The Runaway

Chapter 23

He follows me into the building. It's big and tan. These buildings are so... unique.

There's a bunch of humans talking to others. A bunch look at us. They're jealous of my enormous ears.

What a thing to think.

We walk to a human who's on the other side of the counter. The counter is barely past my midsection. Why is everything so tall and why are they so tall?

Sylvian stays awfully close to me and is looking at all the shiny things they have here. Awe. They have so many weird looking things.

"What can I do for you guys?" The tall human asks.

"Do you guys buy gold?"

"Do you speak English?"

Does he not get to understand me? I shake my head.

"Māori?"

I shake my head again. He doesn't seem very happy. I read that humans are mad all the time.

"Do you want to buy something?"

I shake my head.

"Sell something?"

I nod.

"What do you want to sell?"

I turn around to Sylvian. He looks nervous.

"What happened?"

"Supposedly they can't understand me. Give me the coins."

"How many?"

"A few?"

He gives me a handful from his pocket. So that's what that noise was. I show the very tall man. He takes a coin and intently stares at the poor thing. He puts it on the glass counter.

"Are the coins real?"

Well duh... I hope so. I turn back to Sylvian.

"Are they real?"

"Yes. Are you insinuating something?"

"He asked and I didn't know. You're a very phony man."

He gives me a dirty face. I turn back around to the giant and nod. He is so skeptical, it is annoying. I don't have a reason to lie. The papers are important.

Too hungry to lie. While the man does a bunch of random things to the coins after taking them from me, I turn back around. All this turning is exhausting.

"They keep staring at us," he says.

I look around; indeed, they are.

"It's probably because we're elves. You know, pointy ears and stuff? And us elves and humans don't interact with each other. Well, now we do, only us though."

He looks at me confused. Oh my, this is my moment to be smarter.

"Do you not know the history?"

He shakes his head.

"Don't worry, I'll tell you when we have time."

He sighs. My face hurts from smiling. Once the tall man comes back, he tells us to follow him. We do so. This is the part where we get kidnapped because the humans want all our money.

None of it is mine, I gave it all to the lady at home for the sandwich. They're going to steal all of Sylvian's money. That wouldn't be very nice of them, but Sylvian can handle himself, I think. These humans are tall.

"Ten thousand dollars. Check?" he asks.

I have no idea what a check is, so I shake my head. Is that enough money? The tall man rolls his eyes before walking behind a door. He doesn't immediately come back. I turn back around. He's staring off in the distance, eyelids droopy. Awe.