Dark Prospects
AngelicOne: I know it's confusing. Hopefully this chapter will explain. Thanks.
Sanely Challenged: Sorry. It lets you review if you don't sign in…
Criminally Insane: Just you wait until Monday. I'll hijack the intercom and tell the whole school you love my brother. And who says it was Kyle anyway?
Chapter 6: Explanations
Bernard stared blankly at the floor. Charlie's jacket there, singed, as though it had been held too close to a fire. But where was the boy? And where was Curtis for that matter?
Noel yelled in frustration. "Bernard! This is all your fault!" She gave him a look that should have killed him.
"What happened?" Carol Clause hurried over to the scene. Admittedly, it looked bad. Bernard and Noel standing in a room that looked like an explosion had just taken place in it, with Charlie's jacket.
"Oh nothing." Noel said sarcastically. "We were just messing around with explosives and Bernard blew up Charlie. Sorry about that."
Carol blinked. "What?"
Bernard glared at Noel. "Curtis said he wanted to talk to Charlie and Noel went ballistic. Then we heard an explosion and ran over here and…"
He trailed off as Scott came up behind Carol. "What—"
Carol interrupted. "There was an explosion and they both have different stories from there. I don't think I believe either of them."
Bernard was more interested in Noel though. She looked as though she just realized her dog had died. On second thought, that'd probably make her happy. But she was shocked and almost… grieving.
"Noel." He said sharply. "You knew something was going to happen. How?"
Noel looked at him miserably. When she was sure Scott and Carol weren't listening, she said quietly. "We need to talk. There's a lot you need to know."
After making an excuse that they were certain no one believed, Noel and Bernard fled the room, dashing through the crowed of elves that had gathered around them. Noel ran all the way up to her room and the elf followed her into it.
He didn't even glance at the room, in favor of listening to what she had to say. Though the thought of him caring what she would say scared him beyond all reason.
"I—you need to know something. But if you ever repeat what I'm about to say I'll steal Santa's slay and run you over with it repeatedly. I swear I will."
"Fine." Bernard said impatiently. "Tell me."
Noel looked uncomfortable for once. "Well—have you ever wondered why I just showed up out of nowhere?"
"No, I didn't." The elf quipped sarcastically. "Because humans just show up here at random all the time, you know?"
She glared. "Well—I'm not—from here—"
"No really."
"I mean—I am from here, just not… not now…" She spoke very carefully, as though she were afraid of revealing something potentially dangerous.
Bernard sighed. "Either tell me what you're talking about or—"
"Bernard!" She sighed. "I'm not from this time."
"What?" He repeated blankly. "Are you trying to tell me you time-traveled, and that's how you mysteriously ended up here?" He continued skeptically.
Noel bit her lip and shoved a lock of long hair behind her ear. "Yes." She looked at him. "You don't believe me." It wasn't a question.
"Prove it. Prove you're from another time." He demanded.
She winced. "I don't have a lot of time. I'm from the future and I can prove it, but it would be a lot easier if you'd just believe me."
Bernard gave her a look that clearly said he wasn't about to take her word for it.
Noel sighed. "All right."
She shoved her hair behind her ears again and closed her eyes. Bernard was confused at first, but then he noticed something. Her face was changing! Her eyebrow became more arched, and her features more drastic. And her ears…
She was an elf.
When Noel opened her eyes, Bernard stared.
"You're…"
"An elf? Yes. I'm seventeen hundred years old and I'm only half Christmas elf." She looked at him. "Like you must be, judging by your size."
"How… did you do that?" Bernard finally managed.
Noel sighed again. "I should explain some things about the future, but this has to be fast."
"Why?"
"Don't ask questions!" She snapped. "Okay. The reason I knew what was going to happen to Charlie was that I read about it in history books. You see, in my time Charlie is… different. Just now he was kidnapped. I don't know whom it was, but the person that was posing as Curtis is about to… brainwash him—"
"Brainwash?" Bernard said doubtfully.
She glared. "I said no questions! In the future we have devices used to control people… It's a form of magic and it's really hard to explain, but basically Charlie won't be acting of his own free will.
"In my time, everything is different. Whoever took Charlie did not like Christmas elves. They made him capture or kill almost every elf in existence. The humans are in no position to help us either, as a war between seventeen different countries is being fought and with nuclear weapons they have enough problems of their own. Not to mention that most of them don't believe in us anyway.
"There is much more complicated magic now and the elves that have escaped or weren't caught have learned to disguise themselves as humans to keep their lives. But there are few of us. Humans have put up these machines that take a sample of your blood before they let you enter anywhere. And no amount of magic can change an elf's blood. It can't be done. So we can't get into food stores. There isn't any shelter and we're dying out.
"But I had an advantage. I was probably the most intelligent of the free elves and I know a lot of magic. I used a dark spell to be sent here so that maybe I could prevent all of this from happening. I didn't count on you stopping me from attacking the fake Curtis." She saw Bernard's look and added, "It wasn't your fault. I should have told you this all before."
A thought struck Bernard. "Wait. If that Curtis wasn't real, then where's Curtis?"
"Santa and Mrs. Clause are looking for him. He lives through this if that's what you mean…"
Bernard nodded.
"Bernard, I need your help. We have to go find Charlie."
To the Charlie lovers: It's not really him being evil in the future, he's being controlled, so please don't throw pointy objects at me. ^_^