I cringed on the inside. I shouldn't have said that. What should I say to him now? Everyone knows you here? Of course, that would make things a lot easier. Not.
I bit my lip and avoided his gaze.
How could I explain that he was just a character in a novel? The invention of an extraordinarily imaginative man, but just fiction after all? That he shouldn't exist? At least not in flesh and blood here in my living room. I kept silent, and he pierced me with his X-ray gaze. Finally I stood up and pulled out the Lord of the Rings from among my other books. I held it out to him.
"What is this?"
"Your story."
He took the book from my hand and flipped through the pages, growing more and more from page to page. "This... this can't be... Where did you get this?"
"Bought it."
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Like a million other people."
"But there's only one copy that Frodo..."
I shook my head. "Not here."
He said no more, and we sat facing each other in silence until he stood up, put the book down, and looked at me. "What does this mean to me?"
He seemed incredibly rational and cool, almost calculating. I had not been wrong in my assessment of the Elf. He had analyzed the situation and had obviously come to the conclusion that he had a bigger problem than he had assumed.
I returned his gaze. "That I have no idea how to help you. You do not exist. Not in this world, anyway."
He paced restlessly around the room. Up and down, up and down. At some point, I couldn't take it anymore. "Don't get me wrong, if I knew what I could do, I'd at least try, but I can't..."
He cut me off with a wave of his hand. "Hush."
I was about to revolt when I heard it too. Outside in the street, several cars rolled by. Not one or two, as was the norm on my residential street, no. There were at least seven or eight judging by the door slamming.
"I didn't think they'd find me so quickly," he muttered, looking around, "Do you have a weapon?"
I looked at him, stunned. "What?"
" I asked if you have a gun."
"Wa... Wait a minute! Who found who here?"
He looked at me impatiently. "The ones I ran from."
"You just ran away from a hospital! Who would be looking for you here?"
"The men who examined me."
I stared at him. And then it clicked. "You knowingly put me in danger?", I hissed and jumped up. "You've settled here in my apartment and taken advantage of my curiosity? This... this..."
"Was my only chance to survive."
Ice cold, this guy was ice cold!
"Come on, we have to get out of here." He grabbed me by the arm, but I wrenched free and staggered back. "I'm damn sure not coming!"
He clenched his teeth and ran toward the kitchen. There he pocketed two of my largest kitchen knives. "As you wish..."
"They won't hurt me. My world is more civilized than the one you come from!"
"Ah," he turned and peered cautiously down to the street. By now it was pitch black outside and I wondered how he was going to detect anything. "And that cultivation must be why those people down there are swarming out armed right now, right?"
I gave him a bitter look and said: "I should have let you die."
He paused in his movement and suddenly looked sad. "That might have been the best solution. Still, I will not allow you to fall into the hands of these people because of me."
I crossed my hands in front of my chest. "You already have."
"Wrong. I let them find me."
With that, he wrapped an arm around my waist from behind and just picked me up. I fought back fiercely, but he didn't let go and I was cursing my short body size. He dragged me out onto the balcony and threw me over the railing. I screamed out, but landed semi-soft on the grass below. My coat, boots and wallet fell beside me. I gathered the things together and put on my shoes. Then he was already standing next to me, uneasily stepping from one foot to the other.
"What are you doing?", I asked, lifting my chin in defiance.
"I told you..."
"Yeah yeah, you don't want to feel bad, I get it."
He pulled me to my feet. "Come on."
"No."
He frowned. "That's..."
"Irrational?"
"Yes."
I gave him a biting smile and reached out for the railing to pull myself back onto the balcony as my apartment door splintered.
I sensed the danger immediately.
At the same time Legolas yanked me back, so that I bounced roughly against his chest and under the big pines. He put a finger to his lips, at least that's what I thought, I could only see a shadow.
Several men entered my living room. Some began to tear books from the shelves, others searched the papers on my desk. I stared at the shadows walking through my apartment and was paralyzed. They weren't allowed to do that. They couldn't be allowed to do that. Could they?
I could scream. They would hear me. For sure. But I remained silent, even when a man came out and looked around briefly, then left the balcony again and closed the door behind him. Especially the rifle and the man's rushed movements made me retreat further.
These were not cops. The elf had been right - they would have done something to me.