* * *

She followed him through the streets and noticed it was easy to slip through town at this hour; it was a ghost town. They walked back to the town square and past the fountain again. The water had shut off and everything was eerily quiet.

“Where are we going?” Cecilia asked. While she was thankful for the rescue back at the inn, she didn’t trust him. Why did he really want to help her? At any moment he could grab her and drag her off somewhere where no one would hear her cry for help. She prayed that her ears wouldn’t stick out from her hair and he wouldn’t see them. She didn’t think he knew she was an Elf and as long as she didn’t give him a reason to suspect she was anything other than human, she should be safe.

“Well, there’s this really nice lady that I know who owns another inn down the street, you should be safer with her.” He replied, pointing a few buildings down. She nodded and tried to remain calm. He doesn’t know what I am, Cecilia thought. He just wants to help. She walked tensely beside him. There were only a few streetlights, and the darkness was suffocating, surrounding her on all sides.

“What’s wrong?” The stranger was looking at her, concern filling his eyes.

“Nothing,” she said. “I’m fine.”

“Mhm.” He sounded unconvinced. Cecilia wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stay warm against the soft but persistent cold breeze blowing at them. She could feel her hair moving, and she couldn’t tell if she was more afraid of the dark or getting caught. She could feel his gaze on her, and she prayed that he would look away before he saw anything.

Suddenly, he stopped and motioned for her to do the same.

“What?” She asked. Heat rose to her face and she could feel her heart beating.

“Shhh,” he put his finger to his lips to quiet her.

She did as he asked and heard what he was gesturing about. In the distance were voices. Shouting voices. Hostile voices. Her heart started beating faster. Even if Micah didn’t know who she was, someone did. They were coming for her.

“I have to go.” She said, agitated.

“What? Why?” He asked.

She backed away from him. “I just, I have to-” A gust of wind hit them and her hair flew up around her face.

When she looked back at him, his eyes were wide. “You’re a… a”

She took off around him, heading out of town. Cecilia heard him call out for her to wait as she slung her guitar case over her shoulder. She didn’t look back. She ran away from the voices, from him. She had to stay alive. If those people caught up to her… who knows what they would do to an elf in Entropion?

She ran until she hit the outskirts of town. Giant stalks of corn loomed over her on both sides, the moon casting long shadows over her. She looked back over her shoulder while catching her breath to see if anyone had followed her. Torches came into view just before a small group of yelling people towards her. Panicked, she jumped into the corn and crouched down, hoping the stalks would hide her well enough. Cecilia pulled out her dagger just in case and waited.

Soon the crowd reached where she was hiding. They stopped almost right in front of her on the road. She readied herself for a fight and was about to leap out and face them when someone grabbed her arm from behind. She whipped around and put her dagger to their throat.

Green eyes looked back at her.

“Get away from me.” She whispered. “If you try to bring me to them I will kill you and then-”

She stopped when he shook his head and pointed towards the crowd, mouthing Look. She followed his finger to two colorful shapes in the distance. It looked like they were running. Suddenly she realized what she was looking at. Daemons? But how? Why would they be here? She slumped to her knees and took the blade away from the stranger's throat. So they weren't chasing her. They were chasing the Daemons. She almost gave herself away to a crowd of people because of her paranoia.

She watched as they shouted at the Daemons until they were out of sight, running down the road. A woman’s face caught Cecilia’s eye as the crowd started to disperse. Where had she seen that woman before? Suddenly she realized that it was the mother of the little girl she had met earlier. How could this woman who brought up such a sweet little girl have so much hate?

They hid in the corn until the crowd had left. Once the last of them were gone, the strange boy crawled out and reached out a hand to help her to her feet. Cecilia hesitated. In her mind, all humans were like the ones who chased the Daemons out of town: vicious and hateful. They were the reason she was here, the reason she had to leave her home. They were the reason her mother and father were dead. But this boy with the beautiful green eyes saved her not once, but twice. He didn’t expose her when he knew what she was.

Cecilia decided she would trust him for now. What else did she have to lose? She was never going to see her family again and she couldn’t be alone forever. And to be honest, she was tired. Tired of running and being alone. She took his hand and allowed him to help her up.

“Thank you.” she said, dusting herself off. “I’m sorry for-”

“For putting a knife to my throat twice?” he said, laughing lightly. “I understand now why you did. No hard feelings.”

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“So you won’t tell anyone?” She asked.

He sighed, brushing his hands together. “No. Like I said, I just want to help.”

“Why? Why do you still want to help me?” Cecilia wondered.

“Because I’m a nice guy.” He replied.

“Modest too,” she said, giving him a small smile.

“Always.” He said. “But really, I like helping good people, and you are a good person. Human or Elf, I saw how you talked to that little girl. A bad person wouldn’t be that kind or patient.”

“Stalker.” She teased. “I don’t even know your name and you’re telling me if I am a good or bad person.”

“Micah. My name’s Micah. And I am not a stalker! I was simply watching you play like the rest of the town,” he said, defensively.

Cecilia counted on her fingers. “And after I played and where I went to stay for the night.”

Micah threw up his hands. “Well if you put it like that…”

They both froze when they heard the rustle coming from somewhere in the field. Cecilia grabbed her dagger and motioned for Micah to hand the guitar case to her. He obliged, and after seeing that he had nothing to defend himself with, she offered him her dagger. She unhitched the buckles silently and rummaged around her case for another weapon. She started to panic when she heard the rustling getting closer. Where was that stupid-

“Hey, look out!” Micah called.

Cecilia could sense someone behind her. Without thinking, she grabbed her guitar and swung it at whoever or whatever was behind her. She heard the sounds of her guitar smashing as it connected with the thing in a chorus of clashing notes and breaking wood. She let out a little yelp when the thing dropped to the ground.

“Woah, nice one” Micah whistled.

“No,” Cecilia said, exasperated. “My guitar!” She dropped the now splintered neck of the guitar. All the strings had snapped and the base of the guitar was cracked in several places.

“Don’t worry about it,” Micah smiled sympathetically. “I can fix it. I used to fix things like this all the time.” He knelt down and picked up the pieces, gently placing them back into her case. Cecilia couldn’t help but notice how careful and considerate he was being with the pieces, like him touching them would somehow break them even more. Once the case was closed, he got to his feet.

“Now,” he said, standing up. “What do we do with him?”

Cecilia looked over at the lump on the ground and realized it was a boy. He was lying face down and wasn’t moving.

“Oh God, did I…” She started.

Micah said, poking the boy with his foot. “No, I don’t think he’s dead.”

She knelt down beside him. He was stunningly beautiful. His light brown hair fell in soft curls around his face. From what she could make out in the poor light, he seemed to be about the same age as her and Micah as well. He was wearing an elaborate white tunic with silver embroidering. The moon caught the slight shimmer of the fabric and Cecilia marveled at how beautiful it was. Almost as beautiful as him, she blushed. His pale skin seemed to glow in the moonlight and his face looked timeless, like a fairytale prince made out of porcelain. Where Micah was all rugged angles and shadows, he was precision lines and smooth finishes. She froze, though, when she caught a glimpse of his ears out of the corner of her eye. Pointed like hers. Another Elf in Entropion? She knew why she was here, but why was he? And why did he seem so familiar to her?

She jumped when he started to move. Cecilia scrambled back up to her feet as the elf boy struggled to a sitting position and put his head in his hands.

“Ouch.” he moaned, rubbing his temples. “Did you just… did you just hit me in the head with a guitar?”

“The theme of the night seems to be getting attacked by you doesn’t it?” Micah said to her before turning to the Elf. “Why were you following us?”

“I was not!” he replied. “I was just trying to find my way out of this forsaken field and I followed the sound of voices.”

“Where did you come from?” Cecilia asked, still staring at his ears.

“Where do you think,” he said, trying to stand. When he stumbled, Cecilia caught him. She almost fell over when he leaned most of his weight on her. Micah grabbed his other arm and helped him the rest of the way up. At his full height and with Micah standing next to him, she realized they were both almost a foot taller than her. Cecilia knew that wasn’t saying much since she was barely over five feet, but still, being short never helped her before and it certainly wasn’t now.

He waved them off after a minute and even though he was wobbly, he managed to stand on his own. Micah gave her a look which Cecilia guessed meant he was slightly annoyed at this stranger’s haughty attitude.

“Who are you?” Micah asked. He moved to stand slightly in front of Cecilia and pointed her dagger at the stranger. She crossed her arms at his positioning. He was defending her with her own blade for goodness sake.

The elf boy’s face was calm, but his eyes didn’t leave the dagger as he answered.

“If you must know, I am Venali Faimras.” He straightened himself a bit when he spoke, trying to match Micah’s height.

“Venali?” Cecilia echoed in recognition. “Oh my- Venali!” She rushed over to hug him, almost knocking him down again. “How are you?”

She pulled away from Venali and looked up at his face. His furrowed brow relaxed into a smile. “Cecilia. I didn’t even recognize you.”

“You know this guy?” Micah pointed at him with the

dagger.

Cecilia nodded. “He’s the son of our most important merchant at home. His father and mine met all the time so Venali and I became friends.” She turned back to Venali. “I haven’t seen you since you went to school.”

Venali looked down. “It has been a while.”

“I don’t mean to break up the reunion or anything but it’s

getting late, where are you headed?” Micah asked.

“I told you, I’m not headed anywhere. The main goal of the evening was not dying in the corn.” Venali scoffed.

“Well congratulations, you succeeded. Now follow me, I know a place where we can stay for the night.” he said, starting away from the town.

“Why would I go with you?” the Elf boy asked, crossing his arms.

“Well, unless you want to get run out of town like the Daemons, I’m your only option.” Micah said. He then pretended to think really hard. “Or I guess sleeping in the corn is an option too.” He winked at Venali and continued to head out, looking behind him to see if they were following.

“Daemons?” Venali said, alarmed.

Cecilia nodded. “You missed all the fun.” Grabbing her case, she headed in the same direction Micah was going.

Cecilia heard Venali mutter under his breath. “Sleep in the corn. Who does he think I am, an animal?” Venali sighed behind her. Then, she heard the sound of his footsteps trailing behind hers. With Micah in the lead, they walked into the night.