Because this chapter is so long, I put little page numbers so that it would be easier to read. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I love writing it! Please review!

Part III

Second Place

Cara's eye lids fluttered open as she let out a big yawn. Sunlight filtered through a gap between the curtains and a digital clock on the bedside declared that it was fifteen minutes to noon. Cara sat up lazily to survey her room. Everything was too normal for her experience the night before to be real. The girl was quickly brought out of her reveries of the prior night when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the vanity across from her bed. Her brown hair was matted to her forehead with grease and her makeup was smeared across her pink skin. She gave a look of disgust as she crawled to the edge of the bed for a closer look; she decided the first thing she would do was get a shower. As she crossed the simple stream of sunlight, however, she noticed something glisten on her forehead.

She jumped from the mattress and pressed her face against the mirror. Something was on her forehead! Cara took her hand and scrubbed at the offending mark but no matter what she did the clear mark remained intact. It could only be seen when she turned her head at just the right angle so the sun could reflect off the invisible character.

"Ms. Locke!" Cara shouted as she continued to scrub at her face. "Ms. Locke, I need you!" The door slowly swung open a moment later and a drowsy looking Ms. Locke stood in the entrance.

"It's almost noon, Cara. It's much too bright for me to be up. What do you need?" The woman spoke with a hint of malevolence in her tone as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned. Cara was too preoccupied with her forehead to care that she had woken up the sleeping dwarf.

"What is this on my face?" She shrieked as she pointed to her forehead. Never once did she take her eyes off the mirror to address the woman.

"What's what?"

-1-

"This!" the girl said more forcefully as she turned to face the short creature. "There's something on my face, like, invisible ink or something!" The dwarf studied Cara's forehead carefully squinting in the direct light that was coming into the room.

"That's a Boundary Spell." She concluded. "The King is very good with them. He must have put it on you last night and you just didn't notice." Cara frowned in concentration as she turned back to the mirror.

"That cheating little…!" she started as she began rubbing her forehead with more vigor. "Our deal was that he couldn't use magic!" Ms. Locke turned a fiery glare towards the girl before reaching up to grab Cara's hand from her face.

"The spell just keeps you on goblin territory!" she snapped. "If I was Marak, I would have dragged you into the caves kicking and screaming last night and not even humored you with the idea of a challenge! Honestly!" Ms. Locke threw her hands in the air before stomping out of Cara's room and back into her own to continue sleeping. Cara's eye brows shot up in concern, the loyalty Ms. Locke felt for the King was astounding. She had only barely escaped being dragged away with the goblin King! The girl let out a deep sigh as she fell to the stool at the vanity, and only when she caught sight of her reflection again did she stand up and head for the bathroom connected to her bedroom.

After Cara took a long, hot shower she set to work on her hair and makeup. She felt a bit silly for worrying so much about how she looked after everything that had happened, however she concluded that she was still a girl and she had to make the Douglas' believe that nothing had changed. The girl decided she would go to the Hill when she was all ready to see if she could get any information out of Mr. Douglas about the goblins, and maybe a way to avoid them. Cara took her time picking out her clothes when she was done blow-drying her hair and applying her makeup; she had been very careful to cover the Boundary spell on her forehead with foundation. She didn't know how long she would be at the Hill so she didn't know if she dress for that night or just wear her normal clothes. Lips pursed the girl studied the tee-shirts and jeans that she had on her bed before deciding on a simple black v neck and a pair of dark grey sweatpants. The outfit was a little too dark for so early in the afternoon, but she didn't want to take any chances being seen if night fell too quickly.

-2-

Cara walked the long gravel path to the Hill when she had finished dressing, wishing silently that she had brought a hat to Europe to cover the character on her forehead even more. The trees were looming on one side of the path and a gentle breeze blew across the open fields on the other side. The feeling the young girl got as she walked was one that said she was in a magical place that wasn't affected by time. The air was crisp and clean with sweet scents that teased Cara's nostrils and the sun was bright in the cloudless sky. There didn't seem to be many animals about, but small squirrels ran through the trees and insects were aplenty. Then Cara noticed another surprise undoubtedly from her goblin suitor: an unusually large rabbit stared at her from under the shade of a nearby tree. Its fur was a bright blond and it had big, round eyes of an unnatural blue hue. Cara took another step and the rabbit lifted its ears and sat up as though it were ready to follow her.

"Uh, can I help you, little fella?" Cara felt ridiculous for talking to a bunny rabbit, but stranger things had happened in the last several hours.

"I am assigned to guard you until sundown!" It chirped back in a high-pitched voice that reminded Cara of a child. "Marak told me not to let you out of my sight until it was almost dark." The rabbit sat up and puffed out its chest proudly. "I will protect you from harm until your game starts!" it continued happily. Cara only watched it as it spoke. With the computer graphics they had in movies nowadays it wasn't that bizarre for the creature to move its lips so flawlessly as it spoke.

"So, what is your name? If you're my guard we might as well acquaint ourselves with each other." The girl couldn't believe she was attempting to be friendly to a guard from the goblin kingdom, but she might learn a thing or two about the creatures from the rabbit.

"I'm Eleanor!" The rabbit said as she stood to her hind legs and gave a graceful curtsey. "I'm not actually a member of the Goblin Guard, but I am quite skilled with magic so the King has trusted me with your safety." Cara bit her lip as she watched Eleanor.

-3-

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Eleanor, I'm Cara, but I suppose you already know that." Cara extended a single finger for Eleanor to shake in greeting. "So, Eleanor, uh, did your King tell you why he wanted me to be his wife?" Cara was now sitting with her back on the tree next to the rabbit shaped goblin.

"Well, Marak needs a wife." Eleanor said patiently as though the fact was obvious.

"So why doesn't he just marry another goblin is what I'm wondering."

"Oh no! He couldn't do that. The King always marries a woman from another race. Only beautiful human girls or elves for the King, although it's only been elves for the last hundred and fifty years or so," Eleanor sat back on her belly and went back to appearing like a normal bunny. "I really shouldn't be talking to you this much though." She said unhappily. "Marak said I was just supposed to guard you and he might be angry if I tell you too much…"

Cara pursed her lips in irritation. "He wants to marry me but he doesn't want me to know anything about what's going on? That doesn't make sense!"

"Don't misunderstand me, Cara. Marak will want to answer your questions himself, after the King's Wife Ceremony of course."

"Well, you can just tell Mark –"

"Marak," Eleanor corrected tolerantly.

"You can just tell Marak that I'm not interested in being his wife and there's no way that I'm going to let him win our game. Tell him I said that I'm going to do everything in my power to win." With that, Cara stood up and stomped the rest of the way to the Hill, Eleanor following behind her in the shade of the tall trees.

Mr. Douglas was sitting in his office when Cara came in. It was clear that Eleanor was going to watch her from the windows, so the young girl made an effort to avoid being too close to one while still appearing to be relaxed. Mr. Douglas' office had a large wooden desk in the center of one wall and long bookcases covering the majority of the rest of the walls leaving only enough room for a tall window and door. A large painting of a red-headed girl hung directly behind his desk and Cara couldn't help but notice how unnaturally beautiful she was. Mr. Douglas had books scattered on his desk and several papers thrown about while he sat reading his computer screen with his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

-4-

"Oh, hello, Cara, what a nice surprise! I didn't expect to see you until dinner this evening. Is everything alright? Are you keeping yourself occupied?" He looked at the girl as she walked in and surveyed the room.

"Yah, everything is great. Sorry, I just came over to see if I could borrow your computer for a minute. I want to send an email to my parents, if that's okay with you of course." Cara looked at him with her most innocent and natural expression so he wouldn't suspect she was going to try to get information out of him.

"Oh, of course. Hold on, just let me get rid of this and this," he said as he clicked at the screen before turning back to the seventeen year old. "Here you go." Cara quickly thanked him as he stood up from his rolling leather chair and ushered her into it. She clicked on the Internet icon and logged into her email before starting to type out an email to her parents.

"The tree circle was probably my favorite part so far," Cara said with a smile. "What was that legend behind it? My dad would love to know the folklore of the area." Mr. Douglas gave her a grin as he sat in a chair next to one of the bookcases.

"Ha, I knew you would want to hear the story. It's very interesting, if nothing it's entertaining," he started. "You see, there have always been rumors behind the mystery of the two tree circles and as you undoubtedly noticed it's a very special place. Once many, many years ago the owner of this house decided to build a romantic gazebo for him and his lover to share but every night the construction would be destroyed. So after several nights of this, he hired twice as many workers to get it done in one day and guarded it all night with twenty armed men. But, when he and his men woke up in the morning they were floating along in the lake with pieces of the gazebo, it seems they all fell asleep at the same time.

-5-

It's funny when you think about how frustrating it must have been, but ever since that day there have been strange superstitions surrounding the tree circle. Some say that Goblins and Elves roam these lands, and if you ask me there must be, and that's where they meet on full moons. Years later the some scholars said that some druids must have built the circle, but that doesn't make any sense to me." Mr. Douglas paused for a moment and took a leather bond book from one of the many shelves. "A man named Hugh Roberts attempted to write everything down in this book about this land in the nineteen hundreds." He paused to thumb through the pages before stopping and reading for a moment. "He starts out very logical, organizing all the history of Hallow Hill in a very clean way. But, near the end of the book he starts to write about how his young cousin believed that Goblins had told her that they were going to kidnap her and that they had made the circle with their magical powers and whatnot."

"What did he write after that? Did his cousin get taken or was it just a joke?" Cara prayed that the girl had escaped and that the volume had something written about how she did it.

"It seems we will never know, you see, not long after he entered the passage about his cousin and her mental state he died. In a very unnatural way I might add." Cara didn't think she wanted to know. Goblins must have gotten to him when he tried to protect his cousin from being dragged into their caves. "The next page is in a different handwriting that says the author of this book, Mr. Roberts, was found hanging upside down."

"Upside down?" Cara repeated.

"Upside down," Mr. Douglas confirmed. "That's all it says. He died from hanging upside down. Now, that could mean that he was murdered and then hung by his feet, but that's all the book tells us." Cara took a moment to absorb the information.

"So do you know anything else about the goblins and elves?" Cara hadn't encountered any elves, but if they were anything like how Tolkien described them she didn't think she would need to worry should she meet one.

-6-

"Well, there have been many other legends about young girls disappearing after dark and the people in the surrounding village concluded that goblins were kidnapping them to bare their children in the caves beneath the lake." The man paused to gather his thoughts. "They said that goblins couldn't see in the daytime so girls weren't allowed outside after dark, but there haven't been any disappearances in the over one hundred or so years-at least none recorded-so people let the goblin story die. However, when some people wanted to chop down the forest around here their machines just broke or they couldn't chop through the trees. This manor is actually very popular with ghost hunters and tourists." He stopped before adding: "I really don't think I've read much about any elves though. It's just a simple legend."

Cara ran her fingers through her long brown hair absently. She didn't learn anything about the goblins except that they don't like sunlight and she assumed that was obvious. Biting her lips she went back to her email only to see that she had a new message from her father. The girl clicked the message to see that it had four simple words: I hope you're behaving.

Cara furrowed her brow and clenched her fist under the desk to hide her anger. Who was he to say that to her? She was stuck in a game of cat and mouse with a mythical beast all because of him and all he could think about was how she was behaving! With an angry click she closed out of her email and quickly thanked Mr. Douglas for all his help before leaving the room. She wandered angrily around the Hall until it was time for dinner and by this time she had made up her mind: she was going to go with the Goblin King to marry him just to spite her father. Cara could see his face when the Douglas' told him that his youngest daughter had just disappeared, that look would be worth an eternity of living with hideous goblins in a cave. Besides, she would be their queen and being queen over a race of mythical monsters sounded much more fun than dealing with her father.

-7-

The sun had just started to set when Cara finished her dinner and headed outside. It was almost time for the game to begin. When she left the house she heard someone call to her: "Pst!" the voice said. "Pst, Cara! Over here!" Cara looked to her left and then to her right to see Eleanor the rabbit again. The girl slowly walked over to the bunny full expecting Marak to jump from the growing shadows to pull her away, and she would go without a fight.

"Hello, Eleanor, where's Marak?" Cara asked as she put her hands on her knees to be closer to the bunny.

"The King is waiting for you at the truce circle! I delivered your message to him and he says that he is looking forward to the challenge and cannot wait to marry you." Eleanor spoke proudly as though she was copying the King's tone as well. "I am to escort you to him right now for you two to begin your game." Cara felt a stab of anger. Marak was taunting her. Her competitive nature completely blocked out the anger she felt towards her father and she was once again ready to beat the goblin King. Cara was distracted from her thoughts however when Eleanor started to grow and change in shape. Where a large blond rabbit had been sitting now stood a pretty blond girl wearing a black cloak and a blue, old-fashion dress. Cara stared in awe.

"Eleanor?" She asked still not able to believe her eyes. The blond nodded her head and gave a kind smile.

"I'm very strange looking for a goblin because of all the elf blood in me, but I'm very good with elfish magic!" Her eyes were shaped like almonds and had bright blue irises while her skin was white and smooth. Her lips were pale as well as her blond hair, which was to the small of her neck in the back only to reach a few inches above her shoulders in the front. "It's dark now and I need to protect you in case any elves happen to be about. I'm much better with magic when I have opposable thumbs." Cara was shocked by the transformation; however she felt relieved as well. That meant that all goblins weren't hideous monsters! "Let's be going."

-8-

Cara followed the Eleanor around the Hill, through the forest, and into the truce circle behind the Lodge. She stopped outside of the first row of circles to gather her nerves before turning to thank the goblin girl only to see Eleanor bow and turn back into a bunny hopping away into some bushes and out of sight. Cara watched thoughtfully after the rabbit for a moment before squeezing past the two rows of ancient trees and into the middle of the circle.

Marak sat against the trunk of one of the great trees on the opposite side of the truce circle. He wore his black cloak along with a loose black shirt and black breeches tucked into his equally black boots. His long black hair was still tied at his shoulder but now Cara could see his long, pointed blue ears as well. Dark red lips curled into a smile as he stood up and walked to the shaking Cara, who was still standing because her competitive spirit refused to let her pass out from fright.

"Cara, my sweet, "Marak said as he touched her face with his small hand, only this time he wasn't wearing a glove. He didn't touch her with a hand, but with a large paw and it wasn't covered in fur, the logical choice, but was instead covered in dark grey feathers that went down to his elbow before disappearing under the sleeve of his shirt. Cara shuddered as he pulled his paw away. "I am so terribly excited to see what you have planned for our little game tonight." He gave her a toothy grin to show off his long canine teeth.

"You're very smug," Cara replied. "I think that I might surprise you with my resourcefulness." That was a bluff. Deep down the girl knew she was going to lose, and while one part of her hoped to fail to spite her father, the other part wanted to give the goblin King a run for his money. "The rules are that you can't use your magic or your goblin minions to find me and capture me and I am not allowed to leave your territory," she added the last fragment to spite him as she thought of the character written on her forehead. "The game is hide 'n' seek," she continued, "I will hide on your land and you have to find me and tag me to win, you have two days to catch me." Marak nodded in agreement.

-9-

"I should warn you that I am very dominantly elf and I have excellent tracking skills because of it." Cara felt a lump rise in her throat. This was going to be a short game after all. "I will count to two hundred to give you a fair head start." The girl didn't wait for him to start counting before she took off running out of the tree circle and into the forest. Should she hide in her room? No, that would be the obvious choice; she would run into the forest towards the lake and find something to conceal her.

Because of her soccer training, Cara was a fast runner and found herself far from the Lodge and hopefully far from the goblin King. Shrubs and trees were all that the girl could see in every direction and the dim light didn't help her. It was always fun to play in the dark when she was younger but now that so much was on the line and she was in an unfamiliar setting it was terrifying. Faintly she could hear Marak shout to signal he was done with his counting. She looked around. Not a real hiding place within sight (which wasn't very far considering the moon was rapidly rising in the background and the trees were casting inky shadows over everything).

"Ready or not!" She heard again. Cara's heart was racing. This was a horrible idea. She should have just let him drag her away to save herself from all the trouble now. That's when she got an idea. The girl jumped onto the nearest tree and carefully shimmied to the lowest branch. Next she pulled herself up and continued to shimmy up the great tree with this method until she was worried the next branch wouldn't be able to hold her weight. Looking down she could see the ground was probably about a hundred feet away; she was only able to climb so high because she had spent her childhood practicing on an old oak in their front yard.

Cara held her breath as she pressed her body against the tree's trunk and attempted to hide behind some scattered leaves. Marak wasn't far from her tree and he was moving cautiously as though trying to find a trace of her. He walked right passed her tree. Cara smiled to herself when he had kept going; maybe she had a chance at winning this game!

-10-

Minutes turned into hours. Cara wasn't sure how long she had been waiting for the goblin to come back but she was starting to feel drowsy while she sat in the tree. More time passed until Cara couldn't keep her eyes open. Normally staying awake wouldn't bother her but being stuck in a tree with nothing to do was taking its toll. She nodded off for a moment only to quickly wake herself up. The next time she fell asleep she wasn't so lucky however. Cara's eyes closed and for a moment everything was calm, until her body relaxed and she fell from her hiding spot. Her eyes burst open to see the sky getting farther and farther away and that meant the ground was getting closer. She wasn't one to scream and because it only lasted a moment she couldn't cry out for help. The girl expected to hit the ground with a shattering crack but she stopped falling she landed with a thunk into someone's strong arms.

"A good hunter waits until his prey comes to him," Marak said coolly. Cara looked up at his face, he had been waiting for her to move from her tree top hiding spot and when she had fallen he had caught her. "It seems that you have achieved second place, wife."