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Elliot objected because after an hour in a moving vehicle he would be violently sick. The other kids objected because after an hour in a moving vehicle they would be violently sick of Elliot.
“Why are we in a random field?” Elliot demanded. “I will thump you,” promised Desmond Dobbs. “Zip it.” “I will not be silenced,” said Elliot.
“Excuse me, did anyone else see that?” Elliot asked. “I don’t wish to alarm anyone, but get alarmed, because I think our French teacher just sold us!” “They haven’t sold us,” said Ashley Sinclair. “Nobody would want to buy you.” That did silence Elliot. It seemed so indisputably true.
“Are you telling me that I have magical powers?” Elliot had asked, excited for a moment, and then added: “Because I can’t walk through walls? That doesn’t seem right.” The woman had told him she was prepared for questions, but she did not seem prepared for that one. She blinked and told him to come away with her to a magical land.
“I don’t need you to explain to me the concept of a magical land filled with fantastic creatures that only certain special children can enter. I am acquainted with the last several centuries of popular culture. There are books. And cartoons, for the illiterate.”
“Okay,” Elliot had said finally, brandishing his phone in the woman’s face. “But I have the number of the police, and I will have my finger on the call button at all times, in case you are a child predator.”
“Do you have family who will miss you?” asked the woman while everyone else piled in the van. “Ha!” said Elliot. “That is a serial-killer question, and I refuse to answer it.”
Elliot especially did not like the “other kids” aspect of magic land. Elliot had “does not interact well with peers” on all his report cards.
One of the boringly human pair of boys, the obvious leader, was tall and broad-shouldered, with golden hair, as if Nature had said, “No worries, buddy, I gotcha, no nasty tiring thinking will ever be necessary, also have a crown.”
“You should stop sitting on that fence,” Blondie instructed. “Oh, I see,” Elliot muttered darkly. “Even this is to be taken from me.”
“I think it’s about to go on fire.” “It’s my thing that’s about to go on fire, and not yours,” Elliot said firmly.
“I’m not sure what a video game is . . . but I’m pretty sure you can’t play them here.” One of the other boys, who, judging by his clothes, was from what Blondie called “the other side of the Border” and Elliot called “the real world where stuff made sense and phones did not explode,” burst into tears. Blondie’s head whipped around. “Oh no,” Elliot exclaimed sadly. “Look what you did.” “I didn’t—!” “He seems awfully upset,” Elliot continued. “You must feel really bad.” Blondie did not look as if he felt bad at all. He looked, in fact, as if he was going to punch Elliot in the face. He took a
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“You can choose to go or stay,” said Blondie. “So I don’t think I’ll be seeing you again.” “Yes, oh my God, I already understood the implication that I wasn’t man enough to tough it out beyond the Border. Your attempt at an insult was extremely clear,” Elliot informed him. “You’re just making the whole thing laboured and awkward now.”
“Oh my God,” Elliot said in a hollow voice. “We’re child soldiers?” He considered this and then said: “I need to sit down. I’m going back to the fence.”
This was love: not the passing fancy he’d felt for Miss Tolliver his music teacher (in which he’d become confused by having a good relationship with an authority figure), or Simon Bae (confused by admiration for his skill in their shared art project) or Clare Winters (the guidance counselor had approved and hadn’t said Elliot was confused, but Clare had turned out to only understand a quarter of Elliot’s jokes, so she’d been confused all the time).
He had not seen any other elven girls in the whole camp. So clearly she was defying conservative elven customs by coming here, brave and alone and the victim of cruel oppression. Elliot’s heart went out to her. She was probably feeling scared and shy.
“Hello,” said the beautiful elven maid. “I was just thinking, and I mean no offence, but—how can any fighting force crowded with the softer sex hope to prevail in battle?”
Elliot offered, after a long pause: “I don’t enjoy fighting.” She favored him with a slow smile, like dawn light spreading on water. “Very natural.” “In fact,” Elliot confessed, encouraged, “I never fight.” “You should not have to,” she said. “There should always be a woman ready to protect a man in need. I take it that you are bound for the council course then?”
He cheered up when she started reading out names, and Blondie turned out to be called Luke Sunburn. “Sunborn,” hissed Surfer Dude, once Elliot was done loudly making fun of this. “He’s called Luke Sunborn. Of the Sunborns, you know!” “I don’t,” said Elliot. “And I don’t want to.”
“And humans came from across the Border,” Elliot said. “Did we invade?” He leaned forward. “Tell me right now, are we engaged in a system of colonial oppression?”
There are songs about them: the shining ones, the golden guard, the laughing warriors. The Sunborn family is an army unto itself. Even their women are all soldiers, and a Sunborn woman is as good as any man.” “Cool, no video games and outdated gender politics,” Elliot muttered.
So Blondie was basically the scary warrior equivalent of a trust-fund kid, the kind who had their pictures in the paper on the regular. One of life’s born winners, with golden luck to go with the hair. No wonder he was glaring over at Elliot, looking betrayed and unhappy as a wet cat, as if nothing like being laughed at had ever happened to him before.
“It is a very different world to the one you are accustomed to,” Captain Woodsinger observed. Elliot thought she was talking to him until she added, “We have never had a female elf wish to join the Border camp, though of course we have heard of the elves’ legendary prowess in battle. You may be surprised and dismayed by the reactions of those around you, which you will consider unnatural. And your lady mother has expressed serious reservations about your behaviour in joining up.” Serene tossed her dark hair. “My mother was the wildest elf in the woods until she met my father,” she said. “I can
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“What I am attempting to communicate,” he explained to the captain, “is that I want to be anywhere that guy is not.” He pointed to Blondie, who he felt was a helpful illustration of everything Elliot did not like in human form. Luke Sunborn stared at him in outrage, and Elliot used his pointing hand to give him a little wave.
In his first class, Elliot was presented with a quill, which he promptly broke in two and threw against a wall. He’d brought a pencil with him in his pocket: he clung to it as his only hope and insisted on using it to take notes on the parchment provided. (Magic land also did not have notebooks.)
“Hey!” said a voice behind him. “You can’t vandalize the camp!” “I do what I want,” said Elliot.
“You,” said Luke Sunborn. “Why are you still here?” “I’m sorry,” said Elliot, and paused. “Who are you?” he asked. “Have we met before? What’s your name?” Luke opened his mouth and no sound came out. Elliot grinned. “Sorry. I guess you’re just not very memorable.”
“I wish to be enrolled in both the war-training and council-training courses,” said Serene. “I cannot be content with simply taking one. There is no such thing as too much learning and both have too much of value to offer me.” “Absolutely not. Get out of here,” said Commander Rayburn.
“With respect, sir,” said Serene. “And meaning no offence to you or my fellow cadets, but while it might certainly be too much for the delicate, I am a woman, and scientifically we have more endurance than men—”
“Also, that candle so close to your papers is a fire hazard. I thought you should know.” Captain Woodsinger gave Elliot an appalled look. Elliot suspected she had never forgiven him for the child-predator remark.
“My mother always said men’s minds were unsuited to the rigors of command,” Serene murmured. “With respect, sir.” Captain Woodsinger smiled faintly. The commander did not.
“I agree with everything Serene and Elliot are saying,” Luke said. “Except the stuff about guys, obviously. Serene, you have to remember the cultural differences.” Serene inclined her head. “My apologies.” “And the fact that Elliot insulted me, which was completely rude and uncalled for.” Elliot smirked.
“What are you doing here?” Elliot demanded. “I’m worried about Serene,” said Luke. “No, I didn’t mean why did you come here,” Elliot explained. “How did you even know how to find this place? Did you get somebody to show you the way? Do you know what these objects on the shelves with all the words in them are called?” Luke did look somewhat out of place in the library and mildly uncomfortable about it, but in response he stopped looking uncomfortable and started looking annoyed.
“Okay, loser, quit bragging,” Elliot commanded.
“I don’t understand,” said Luke. “I don’t know how to express the depths of my surprise,” Elliot told him.
Luke thought this over, and then nodded. “All right. So we’ll work together on this. Truce?” “For the year,” said Elliot hastily. “We’re not friends.” “I’m not confused on that issue,” said Luke. He spat in his hand and held it out. “Deal?” Elliot backed away. “Ugh, no, I’m not touching your spit. That’s disgusting.” Luke flushed and wiped his hand off on his trousers. “It’s a totally normal—” “Save the performative manly exchange of bodily fluids for the people in your military training, loser!”
So Luke was saying that he was helping Serene out of the goodness of his heart, but naturally he assumed Elliot had no goodness to speak of. Because if Elliot’s code of honor wasn’t the same as Luke’s, it might as well not exist at all.
“If you must know, she is the one soul destined for my own, and we are going to be together forever,” he declared loftily. “That’s weird,” Luke told him. “We’re thirteen.”
“Elliot, don’t yell, we’ll get thrown out,” Serene grumbled, appearing rumpled in the stacks. “Merciful goddess, Luke, what are you doing in the library?” Luke looked betrayed.
“One thousand percent correct. You’re amazing. The richest dwarf mines?” “The Edda mines,” Luke chimed in, circling Serene. “No, no, shut your face, these questions are not for you,” Elliot said sternly. “But actually that is the correct answer, thank goodness, because if you had confused Serene with another wrong answer there would have been consequences.” Torchlight caught Luke’s grin before he lunged forward and met Serene’s defence.
“I have to say,” said Luke as they were walking back to the cabins. “I would’ve thought you’d give up well before now.” “Really,” said Elliot. “Because kids from my side of the Border don’t have any follow-through or honor? Or just because you think I don’t?” “You did say you were only helping because you . . . had a crush on Serene,” said Luke. “Excuse you,” said Elliot. “I worship her. Do not underestimate my feelings. My devotion is intense and will be enduring!” “I was trying to say something nice,” Luke said crossly. Elliot imagined that anyone else in the camp would have fallen all over
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Once he was in the darkness and relative privacy of the cabin—given that all his annoying roommates were doing was begging him to “get into bed” and “stop torturing us like this”—Elliot allowed himself to smile.
Spending time with Luke was not actually as painful as Elliot had assumed it would be. Not that Elliot intended to let him know that.
It was worth it, because Serene and Luke were both getting rather good, Elliot thought. He would’ve thought about being a teacher when he grew up, but Elliot knew himself, and he knew that the impressionable and tenderhearted should be protected from him.
“Hiiii,” Elliot said ingratiatingly as they approached. Myra and Peter looked surprised to see him, but—Elliot thought—not unhappy. Elliot was an expert in people being unhappy to see him.
Peter nodded eagerly. “I bet in your world, your name is really cool.” Elliot examined him for signs of sarcasm, and found none. “Yes,” he said at length.
Myra studied him. “My mother’s a dwarf, and my father’s human,” she said in the same defiant tone. “And you have a clan system!” Elliot said rapturously. “How is it different from the elf clan system? Wait, let me take notes.”
His classmates regarded him with expressions of exhaustion that Elliot found hurtful. They had only known him for a few weeks. People as young as they were should have more stamina.
“Sorry,” he said at length. “Am I boring you?” He usually was, and he usually realized it about now: twenty minutes too late. “No,” Myra told him. “It’s really cool that you want to hang out with us.”
“Usually you pal around with Luke Sunborn,” said Peter. Elliot stared at Peter in shocked betrayal, then transferred his gaze to Myra, who he now felt was his favorite of the two. Myra was also treacherous: she was nodding, her dark eyes shining. “To which of the students in this learning establishment do you refer?” Elliot asked haughtily. “I am not familiar with that name.” Myra and Peter stared at him. Elliot stared challengingly back. “You know, Luke Sunborn!” Peter said. Elliot shook his head firmly. “Not ringing a bell, sorry.” “He’s famous!” said Peter. “His whole family is famous!”
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