. She might have grown stronger while Louise was sick. Or maybe Jillian was lying to herself. Maybe Jillian needed to believe she was stronger in order to be stronger. Louise didn’t know.
“You were great,” Louise said. “The fake elves didn’t know how scared you were.”
“It was just an act.”
“You could have won an Oscar for your performance.”
“It helped to be someone else,” Jillian whispered. “Someone a lot braver than me. Next time, I’ll pretend to be you. You were amazing.”
Louise hoped that there would be no “next time.”
“Oh!” Jillian made an odd hurt sound.
“What’s wrong?” Louise stood, ready to fight because fleeing would be impossible.
“Crow Boy!” Jillian had noticed that the teenager was missing. “I told him that he’d roll off the patio if he slept out there!”
Louise followed Jillian out onto the patio. Night pressed in around them, full of the rustle of leaves.
“That idiot!” Jillian peered down at the ground, two hundred feet below. The forest floor was lost in the darkness; it was like looking down into a well. “How do you think we’re going to get down to check on him? I don’t think tying our sheets together would work. They’d only get us twenty feet at most. Maybe if we made parachutes.”
“Shhh!” Louise pointed up to indicate the sleeping Gracie somewhere above them; it was too dark to see the tiny bedroom. “I don’t think he fell. I think he went to talk to someone.”
“In the middle of the night?” Jillian whispered.
“The warriors have returned.” Crow Boy’s voice came out of the darkness.
It was surprising how quietly he could fly. One moment the twins were alone on the balcony, and the next, the teenaged tengu was landing on the railing. With a soft rustle, he closed his large black wings. He’d abandoned all pretense of being human since arriving on Elfhome. He was bare chested and barefoot, wearing only a pair of blue jean shorts. Jillian must have gotten used to it while they were at the caves; she didn’t seem to notice his bird toes curling down to grip the railing tightly. Louise was still trying to see it as normal. It took all her control not to stare at his feet.
“You just left without telling us?” Jillian crossed her arms and looked just like when their mother would go into warrior princess mode.
“I’m sorry.” Crow Boy gave a slight bow. The tips of his black hair were still bleached blond from their attempts to disguise him in New York City. For some reason Louise found it comforting, as if they still had some claim on his loyalty. “I thought I would return before you woke up. The warriors, who had been out searching for Tinker domi, have returned to Haven. I saw Jin Wong! I never thought I would ever meet him; he left Earth before I was born. He’s been lost to us my entire life. He has this — this — calmness. It’s like a deep mountain lake.”
“You could have left a note,” Jillian grumbled. “‘Dear Jillian and Louise, I didn’t fall to my death.’”
Louise stuffed her knuckles into her mouth to keep from crying out in dismay. Was Jin still flying to warn their older sister or had that already happened too? Joy had the candy. Tinker had sent for Oilcan after Jin left. Yes, Jin had delivered Crow Boy’s report in full.
“What did you tell Jin?” Louise tried to keep her voice steady. “I know you — you — you probably told him about the babies and Joy and the box — but did you tell him about Ming? Crown Prince Kiss Butt? Flying Monkey Four and Five? Tristan and…” What had been Tristan’s older brother’s name? The elves at Ming’s mansion had talked about Esme’s half brothers and the mysterious “Eyes” only once or twice. Tristan had been scolded when he asked about his younger sisters, raised in secret from their mother, Anne. What was his brother’s name? “Lucien. His name was Lucien.”
“Monkeys?” Crow Boy’s confusion was clear on his face. “Crown Prince Kiss Butt?”
“They’re all back on Earth.” Fear tinged Jillian’s voice. “Aren’t they?”
Louise slowly shook her head. Crow Boy’s confusion she half expected, since she was using Esme’s nicknames for her stepfather, stepbrother and half brothers. Louise was sure she’d told Jillian about the conversation that she overheard at the mansion. She’d been so angry at Ming for stopping Tristan from seeing his mother. Ming made Tristan live alone even though he was still technically a child. In her dreams, she’d seen how lonely Tristan’s existence had been. Did she leave out that Tristan had been sent to help his older brother? “Lucien has been here on Elfhome the whole time. Tristan was sent to back him up in July. Ming came across too.”
“Yves?” Jillian whispered.
Louise flinched as the memories from the cave flashed through her mind. Huddling in the absolute dark. A killer nearby. The pain of being shot. Her blood spilling warm down her arm. She thought that Jillian and Crow Boy would have seen Yves’ body when they found her. There must have been a second cave-in.
I killed him. Louise opened her mouth but couldn’t force the words out. She tried for an less than honest truth. “He’s — he’s still on Earth.” Under a ton of rocks. Better him than her. He had a gun. She thought she was unarmed until she tried to do magic out of sheer desperation.
I did a Force Strike! Louise gasped as she realized that if she had done it once, she could do it again.
“What?” Jillian asked as Louise stared at her hand.
“We can call the Spell Stones,” Louise whispered.
Jillian squealed with excitement. Jillian put her left hand to her mouth and called the Spell Stones to cast a shield. Louise felt a sudden tingling flush like static electricity and the air pressure around them changed. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
The sense of power disappeared as Jillian bounced about the room in the dance of joy.
“We can do magic!” Louise whispered, full of happiness.
“We’re elves!” Jillian whispered loudly. “We can do magic! We’re domana elves!”
Oh, yes, that.
Crow Boy was looking slightly alarm. “I think I need to talk to Jin again.”
“No, don’t tell him!” The words were out of Louise’s mouth before she even knew what she was going to say. “No one can know that we can cast spells.”
“He’s my leader. I’ve dedicated my life to him.” Crow Boy said in a low, serious tone.
The words continued to pour out. “If you tell him, he’ll need to tell Tinker domi. Tinker domi will need to tell Prince True Flame. He’ll have to tell the current head of the Stone Clan, which is Sunder. If Sunder finds out, then everyone will die.”