MESA VERDE, COLORADO
October 1, 2018:
Jessica looked at her friends. Currently, they were having lunch in the cafeteria, a typical school day for a typical set of students. “So, anyone get a look at the new guy?”
Doriatessa laughed and then leaned against her boyfriend. “Sorry, already attached.”
Penelope rolled her eyes. “Okay, for those of us who aren’t attached to anyone, did you get a look at him?”
Ghislane grinned. “Yeah. He’s in my geometry class. And he’s got the cutest eyes. His name’s Tyler Nordwick, by the way. I spoke to him during break. Apparently, he moved here from Dallas last week. He lives with his aunt and uncle.”
Before anyone else could say anything else, a new girl sat down next to them: Abigail Hoskins, one of the girls on the school newspaper and a notorious gossip as a result. “Yup, he does. I overheard him talking to one of the teachers who asked him. And I’ve also heard…other things, too.”
“Like what?” Penelope asked.
“Oh, apparently Carver Bennett is also originally from Dallas, and he has some family there and they said something about a family going nuts. That the mom went mindfuck mode and killed the dad and set the house on fire before offing herself. And that supposedly they had a kid that survived, and the kid went to go live with his grandparents. And they passed away, so he’s moved in with the only family that he has left.” The look on her face was smug. “I’m still doing research on the internet. As a reporter, I need to do my due diligence, after all.”
“Abby, I can’t believe you would do this to him!” Ghislane said, astonished. “He just moved here, and if what you’re saying is true, he’s probably had to live with that shit for years! Would you like to have your secrets spilled?”
“Yeah, not cool at all, Abby,” Penelope agreed. “If you’re gonna be a good journalist, you need to think about all the sides. Otherwise, you may as well just make a video on Youtube and piss everyone off.” Though she said nothing, Jessica merely nodded her head in agreement.
“Look, we have to know,” Abigail countered. “What if he goes nuts and kills us all?”
“Okay, I think I’m done with this shit.” Ghislane hopped to her feet. “Abby, you seriously need to think about what it’s like to be different.”
“Oh, don’t give me that shit, Lane! You’re a rich white girl and while you’re a good friend, you don’t know what it’s like to be black like me. I hear that shit all the time from my parents! You don’t think I know what it’s like to be different?”
Ghislane sighed. “You come from a family of lawyers, Abby, so no, I really don’t think you’re much different than me. And believe me, I’m not trying to insult you when I say that people have different experiences; you might be black, but I don’t think you know what it’s like to experience what it’s like to live in some of the poorer areas of town, like Eureka or Howardsville. And as for me and Tessa? My sister and I know what it’s like to be different, too. You might not realize that, but we do, so I really think you need to recheck your attitude.” The younger twin got to her feet.
“Where are you going?” Doriatessa asked her sister.
“To go find this guy. He sounds like the loneliest person in school right now and I think he could use some company.”
She finally found him underneath a tree. His dusty-brown hair and green eyes caught her attention instantly, but immediately afterwards so did the sorrowful look in his eyes. “Up for company?” she asked. “I’m the Unofficial Greeting Committee.”
“No thanks. Not after I already dealt with the last ‘greeting committee’,” he told her in an annoyed tone. “Like along the lines of ‘hey, heard your mom offed your pop and then blew her own head off!’ Or this one: your mom popped two in your pop, then unalived her own self, then left you at your grandparents’ place, where you drove them to their graves!” He laughed, a bitter sound. “You here for that, too?”
She shook her head as she plopped down next to him. “Nope, I’m more of the ‘Welcome to the MV and I really mean it!’ type. Honestly, I don’t know anything about you, and you don’t know anything about me. I’d say let’s get to know one another.” She offered her hand. “Lane Benison.”
He took and shook. “Tyler Nordwick. So, Lane Benison, what’s there to know around here?”
“Well, I could tell you…or,” she said with a soft smile, “if you’re free this afternoon, I could show you around town. Like for example, did you know that at one time, Theodore Roosevelt almost declared most of the MV as a National Park? Back then, the county was called Montezuma County and the county seat was Cortez. Eventually he was convinced that the only part that really needed protection was what eventually became the Anasazi National Monument. And then people found gold fields, and then that really got Mesa Verde started. There’s a preserved mining site at the Mesa Verde Museum of History & Art, if you’re interested.”
Tyler thought about it for a second. “Well, can’t argue the company, so if you’re game, I’m game.”
“Then it’s a plan. See you after school.”
=+=
In the end, it was Ghislane that had stolen his heart, and the two became practically close overnight. Like James and Tessa, Tyler soon became a fixture at the table, much to the chagrin of the two single girls. But Jessica had to admit, she was focused more on trying to build a portfolio for her entrance to a decent art school; and Penelope had some personal issues right now, given that her father had recently reappeared in her life, but had turned out to only be there for press and theatrics rather than because he wanted to. So as much as they looked at their friends with mild envy, it was also a moment of joy for their friends as well.
In any case, it gave time for Ghislane and Tyler to get together, falling into what was clearly a whirlwind relationship. Within a week of his arrival, it was clear that the two had become close friends and while many girls tried to make their move, by the end of that week, Ghislane had made it all but clear that their attentions were neither required nor wanted. A week after that, it was pretty much clear that the pair were paired. Additionally, because of the ties between Doriatessa and her own boyfriend, Tyler had begun to fit into the student body seamlessly. It helped a lot that he played baseball and with the Hallenbeck High Sentinels being on a winning streak, it went a long way from changing Tyler’s reputation from “good looking weirdo from out of town” to “good looking guy who’s one of us”.
But that wasn’t the only relationship that had changed. After several discussions with the twins’ mother, Jessica and Penelope had made the choice to become elf-friends. It was not a decision either took lightly, both had admitted, and they knew their age would be held against them, so it made it even more critical that they had to prove themselves worthy of the honor. Marybell promised that she would talk with the local council, but she agreed that they had to show themselves to be worthy of the effort.
Over the next few days, they met with a bunch of strangers from around the country: lawyers, teachers, sanitation engineers, people from all walks of life. The only thing they had in common was that when they were alone, the magic went away, and their ears were revealed. They discussed theoretical situations, went over what had to be done and came up with examples that perplexed the two. What, for example, a police officer from Chicago asked, if they had to protect a magically crippled elf from a bunch of gangbangers who didn’t care about anything other than raping the girl? It could end badly for both protector and protected, but both Jessica and Penelope admitted that they would do their best. They didn’t know what that meant at this stage in their lives, but they couldn’t just do nothing. And for the officer, that was the right thing. He admitted that was, in fact, how he met his wife, and how she, in the long run, had become an elf-friend.
Within a week, the council had made their decision: despite the youth of the two girls, they would be approved to be elf-friends. And that meant that as soon as possible, they would need to go to the grove to claim their new rights.
=+=
Midnight came, and the grove was bathed in the light of a full moon, so much so that it almost seemed like they were in the center of Silverdale Square, the main nightlife district of Mesa Verde. But there was no way that this place could be confused for such, not with the sizeable glowing mushrooms or the giant tree the size of a building. Surrounded by plants and flowers they’d never seen before in their lives, to both Penelope and Jessica, it seemed as if they’d stepped straight into the middle of a fantasy book, the cheap technicolor psychedelic ones from the 1960s. And given that the others present were actual elves, that was saying a lot.
Standing there on the grass, barefoot and wearing nothing other than flimsy, flowing white gowns, the two wondered where this place was. Before them was a small pool of the clearest water possible, so pure that it could be imbibed from. The twins were present, as well as their mother, and an old elven woman. Typically, Marybell explained, the elf-friend ceremony involved the presence of the local council of elders, as well some elven nobility. The reason for the change was a simple fact: because both Penelope and Jessica were both underage and there was some nudity involved, elves or not, the fact that minors were involved might cause more than a couple of heads to turn. So, both for the sake of the two girls as well as propriety, the gathering was kept all-female and with as few people as needed for the ceremony.
Additionally, Marybell had explained – repeatedly so – that even though there would be nudity involved, the whole thing was not sexual in the least, to which Doriatessa had joked that her mother was so old she’d never heard of lesbianism. After rolling her eyes, she then explained the whole ceremony, in which they would be declared elf-friend and receive their benisons.
“Isn’t that your last name, though?” Penelope asked.
“Technically we didn’t have a last name,” Doriatessa explained. “Elven societies don’t use surnames. In any case, the word benison is an old word that means blessing. Unfortunately, in olden times, some people who never really understood what it was or had their own agenda called it ‘the mark of the beast’ or a ‘witchmark’, but it was never really that. The benison is meant to identify you as elf-friend to any elf out there that may need aid that they can turn to you regardless of situation. Additionally, it’s meant to help protect you, as well as give you some sort of magical advantage if your life is ever in danger. Don’t ask me what that is, because it’s different for everyone.”
Marybell nodded. “For example, remember that doctor in Seattle that I took Lane to see after her arm was broken? His benison is that he can see wounds and such with his eyes like an X-ray. He’s required to use them, obviously, because that’s what the human world needs, but he saw Lane’s simple fracture without even needing it.”
Jessica blushed. “Then, uh, why the nudity?”
The old woman laughed. “The benison is not meant to be obvious, child,” she said, her thick Scottish accent barely understandable by the Americans. “For example, an often-hidden birthmark serves as a benison to serve as an additional layer of protection. My adopted son, who is an elf-friend, has his mark, a mole, by his armpit. That is one way the benison protects the elf-friend; as you Yanks often say, ‘the best defense is one that never reveals itself.’ We must find appropriate ones.”
Jessica blushed even more. “Uh, what if we don’t have one? A birthmark or mole, I mean.”
“Then you will need an artificial one,” the old woman said.
“Artificial?”
The woman laughed all the louder; she was clearly enjoying the teen’s discomfort. “A tattoo, of course. And here I thought that teenage years were for rebellion and independence.” She grinned, her face wrinkling with the mirth of a cat that ate the canary. “Please, ladies, remove your gowns and get into the water. And I should point out, the water is very cold.”
“What?” both teens yelped at the same time.
“All the better for your skin to get goosebumps,” the elder smiled. “What better way to find the best mark?”
=+=
In the guest room assigned to her at this strange place, Penelope toweled herself off after taking a long, long hot shower. The cold water had been bad enough, more so having needed to get in without the protection or dignity of a swimsuit or such. The old woman’s hands all over her body, even if not meant in any untoward matter, still made her feel awkward. And after an extended body search, the wisewoman found a suitable location for her benison, after which administering it somehow managed to make her feel even colder, if that was possible. For a moment, she felt as though she’d slept overnight naked and in a snowdrift.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
As the steam lifted off her, she looked at the magical full-body mirror so she could get used to seeing her benison. The mirror had been ensorcelled so that she could see it as she normally could, and as others did. The benison was based on a vaguely butterfly-shaped birthmark she had underneath her right breast. Cupping herself, she lifted it so she could see the brown mark. But then the mirror flickered and then she saw the benison as an elf would: a leaf-green butterfly, within a magical circle. To an elf searching for an elf-friend, the benison would show through the clothing, glowing like a star, though thankfully it wouldn’t reveal anything clearer.
But as embarrassed as she was about the whole thing, Penelope felt sorry for Jessica. She’d had to deal with much worse.
In her room, Jessica lay in the bathtub, the hot water soaking through her body, yet she refused to move. Eventually she would have to get out, she knew; she couldn’t stay in here forever. But for now, she stayed still, hoping that the heat turning her body red would hopefully allow her to match the full body blush she had right now.
Unfortunately for the purposes of the benison, Jessica’s body failed because it was a little too perfect. Model clear, without blemish, birthmark, mole or anything of the like, the lack of an imperfection on Jessica’s body, the old woman pointed out, was an absolute failing. So, they had to create an artificial mark – in other words, a tattoo. So now she had a tattoo of the kanji of her middle name, Akane – 茜 – in a very intimate place. The old woman assured her that any normal person who ever saw it under normal circumstances – something that Jessica hoped wouldn’t happen anytime soon – would just see the tattoo. But an elf or elf-friend would see it for what it was: a bright red, glowing tattoo with a magical circle around it.
Part of her wanted to approach the ensorcelled mirror, so she could see it as others would, but that would mean getting out of the water and having to deal with the utter embarrassment of having a tattoo, even if magically placed, in a location that would make for some interesting conversation, to say the least.
However, the truth was that she was nowhere near ready for that discussion yet, so she let herself sink underneath the waters of the porcelain basin, wondering if it was possible to die of embarrassment.
=+=
Tanned and perfectly bottle-blonde, Heather Fields looked at Ghislane with disgust. “So let me see if I get this straight: the hottest pitcher in town shows up, gets the school a lock on the State Championship and he should be mine! And yet he’s wrapped around your mousy little finger? What kind of blackmail do you have on him?”
Ghislane rolled her eyes. “Maybe he just wants a classier kind of girlfriend. You know, the kind that doesn’t fuck the quarterback and then leave him once he gets into an accident that doesn’t let him play football anymore. Or maybe one that doesn’t sleep with a guy on the basketball team and then dumps him just because ‘the true love of her life’ ends up moving out of the school zone. Or maybe…oh, wait, we don’t have that many sports teams for you to get to know in a biblical way, right?”
“I should just kick your ass.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t do that,” Ghislane responded. “That might mean you might break one of those press-on nails of yours.” Nothing more to say, she wandered off, leaving the bitch and her clique behind. She had to admit, while she’d never seen the movie of the same name, she wouldn’t be surprised if Heather Fields turned out to be, well, a Heather. But the problem was, she was very good at what she did; manipulation was a kind of specialty of hers. And while Ghislane trusted her boyfriend completely, it never hurt to have extra insurance available.
After all, she could fight fire with fire, in a manner of speaking.
“Hey, cutie,” Tyler said as he approached, kissing her on the cheek. “What did I miss?”
“Oh, you didn’t miss anything. Are your aunt and uncle still out of town?”
He nodded. “Yeah, they’re wrapping things up over for their business in Vermont, so they won’t be back home until Sunday. And my little cousin is spending the weekend over at her friend’s place.”
“Well, as it happens, my mother’s out of town and my sister’s probably going to be with the others, so…movie night at your place?”
“Just movie night?” he asked.
“Oh, maybe breakfast the following morning as well, if you play your cards right,” she told him.
=+=
The night had started out with pizza and the Ælfenheim series, a trilogy of bad, direct-to-video films starring notable B-film star and former teen pop idol Megan McAllister. The films were a pure and utterly bad Tolkien rip-off and on the best of days the special effects didn’t look too bad, though the demon designs looked like the worst of latex and late 90s-CGI. Most hilarious, though, were the foam swords used for the battle; and during the battle one of the background elves using a sword didn’t even notice the foam core had broken and was wobbling like a pool noodle. Both Ghislane and Tyler laughed so hard at the gaffe, the pair missed the remainder of the movie and had just started to recover as the credits began to roll.
Tyler gasped for air. “Did they even realize how bad that looks?”
Ghislane snuggled close to him. “And the elves! They make elves look like absolute shit.” Ghislane spoke in a sing-song voice intending to imitate the actress in question. “‘So above, so below!’ I’ve never heard an elf say that in my entire life!”
“Never, really?” he asked her.
“Never. And I mean that.” A thought crossed her face, as if she was deciding something. Something that she probably should have on her own, but if she was going to be sure that they would be together for a long time, she was going to have to admit it sooner or later. “Tyler, do you love me?” she asked him suddenly.
“You know I do.”
“Even if Heather tried to win you over?”
“She could never compare to you,” he told her. And with that, he kissed her.
“Take me to bed,” she whispered in his ear, then nibbled on his lobe. “It’s time I showed you the world that really isn’t what you think it is.”
Nothing more to be said. Leaving the TV and bad videos behind, he scooped her up in his arms and made their way to his bedroom.
It had begun as the typical teenager fumbling and grasping around, two people with only experience gleaned from second- and third-hand sources trying to understand something literally elemental towards human life. What they’d seen in movies as going for hours literally exhausted the two in a matter of minutes. It turned out that like anything else in life, this took practice and experience. And neither of them had that, given that it was their first time. It had turned out to be a surprise for the couple.
It wasn’t the only surprise that had happened that night.
Tyler, already breathless from his first moment with his girl, was now breathless for a different reason as he reached up and touched his girlfriend’s ears. Pointed, elven ears.
“Are…are they…?” he asked.
She nodded. “Like I said, I’ve never heard an elf proverb like ‘so above, so below’, because it’s not an elf saying. And I should know…because I am one.”
“But I thought you were a person.”
“I am. I’m just not human. And even that’s technically not right, either; I’m just not Homo sapiens sapiens. I’m Homo sapiens idaltu – just a different branch of humanity. We elves aren’t some immortal separate species. The only difference between you and me is that I have pointy ears and can use magic better than you. And before you ask: there have been human magic users, just not many. The tradeoff is that regular humans have a better grasp on the sciences and technology than we elves.”
“But then, why hide?”
“Tyler, what would you have done if you found out I wasn’t human? Would you have still dated me or would you have freaked out at the elf girl?” she pointed out. “Would you?”
“No, I guess not.”
She snuggled against him, tracing a finger on his bare chest. “They say good things come to those who wait, you know. Waiting for me was worth it, right?”
He kissed her forehead. “You’re always worth waiting for, Lane.”
=+=
“I can’t believe you told him!” Doriatessa yelled at her sister. “I waited until I dated James for a year before I said anything! And Penny and Jessie have known us for ages before we ever told them! But you’ve only been dating Tyler for a few weeks! What made you do it? The fact that idiots like Heather were going after him? You’re better than that!”
“Sis, it’s not that,” Ghislane insisted.
“Are you sure?” Penelope, who had also been sitting nearby, asked.
“Stay out of this, Penny!” was Ghislane’s answer.
“Hey, no need to jump down her throat, Lane!” was Jessica’s response. “And we’re all on the same side here.”
“Yes, but you’re not elves!”
“True, but we’re elf-friends. And more importantly, we’re your friends,” Jessica pointed out.
Lane buried her face in her hands in frustration, slumping against the table. “I’m sorry. It’s just…Heather has been especially annoying. Did you know that she said supposedly that she and one of her buddies propositioned Tyler? And right in front of James, too.”
“James told me about that,” Doriatessa told her. “Tyler laughed about it. Said that he had something special and that nothing Heather could offer in a million years could change that.” At that, Ghislane looked up, blushing with pride.
“I still think it was a mistake to reveal it so soon,” Penelope told her friend. “And obviously that’s your call. But you need to be careful. You and he, at best, are only going to be together until we graduate. And then you’re going to have to figure out if he can keep a secret – or even if he can be an elf-friend like us. Your mother said that not every person who knows the secret is capable of being an elf-friend. And that some people must even be…restricted from further knowledge.”
There was that word. It was obviously a euphemism that Marybell had chosen and that the girls had picked up, but it was something that she had to tell them: on occasion, there were individuals who came to know the secrets of elfdom and were unable to keep the promises, or worse, did something to endanger them. In the past, they were simply dealt with as people who endangered other people would and it was messy. But in the modern day and age, when everyone was incredibly easy to track and only getting easier and easier, the elves knew they could not rely on the old ways. And so, new ways were developed. Whether it was called hypnotism or brainwashing or whatever, the fact was that when it was over and done, the people no longer remembered their subjects as elves. In extreme cases, they didn’t recall them at all.
At the utterance of that word, a pall came over the four girls, ruining the mood. The fact was, this had been a huge change for them all, and Ghislane’s impulsive actions had done something that couldn’t be undone easily. It was a heavy fact that had to weigh on the four of them, probably at an age when they shouldn’t have had those concerns. But in a perfect world, they wouldn’t have had those concerns to begin with. Such was the ages-long mystery of the existence of elves, and for the two elven girls and their two human friends, this would be the life they would have to live, forevermore.
=+=
Seated at his home, Tyler took his medication. They calmed him, let him keep a clear mind. The doctors had told him repeatedly that he was at risk for the same things that had taken over his mother, and that he was too young to let that happen to a boy with a promising future, that it could be controlled and hopefully in a time to come, they would be able to use medicine to rid him of his demons for once and for all. Not really wanted to deal with the same things that had destroyed his mother, he obediently took the drugs.
Or…at least that’s what he told his aunt and uncle. The fact was, he really didn’t take them, because he really didn’t think they helped. They made his mind swim in ways he wasn’t sure was a good idea. They didn’t make him insane or anything and sometimes he did take them when he felt that something was wrong with him; he feared that just as much as anyone else and he certainly wouldn’t want that around his girlfriend or his circle of friends. Therefore, he took them little by little, dumping out the rest so that no one would notice that he really wasn’t using his prescription the right way. Thankfully his last blood test hadn’t revealed a difference – he read up about that and found that sometimes that stuff was instantly noticeable, but fortune had favored him in this case.
And now, for the first time in a week, he sat down in his room, clear of the drugs for the first time in years. He briefly wondered if his mother had endured the same issue, becoming what she’d become because someone had told her the drugs would make her better when they probably didn’t. If so, that would have been the cruelest irony ever, not to mention that he’d read enough articles about pharmacy companies and how they had prioritized profit over people’s lives. Somehow, that didn’t surprise him.
But for now, he had a clear mind, one that would let him think and respond clearly. He owed that to Ghislane, his elven lover. He owed it to learn everything there was about her species (even if she technically was from a human subspecies), and why they’d hidden themselves from mainstream humanity. Certainly, in many ways, that was understandable: mankind wasn’t exactly the best species at times, themselves. But there had to be a reason why elvenkind hid, right? Why was there a Roman Empire and not an Elven Empire, or at least as far as anyone knew? Why was there a Da Vinci, a Beethoven, a Shakespeare, yet no elvish equivalents that the world knew of? Why were elves invisible to everything human?
Or were they?
He needed to find out more. He owed it to Ghislane. He owed it to himself and everyone. Maybe this meant that he would be the link between humans and elves. Or maybe it was too much to think about, but regardless, he wanted a world where people like Ghislane and her family would be able to live in peace and harmony.
And so, he would start by looking on the internet. He would look at all the places that seemed beyond weird. To most people, they were conspiracy sites, filled with people who were less than sane or deluded. That was what the world thought of them. But he had to wonder: did the kooks and crazies of the world have secret knowledge that others did not?
“The word in the wind is what keeps the world alive.” That was one of the lines from Ælfenheim III and while he couldn’t remember which character said it, it did sound very elven and noble. Maybe it was just Hollywood bullshit, but the best writing, he once heard, had the grain of truth in it somewhere.
Finally, after some extensive searches on the internet, he came across one of the sites. It was on one of those old free webhosting services, the pages appeared to be several years old and they were in Portuguese or some language, but thankfully he put it into a translation site and started to read it. Being machine-translated, it was clearly awkward English, but even still, he could read it.
"WAS IT THE ELVES WHO CAUSED THE DEATH STAR?"
by EvilElve2212
Consider again the fact that the Black Death that conquered Europe in the Middle Ages was horrible, but a fact caused by backward thinking and a lack of modern science. But there's one thing we never think about, at least those who haven't understood the truth of the world. The truth is that the Black Death was introduced by the elven nations of Mu and Atlantis to control the population of Europe and Asia Minor so that they would turn against each other as they always did, blaming each other and not the real enemy: the elves, who jealously envied the control that humanity has over the Earth in their place. They fear becoming like the Neanderthals: elves and humans were responsible for their extinction, and now the elves fear the rest. And they chose, time and time again, to kill humanity in the shadows.
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