Chapter 3
1317 Words
The girl's next words surprised them far more than anything that had happened in the last few minutes.
"Are you guys. . ."
They clung to every word she spoke.
"Magical creatures?"
Suddenly, all their common sense left them.
"Um," said Esther very slowly and confusedly. "What?"
"Magical creatures!" said the girl again. "I know you are because only magical creatures have magic powers!" She slowly began inching closer to them. "I see them on TV all the time!"
"Is that so?" Esther turned to her brother, hoping he would chime in, but he was too shocked to say anything.
"So, what kind of magical creatures are you?"
This time, they both answered, "What?"
"Are you unicorns? Or are you guys trolls? What magical creatures are you?"
The girl was now very close to the twins, and suddenly, they recognized her from their class. Although, she hadn't made her presence known.
The girl was a little bit taller than the twins, who now wondered if their growth was being stunted. She had brown hair that nearly appeared red in the sunlight tied up into pigtails, and light brown eyes that stared at the twins with so much enthusiasm they thought they would be crushed by it.
'What should we do?' Esther asked her brother. 'She saw us.'
'She saw everything,' Eli said. 'What can we do?'
'Threaten her into not telling?'
'No.'
'You're right; we should do that to the sleeping balloon instead.'
'Who's the one who's being mean now?'
They turned to the unconscious boy; both weren't very concerned for him anymore.
'He's a kid, no one will believe him.' Eli c****d his head and added, 'Just like her.'
'What should we do with her? I don't think our powers will let us erase memories.'
'You know they don't.'
They both kept to their own thoughts for a while.
Esther had suddenly come up with a plan. 'Leave it to me, I got this.'
She cleared her throat and said, "What?"
The girl grinned and waved her tiny fists in the air erratically as she asked, "What kind of magical creatures are you? Are you fairies?"
The twins both liked that option better than the previous ones she said.
Esther smiled and tapped her chest as she answered loudly, "That's right, we're fairies."
'Esther. . .'
She ignored her brother and carried on. This time, taking on a more saddened expression as she said, "But we lost our wings."
'Esther,' hissed her brother again. 'Why are you lying to a child?'
'Well, do you think she would understand if I told her we were exorcists?'
'We don't do that anymore.'
'Which is why I said 'were'.'
Esther continued, "We lost our wings, but we still have our powers."
The girl began to tear up. "That's so sad!" she cried. "How did you lose your wings?"
The twins didn't have to look at each other to know that they were thinking the same thing.
"We," Esther's words sounded rough. "We weren't really good fairies."
The girl's face had a mixture of both sadness and confusion as she asked, "You weren't good fairies?"
Her words pricked the twins a little.
"But you are good fairies." The girl pointed at the unconscious boy. "Only good fairies could defeat the evil bully."
They both turned to the boy in shock.
'So he was a bully,' said Eli.
Esther nodded quietly.
"You defeated the evil bully!"
Suddenly, Esther felt a pair of hands wrap around hers. She looked at the girl who was a few inches from her face. She asked ecstatically, "Are you my guardian angels?"
'First, we're fairies, and now we're angels?'
Esther turned to her brother, who had said that with an annoyed look on his face.
'Fairies, angels, who cares? Let's just agree with her and go home.'
'Okay.'
Despite her brother's reluctance, Esther turned and said sweetly, "That's right, we're your guardian angels."
"Guardian fairies," corrected the girl.
"Guardian fairies," repeated Esther.
The girl turned her head to the side and asked herself confusedly aloud, "Did I say it wrong before?"
Suddenly, the bully Eli had knocked out began to stir.
'Let's go already,' he urged.
Esther grabbed onto the girl's hands. "Listen, we're going to head back home now. We don't want to be here when he wakes up, and we don't think you do either."
The girl gave a small nod. "Yes, he is always mean to me."
Esther smiled as she pushed the girl further away. "Yes, which is precisely why-" she flinched when the girl grabbed her hands and squeezed them. Her injured hand began to throb.
"Esther!" Eli called as he hurriedly pulled her away from the girl. "Come on, let's go."
The two proceeded up the hill.
"W-wait," called the girl. She seemed reluctant to let her fairy savors go. "My fairy is injured!"
"Yes," replied Eli coldly. "That's why we're going home."
"But I can fix her!"
She grabbed Esther's arm. "My house is closer! Way way closer than yours!"
The twins were certain that the girl didn't know where they lived, but they also didn't think she'd leave them alone.
'What should we do?' Esther asked Eli.
'I don't think she'll let us go on our own.' he replied. 'She seems adamant that we're her saviors. If we leave her alone, she might even follow us home.'
'That will cause problems for Grandpa.'
'Exactly.'
'And we can't let her expose us!'
Somehow, though, Esther had a feeling that the girl wouldn't tell anyone about the things she had seen.
Suddenly, there was a grunt and groan noise that neither of them made.
All three of them turned to the unconscious boy, who was no longer unconscious. He was sitting up glaring daggers at them.
"You guys are monsters." He said darkly. Blood began to pour out from his nose. He took his arm and wiped his nose. The boy examined his bloodied arm. "Monsters."
Esther could sense her brother's panic.
The boy's eyes darted up, not to look at the twins, but the girl beside of them. "And having a crybaby with you doesn't make you any better. I'm going to go tell my mom everything! She'll punish you, and I'll be the one laughing, not you losers. I'll tell her all about your magic powers that you used to hurt me. She'll be so mad she will, and she'll tell the police, and they'll lock you away forever and ever!"
The boy began to laugh. "Do you like that idea? Crybaby can join you! Then you'll all be locked away forever, and me and my mom and everyone will laugh and be happy the evil witches are gone. We will even-"
The boy stopped talking and fell back, slumped on the ground.
Eli wondered what had happened, and when he turned to look at his sister, he got his answer.
Esther held her hand out with a solemn expression on her face.
"Esther!" Eli shouted.
"I didn't have a choice," she responded quietly. "I didn't think he'd let us go otherwise."
"But still! To do that to a child. . . again! And with another right-" Eli then realized how he had made his sister feel earlier.
They both slowly turned to the girl beside them. They wondered how she would react to them now. It wouldn't be unexpected for her to be scared of them. They were used to it.
The girl's expression was stern. They couldn't tell if she was scared of them or the kid.
The answer became clear when she grabbed Esther's arm and began rushing her up the trail along with Eli.
"Hurry!" she yelled. "Before he wakes up again!"
The twins might have turned to look at each other in confusion for a moment, but instead, they silently raced up the hill with a girl who was worried for their safety.
- Writer
