A Hancock Hillside Mystery, TINA V [best book club books txt] 📗

We all screamed at the top of our voice. We fell on the ground when we started to run; we tried to crawl backward.

“No, no! Don’t run! We’re not goin’ to hurt you,” the voice said.

Nathan, Tricia and I slowly turned our heads and looked to their direction. We were still lying backwards with our hands on the ground. We saw two small human look alike with pointed ears, white skin and round face with green eyes wearing stocking caps.

Nathan asked, “Who are you?”

“We are people from the Elfin City under the ruling of King Elfemier. I am elvish Voltaire; this is elvish Shadrach.”

“It’s nice to meet you elvish Vol . . .?”Nathan stammered

“elvish Voltaire,”

Nathan scratched his head and said, “Yeah, that’s it; Voltaire and Shadrach.”

“What do you want from us?” I asked.

“Our Prince Elcho wanted you to come to our city,” Shadrach replied.

“But we don’t know him,” Tricia answered.

Nathan butted in, “Is he cute?” showing his usual mischievous smile.

“Hey Nathan, stop it!” I said while covering his mouth with my right hand. “Where were we?” I looked back towards the two elvish. “Oh yeah, my friend was right. We don’t know him. Just tell your Prince . . . uuhhmm, well, maybe it was a mistake.”

Nathan and Tricia were holding their hands together as I turned towards them. I stood up, grabbed my things and said, “Guys, we need to go; still got to find our way.”

“No, no, no! It isn’t a mistake Shaina!” Voltaire shouted; his hands stretched and touched my backpack.
I was surprised; he called me by my name. We never introduced ourselves to them. I turned my head and asked him, “How did you know my name?”

“Prince Elcho saw you years ago. He sent us to take you to our city. Shaina, this isn’t a mistake. It is part of your destiny,” Voltaire said.

“My what?” I yelled but a little bit confused. I felt my eyebrows pucker together.

Voltaire continued, “This is your destiny. In our world, you are our Princess Emerald.”

“Are you nuts?” I answered. Then I turned to Tricia and said, “This is just a dream; pinch me in my face, Trish.”

Shadrach said, “No, this is not a dream. Come with us so that you’ll see our world. If you don’t like it then we’ll bring you home.”

Nathan, Tricia and I looked at each other; then we tightly hold our hands – now mystified and scared. Then Tricia asked, “What if we’ll not come with you?”

“You can’t; those who have seen the light must live with us for some time before they can go back to their world. Or else, you’ll never wake up from your deep sleep in the forest,” Shadrach replied.

“You mean this is a dream except this is actually not a dream but for real?” asked Nathan; his voice was low and quivering. He was snuggling his backpack at his chest.

“Sometimes it may seem impossible; but if you look beyond what normal eyes can see, eventually, you’ll find the true reality,” Voltaire answered.

Then a voice shouted, “Oh, don’t believe them!”

We were startled as we positioned ourselves back to back to each other. We looked around and saw another unknown figure sitting on a branch of a tree. He looked weird. He was small with large pointy ears, but with dark brown furry skin and a flat-leaf shaped nose. He had a clawed feet and head of a bat, but the body of an elf. Its eyes bulged out from his bat-like head. His hands were like a fusion of a bat and elf. He was holding something that’s bleeding.

It’s somewhat like a squirrel, I thought; it’s disgusting. I felt my stomach was trembling.

“Don’t believe them. Come with me and I’ll show you the real paradise,” the dark bat-elf said.

Voltaire and Shadrach stood in front of us, raised their sword and then looked up at the bat-elf. Then Shadrach shouted, “Back off Dark Nebiolo! Stay away from them or else . . .”

“Okay, okay, I was just kiddin’. Want some?” he said, throwing his leftover squirrel in front of us.

“Aaahhh . . . !” We screamed as we moved back a little.

“See yah ‘round . . . hahaha . . .,” he flapped his wings and disappeared quickly, but the echo of his laughter could still be heard.

“Ugh, what is he?” muttered Nathan.

“That was Dark Nebiolo,” Elvish Voltaire began to tell them the story. “During the old times, the dark elvishes were considered as the servants of the light elvishes. Darkelfar was one of our elvish servants. Unknowingly, he had been viciously . . .”

“Wait, wait. Stop it!” I butted in; then I looked straight at the two white elvish; took a deep breath and exclaimed, “Okay, we’ll come with you, but you need to let us go after we meet your so-called Prince. Is that a deal?”

Without a word, Voltaire and Shadrach looked at each other; then they waved their right hands high, a light flashed from a hump on the ground and they all disappeared.

**********

At the Elfin City, King Elfemier was sitting at his throne while talking to Chief Hetzler as his right hand.

Prince Elcho entered the palace, quickly walked towards King Elfemier and bowed down in front of him; then he said, “My Father King Elfemier, my two servants elvish Voltaire and elvish Shadrach are now coming with three visitors from the Earth world.”

“Who are these visitors?” asked King Elfemier.

“My heart desire one of the lady as my future princess, and the other two are her friends,”

“Hhhmmm . . . then who would she be?”

“Her name is Shaina in her earthly word; but in our world, she will be known as Princess Emerald, which means bright as a gemstone,”

“May she live up to her name. But remember my son, love is a great risk in your life that is worth trying for,” King Elfemier said as he stood up and tapped Prince Elcho’s shoulder. Then he continued, “But when you love someone, do not expect anything in return; it will make you unhappy,”

“Yes Father, I’ll remember that,” he said. “I will bring her to you once they arrived, but as of now, I’d like to ask your blessing to prepare a special dinner for their coming,” he added.

“May it be done as you wish,”

Then Prince Elcho smiled, gave his father a hug and then gently bent. He clapped his hands and gave orders to the elvish maidservants to prepare a grand dinner for his guests. He once again glanced to his father, looking happy and left.

Then King Elfemier ordered Chief Hetzler to watch Prince Elcho and his lady.

“Chief Hetzler, be sure to watch over my son and his lady. Report it to me as soon as they arrive.”

“I will your Majesty,”

“Now go and instruct our elvish soldiers to guard every gate in the palace.”

“It will be done as you say,” Chief Hetzler answered, bowed gently and left.

I don’t want my son to suffer the same way I did, he thought. He placed both hands on his forehead, massaged it a little, closed his eyes, and sighed.

**********

I made the sign of the cross when the light flashed. We disappeared and all of sudden we’re in the land of nowhere. Nathan, Tricia and I were clamping together. I can’t believe this was happening. All I’ve heard about elves were stories from snow white and the seven dwarves and the Christmas elves of Santa Clause from North pole.

I can’t believe what my eyes saw – it’s an enchanting garden full of beautiful red roses and flowers that I don’t even know its name. There was a beautiful fountain at the center. I was speechless with my eyes opened wide, mesmerized of the lovely scenery. Then I noticed Nathan and Tricia’s eyes were also amazed by its beauty. They started to touch the flowers and roam around like kids in the garden. Tricia was no longer limping. Maybe it was true; maybe we are really in a dream of reality in another world. Yes, a journey to the other world.

“Hey, wait!” I cried. “Where are we?”

Voltaire and Shadrach took off their caps, gently bowed and said, “You are in our land our dear Princess Emerald, the Elfin City.”

“Oh c’mon, I told you I’m not your princess,”

Voltaire held my hands, closed his eyes and uttered something I didn’t understand. Then it seemed like magic; my clothes changed suddenly from a rugged dirty shirt and pants to a beautiful light pink and blue lace gown. I was surprised; my body felt frozen. I looked at the two elvishes and then turned to Nathan and Tricia. They were all looking at me with their eyes open wide; their hands were covering their mouth.

Nathan broke the silence and said, “Oh my goodness! Shaina, you look lovely!”

I saw Tricia nodding her head, too. I felt my cheeks turned red, and both my hands were also covering my mouth. It was like a dream in a fairytale land of nowhere; a princess met her prince and they live happily ever after. And I thought to myself, but then who would be my prince?

I felt somebody was pulling my dress; it was elvish Shadrach. “Our princess, we have to go. Prince Elcho is waiting for you,” he said.

“But wait!” cried Nathan. “What about us?”

Voltaire, without a word, raised his hands and pointed it towards Nathan then Tricia. Their clothes also changed; Nathan was in black pants, white and green buttoned shirt with a stocking cap like an elf; while Tricia was in a lovely light green and white short gown.

“We have to go,” Voltaire declared. “We can’t let our prince wait for us.”

**********

Meanwhile, Dark Nebiolo flew back to Rotundus Underlandia. He reported immediately the news to their King Darkelfar and Queen Hemaphylla about the two elvishes and three humans at the Hancock hillside.

“That couldn’t be!” bawled King Darkelfar. He stood up from his throne and began walking back and forth.

“Stop walking,” cried Queen Hemaphylla, and she made a squeaky sound of a bat.

Then he faced the queen and said, “I just couldn’t believe it,”

She touched his shoulders to console him, and said, “We’ll find a way to stop them.”

“There must be a way to stop them,” he said irritably. His faced was beginning to turn red. “We must stop them fast,” he added, shaking his head.

“So we must act now,” the queen replied. She stretched and flapped her wings; this is a signal that hunting will soon begin. Then a creaky sound echoed and filled the cave.

“Prince Elcho is the