Evils of the Night-Chapter 3

Here's chapter 3.  Sorry it's been so long, buuuuut...I was busy.  You know there's this annoying/wonderful thing called school, and then there's violin, and a surprise sweet 16 to pull off...life was pretty insane.  But, now that I have a moment, here's chapter 3 of Evils of the Night. 

A secret to keep

Sylvia got up around noon the next day. As she lay in bed, thinking about the previous night, she suddenly wondered where Jayden lived. She grabbed her phone and called Brett. He answered, but it was obvious she'd woken him up.

“What?” he moaned. It sounded like he'd picked up, then flopped back onto his bed.

“You have to help me find Jayden.”

“Who? Oh, right, him. Not now, OK?”

“No, Brett listen to me. I have to find him.”

“Why?” he whined.

“Because...I just do.”

Brett groaned. “If you were in my room I'd throw something at you. You woke me up for that?”

“Yes, yes I did. You should be up anyways. Meet me at the library in 15 minutes.” and she hung up.

Sylvia had never gotten ready so fast in her life. She threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, then grabbed her flip-flops on the way out the door. She opened the barn door, grabbed her keys and pushed her ATV out of it, closing the door as she left, leaving her dad's dirt bike alone in the barn.

She hopped on and started it up, heading for a trail that was the back way to the library. As she expected, she got there first, so she parked the quad and headed inside, shoving the keys into her pocket. When she walked into the library, she was greeted by the head manager.

“Good afternoon, Sylvia. What are you looking for today?”

“Um, I'm waiting for Brett, but do you know anyone named Jayden? He's got dark hair and dark eyes, about this tall...” she raised her hand about six inches taller than her own head “he's kinda quiet and mysterious too.”

The manager stroked his chin. “There was a boy like that in here yesterday. I remember taking note of some dog tags he wore. I asked him about them, and he said they were his dad's.” he furrowed his brow. “But there was something about him when I asked. He just clutched them and stared at me as though I'd asked him to tell me his deepest secret.”

“That's him.”

“Oh? Well, don't ask him about his dog tags if you see him. He won't talk to you. Anyways, he told me his name was something Walsh. I guess his first name is Jayden. I hope you find him.” he handed her a piece of paper. “He got a library card yesterday. I assume that's his correct address. I think Brett just walked in.”

Sylvia turned, and there was Brett, looking like he'd just rolled out of bed. When he walked up to her, she couldn't help but tease him a little. “You look awful.” she said.

Brett just glared at her. “You find anything?”

“Yeah. His name's Jayden Walsh.”

“Oh that helps.” Brett quipped sarcastically

“I suppose you could've thought of a better way to get his last name.” Sylvia retorted. “As it happens, Mr. Gordon here just gave me his address, so let's go.”

The two of them went outside, to Sylvia's ATV. Brett's was parked next to it now. They climbed on and Sylvia headed toward Jayden's house.

It was a country house, just like every other house in the small town. They parked the quads behind a camper that was stationed in the driveway and Sylvia headed toward the front door. She knocked.

A very messy little girl opened the door. “Who're you and whatcha want?” she demanded.

“Um...” Sylvia stuttered. A woman came to her rescue. She looked tired and worn down.

“Hi. Can I help you?”

“We're looking for a Jayden Walsh.” Brett interrupted Sylvia before she could begin.

“Oh, Jayden lives here, yes, but he's not here now.”

“Do you know where he is?” Sylvia asked.

The woman shook her head. “He went out last night and didn't come back. I'm not worried though. He always comes back. He's mysterious.”

“Darn right he is.” Brett muttered.

“What's your name? I'll tell him you came when he comes back.”

“I'm Sylvia Thompson.” Sylvia said. She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. “Here's my number. He can get in touch that way.”

The woman smiled. “I'll tell him. Thanks for stopping by.”

Sylvia and Brett turned to leave and the woman closed the door. When they were back at Sylvia's house, lounging in her room, Brett had a question.

“Why was it so important that we found Jayden?”

“He and I are somehow connected, Brett.” Sylvia said, playing with a shadow she'd created. “We have the same powers. I want to learn everything about them.”

“Is that the only reason?”

Sylvia turned to look at him. “Should there be another?”

Brett shook his head. “Just wondering.”

Sylvia shook her head and returned to the book she was reading on elves. When the phone rang, Brett answered it.

“Hello, Thompson's...”

“Brett?”

“Oh hey, Mr. T.”

“Is Sylvia there?”

“Yeah.” he passed the phone to her. “Your dad.”

“Hey dad.”

“Listen, honey, I can't come home tonight. I have to work an extra shift.”

“That's fine. I'll go over to Brett's or something.” she flashed him a grin. He made a face and shook his head.

“Just don't get into trouble.”

“Do I ever?”

“I'm not answering that. I'll see you in the morning.”

“OK dad.” they hung up.

“Guess I'm going back to the tree tonight.” Sylvia said.

“I'm coming with you.”

“You don't have to. Besides, your parents don't have to work the night shift tonight.”

Brett couldn't argue with that, but it seemed like there was something she was hiding from him. At about 5, Brett headed for home, while Sylvia prepared to spend a night in the forest.

Sebastian was scratching at her window just as she was about to leave. She sighed and let him in.

“Behave.” she said, closing her bedroom door.

Sylvia locked up her ATV before leaving. Then she struck out toward the cave. Once she reached it, she pulled her dog tags out from under her shirt.

“Sylvia!”

She jumped and turned around. It was Jayden.

“Why didn't you just call me?”

He looked confused. “Call you?”

“I left my number with your mom or whoever that was at your house.”

“Oh. I haven't been home. Sorry.”

“It's fine. Are you headed to the tree?”

“Yes. I was planning on spending the night there tonight.”

“Really? So was I.”

Jayden smiled. “Great!”

Sylvia smiled back, and Jayden pulled out his dog tags. “Let's go.”

In a flash, both of them were night elves once more. Jayden led the way to the tree. Since it was daylight still, the tree wasn't as lit up. The wood elves were all out doing their tasks, the water elves were out for a swim, and the night elves were in hibernation until sunset. Jayden and Sylvia went upstairs to the night elves' quarters. Damian was sitting in the darkened room, reading something. Two other night elves were sitting there as well. Damian looked up when they entered.

“Ah, you have returned. Good! Sylvia can meet the rest of the night elves.” he turned to the other two. “On the right is Lucia, and on the left is Cynthia. Lucia, go get Felix and Alex.”

The elf stood. She was gorgeous, with hair like black satin streaming in loose curls to the waist of her black dress. Deep blue eyes lined with long black lashes shot a flirtatious glance at Jayden, then dainty black flats carried her slight form into another adjoining room.

Cynthia had dark brown hair, and sweet, ocean blue eyes. Her dark blue dress was smoothed over her knees, which were barely visible because of the tall, dark brown boots she wore. She smiled at Sylvia and patted the seat on the couch next to her.

“Come sit with me, Sylvia.” she said. Something about her made Sylvia trust and like her immediately, so she accepted the invitation.

Jayden smiled, and seated himself next to Damian just as Lucia emerged from the room followed by two elves who were obviously Felix and Alex.

Felix was taller than Alex, and had light brown hair and laughing hazel eyes. He wore brown instead of black, and smiled all the time. Alex was quieter than Felix, and his black hair hung over one eye, leaving the other sending forth a dark brown stare. He wore black, like Jayden and Damian, and his lips were set in an unmoving line.

Once all the elves were settled, Damian introduced them all, then told Sylvia that besides her and Jayden, Lucia and Alex were human as well. Sylvia sent a smile at Alex and Lucia. The former was unmoved, but the latter returned the smile with an icy edge.

“Sylvia, when you stay here, you'll room with Cynthia and Lucia in the girls' room. Cynthia, show her around, will you?”

“Come on, Syl. I can call you that, can't I?”

Sylvia smiled. “Sure. My friend Brett does.”

“Brett? The new water elf?”

“Yeah.”

Cynthia closed the door to the girls' room and bounced on one of three beds in the room. “This is my bed. That one in the corner is Lucia's, and that one in the other corner is yours. I hope you like it. Damian told me your color was purple.”

“My color?”

“They didn't tell you about the colors? For shame. OK, so here's the thing about colors. All of us have power colors. Mine is blue, Lucia's is black, and yours is purple.”

“Power color?”

“It makes you more powerful than any other color. So if you wore green, your powers would be slightly weakened. At least when you're an elf. When you're a human it doesn't matter.”

Sylvia smiled.

“Oh, and if you change something about yourself as an elf, it won't transfer to your human form, and vice versa.”

“So if I dyed my hair purple as a human...”

“It would still be that gorgeous black color it is now when you're an elf.” Cynthia said.

“Okay. That's good.”

“Oh, one other thing.”

“What's that?”

Cynthia hopped onto Sylvia's bed. “I think Lucia has a thing for Jayden. It won't work out though, so don't sweat it, but if she thinks you're moving in on him, she'll hate you.”

“Two questions. One, how do you know she likes him, and two, how do you know it won't work out?”

“Same answer to both questions. My primary power is predicting the future. That and their power colors don't match. I forgot to mention that the only way you can date someone is if your power colors match. A night elf that has a power color of green could date a wood elf with the same power color. Since my color is blue, I could date a water elf whose color is blue. But since your color is purple, you're pretty much restricted to a night elf whose color is purple.”

“What're the night elves' colors?”

“Let's see, Damian is blue, Felix is green, Alex is purple, I'm blue, Lucia is black, you're purple, and Jayden is purple.”

“But Jayden and Alex wear black, and Felix wears brown.” Sylvia said.

“Jayden, Alex, and Felix are special. Especially Jayden. They all wear the color that will make them unnoticed, but it doesn't really affect their powers. If we ever went to battle, though, they'd wear their power color.”

Sylvia felt like a lot of information had just been dumped on her. “Battle?”

“Yeah. I suppose I should tell you that if you die in an elvish battle, you will just be instantly returned to your human form. If you die as a human, you'll be turned into an elf forever.”

“Can you become an elf again if you die as an elf?”

Cynthia shrugged. “I don't know. If it is the will of the moon.”

“Elves are really controlled by the moon then?”

“Yeah, sort of. Especially the night elves.”

“What about the fairies?”

“We are allied with the fairies. We're also good friends. Every month around full moon time, we have the moon ball.”

“Moon ball?”

“It's a dance, silly! It's tomorrow night. That's why Lucia is being all flirty with Jayden. See, the rules are that you have to go to the ball with someone. It could be with your friends, or with a date, but if you're going with a date, the guy has to ask the girl. It's tradition.”

Sylvia laughed. “I see. So that's why Lucia doesn't like me.”

Cynthia shook her head. “She knows your power color is the same as Jayden's.” then her voice changed from grave to fun-loving. “So, since you're obviously coming to the ball, we have to find you something to wear!”

“Wait a minute! What about my human life?”

“Find a way to get out of the house for a night. Sleepover maybe?”

Sylvia smiled. “I'm all yours, Cynthia.”