Kas led Kenny, Anna, and Nikkolai to the largest tree he could find in the middle of the woods where he placed his wand against the bark, muttering the incantations needed to create a portal. The tree's bark swung open revealing a dark hole which the gang stepped through, leaving the smell of the ocean from the South Carolina breeze and entering into the bright green world of the elves.
Kas knew this was a long shot breaching a portal into the elven realm and he really hoped his old aquantaince, Vaeril decided to ask questions first before outright klling them. He glanced up into the sky, watching as three giant dragons approached them with Vaeril in the center.
The sun was temporarily blocked as the dragons descended, the blades of grass flattening around them as htey landed with a loud swishing of wings. Vaeril was one not to show emotion often compared to his siblings, however his face had grown pale in shock as he locked eyes with Kas.
"You died," Vaeril muttered as he stopped in front of Kas, studying the boy.
Kas grinned as he took the shocked elf under his arm like they were old pals laughing as he spoke, "How are you doing? Shocked right? Nikki here brought me back, but the dumbass got his group stuck in the past and we need the queen's help!"
Vaeril frowned, squirming his way out of the idiotic boy's grip. Kas had been nothing but trouble to the elves especially after aligning himself with their rivals, the fairies. However, his sister, the queen had been deeply upset when she heard of Kasim's death. He couldn't believe that this traitor had decided to seek the elf's help and even went as far as bringing three unauthorized individuals along with him.
"The Queen is out, I'm acting in her place," Vaeril snapped, "and I cannot help you."
"Well, I know that silly. You specialize in taming magic. You and kitty cat here would get along," Kas winked motioning to Anna.
Stop playing around, Kas, before I claw your eyes out, Anna scolded as she let out a hiss directed towards Kas.
"See, just as feisty as you!" Kas grinned.
Vaeril rolled his eyes as he glared at the Noble girl. If she was anything like her brother, then she would cause nothing but trouble here. He still couldn't believe that sneaky bastard had unleashed a herd of fire breathing goats on the castle before leaving the elven realm with the Sorceress a thousand years ago.
"When will the Queen be back?" Nikkolai questioned, interrupting his brother's jests before Kas lost his life from an elf's temper.
"I am not sure, she didn't inform me on her planned time of return," Vaeril responded.
"Well, where'd she go, we'd like to visit her!" Kas grinned.
"She's in California."
"California?" Nikkolai questioned.
Kenny's eyes widened in shock as all of the pieces clicked into place. Riley was protected by the elves. She also had been kept unaware of her abilities growing up, but seemed to master learning them at ease when her magic was awakened. He recalled hearing she had grown up in California, moving down in August because they had finally found her. It wouldn't be wise to head to California, Riley could not see them. Plus, Kenny knew that seeing her would be too heartbreaking for himself knowing her present self was in a coma with no guarantee of ever awakening.
"She went to protect Riley," Kenny gasped. Vaeril nodded his head in confirmation.
"Well, damn that sucks. Guess I'll have to do this myself because I really don't want to be an old fart when I can reunite with everyone," Kas sighed.
"If you fear being an old fart, Kenny would basically be a pedophile before he sees Riley again," Nikkolai snickered.
"Thanks for the reminder," Kenny grumbled.
"I can at least let you utilize our library, you may find something of assistance there," Vaeril stated as his eyes landed on Kenny. "Follow me."
The four climbed aboard the dragons before taking off and heading to the sky kingdom above. Kenny knew from his studies that there were several races of elves, but the Sky elves were the rulers of the whole realm possessing the most powerful magic. They had architectural fortresses built into the sky floating above all and was where the main castle was located that housed both the great elven library, and the Queen and her twin brother.
The elves had the forest, sea, and underground cities too all ruled by different elven families. They had a peace treaty not to go to war, but occasionally skirmishes would break out between the clans on the ground. Kenny studied the ground below as they flew, watching as all the small towns and villages spread out for the commoners. Kenny watched in awe as the dragons burst through the clouds, revealing the Sky castle, an intimidating and beautiful fortress that spanned several miles of the elven sky.
Amazing.
Kenny nodded. Anna was right, this was amazing. Nikkolai looked equally as amazed while Kas looked like he was about to barf.
"You ok?" Kenny shouted towards the boy riding behind Vaeril.
"Don't worry, he's just got a fear of heights," Nikkolai snickered.
"If it makes you feel any better, the Sorceress had the same reaction," Vaeril smirked, "though she had enough sense to close her eyes."
"I don't want to miss anything," Kas groaned, glad to see they were nearing the castle. He about kissed the ground when they finally landed, careful not to look down to the clouds below them.
Vaeril barely gave Kas anytime to recover as he led them into the castle and through many twisting halls and floors of beautifully sculptured walls and ceilings towards the giant Elven library. Kenny gasped in shock when the large wooden double doors were opened, revealing floors upon floors of nothing but books. He would be perfectly content spending an eternity in here if it was allowed.
Someone looks like a kid in the candy store.
Kenny rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms to glare at Anna.
"I'll leave you be," Vaeril stated, "if you have any questions, just call for the librarian."
With that, he shut the giant doors behind them, shutting the group in. Vaeril's footsteps could be heard, growing softer as he slowly walked back down the hall which they had just came from.
Nikkolai let out a sigh, eying all the books, "shit, I really hate reading."
"Shut up and start pulling anything that mentions time travel," Kasim ordered his brother.
Anna had already wandered off, selecting books at random off the shelves, flipping through them curious of what the Elf writing would contain compared to their spell books back in the Earth Realm. Kenny sighed, realizing this would take a while with Anna's search methods. She seemed only to be interested in the "pretty" books, leaving the old dusty ones on the shelf as she passed.
"So, Treeman, got any ideas?" Nikkolai grinned.
"Don't call me that," Kenny snapped storming off to search for the librarian. The Librarian would have the best idea of where they could find what they were searching for.
"Librarian?" Kenny called out.
There was a flash, before a familiar face from his past appeared in front of him. She was supposed to be dead, but was very much alive standing there with her dark chocolate colored eyes and wild black curls around her face.
"Donnie?" He gasped.
"Little brother!" She squealed pulling Kenny into a hug.
Kenny groaned at his half sister, a girl he only had the joy of meeting once in his lifetime. She was supposed to be dead, not here working in a library. Her death was what caused his other sister, Mel to snap and go on a rampage of killing all the wizards. Kenny wished he had known that when he actually went to battle against his sister. She had been unrecognizable in her grief and rage, no longer human but completely and totally a demon bent on destruction. If he only had realized it, he may have been able to bring Mel back, preventing this whole mess in the first place. Then again, if he had known and been able to save her, he wouldn't have ever met Riley. Call him selfish, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
"Who's this?" Kasim questioned suddenly appearing at Kenny's side with Nikkolai beside him studying the pretty teen in interest. She should be well over thousand years old, but still looked like she was in high school.
"Don't look so shocked, I am an elf after all," she grinned.
Anna came over, a questioning look on her face as she studied the teen the hormonal boys were practically drooling over while Kenny was pale as a ghost.
"You died," Kenny muttered. Donnie shrugged her shoulders shaking her head.
"No, you just thought I died. It was beginning to look suspicious that I hadn't aged hardly a day," she smiled, "father failed to mention I was full blooded elf. Mel was half elf of course, but my dad is actually one of the Princes."
"So you are an elf princess?" Kenny questioned.
"Not really, or not officially at least," she replied. "So how did you get stuck in the past?"
You can thank the dumbass right there, Anna stated as she projected her thoughts to everyone in the room.
Donnie grinned, glancing at Nikkolai who was blushing like crazy.
"Well, thank you Nikki for reuniting me with my brother. I wish I knew how to help you, but I'm at a loss."
"Then what are we doing here in the first place?" Nikkolai cried wearily eying all the books.
"I know every single book in this library. I'm sure something here would be of help, you just have to stumble across it," she winked.
"Librarian, my elf is rusty, will you help me translate?" Kasim questioned pulling a random book off the shelf as he approached Donnie, hovering close.
"Hey! Help me too!" Nikkolai pleaded stealing a book off the top of Anna's pile as he rushed forward.
"Stupid hormonal boys," Kenny spat narrowing his eyes on the two.
May I?
Kenny glanced down at Anna, her hand holding her wand as she aimed it towards the boys flirting with his sister. Kenny chuckled, nodding his head watching as the boys slowly shrank, before turning into two little mice scurrying around Donnie's feet squeaking like crazy. Anna softly purred as she skipped over, scooping up both mice in her hands, bringing them up to face her eyes, a devilish glint behind the sky blue orbs.
You're in timeout.
"Was that really necessary?" Donnie questioned.
Anna just shrugged her shoulders, letting the boys crawl up and take residence on her shoulders, squeaking in protest. Nikkolai tried to bite her, but Kas shoved his brother off her shoulder before he ended up regretting his decision, leading to a mouse fight on the ground.
"Good grief, they really are worse than Luke and Derek," Kenny groaned.
Aren't they adorable? You could just eat them, they look so delectable!
Both boys froze, looking up in fear at Anna peering down at them like a cat. Kenny diverted Anna's attention away, shoving a random fairtytail book in her hands for her to begin flipping through. She shrugged her shoulders, wandering back over to a loveseat sitting by giant windows that overlooked the elven realm below them. Anna kicked her feet up making herself at home as she read through the pages full of colorful pictures.
They spent most of their afternoon going through book after book realizing the search was pointless. Kenny dreaded the fact they might never get home to the present. The doors opening as arguing voices entered causing the library residents to lift their heads, investigating the noise. Vaeril chased after a platinum blonde woman dragging along a golden haired child who was looking at everything in awe.
"Your highness! She shouldn't be here!" Vaeril cried.
"No, I came to see for myself! I couldn't leave her alone!"
"But, they are here!" Vaeril protested
"I'll wipe her memory, now where is he? I have to see it for my own eyes!"
The Queen's eyes fell on the two mice peeping out from behind the bookshelf. The girl grinned as she skipped over and scooped up both mice in her hands before turnign to present them to the queen.
"Your majesty, are these the men you look for?"
The queen smiled, nodding her head, "yes, my dear. Sit them down so I can turn them back to normal."
The girl eagerly nodded, placing the mice on the table. The queen snapped her fingers, and both boys appeared sitting on the table. Kas lost his balance and fell forward, face planting on the ground.
"Thanks a lot, Val," he groaned.
But you are-
"That's enough, Anna," the queen spat.
"You know each other?" Kenny questioned. He noticed the girl was intently studying him causing him to blush as her amber eyes refused to blink, holding him captive in her gaze.
"So, m'lady? Did you come to help us return home?" Kas grinned.
"No, I came to see for my own eyes, you fool!" She cried slapping him across his face.
The girl slowly approached Kenny, a smile on her face. Her focus had only been on Kenny since she noticed him, completely ignoring the spat between Kasim and the Queen.
"Why do you look so sad?" She questioned, grabbing his hand.
"I'm not sad. Just annoyed," Kenny spat frowning at how forward she was with him even as a child.
"Why?" She questioned.
"For one, you just touch me without permission. Did your parents tell you not to approach strangers?" He frowned as her eyes flashed with hurt.
"But you're not a stranger," she whimpered, "you are that tree in my grandfather's forest. The tree I climb all the time. How are you human?"
"What is she rambling on about?" Nikkolai questioned.
"Why, the location of the tree is on Harvey Emrys's property in England!" Donnie grinned.
"Donella," Vaeril warned.
"What, it doesn't change anything. Actually, everything is going as planned," she winked.
"My niece, your premonition is always stronger than mine own," the queen sighed.
"Her majesty told me that all portals are found from the largest trees," Riley smiled. "Doesn't that mean you can get home?"
"Its not that simple. We have to go forward in time," Kas sighed. He groaned as Anna elbowed him warning him he was revealing to much.
"But I'm sure if you wish hard enough, you can reach your destination," Riley smiled at Kenny.
"Is she implying?" Vaeril questioned.
"Oh, why didn't I think of that! This solves everything!" Valeria grinned.
"What solves everything?" Kenny snapped.
"Currently in this time, you are a tree. Why, the largest tree in your forest. Therefore, you exist as your own portal," Valeria smirked, "Goldilocks here is always thinking outside the box!"
"Go home to whoever you are missing so bad!" Riley cried.
"Of course," Kenny smiled.
Riley smiled wider, happy she made the grumpy man break into an actual smile. Her tiny arms wrapped around his waist as she squeezed him into a hug. Kenny frowned, blushing as he glanced down at her.
"I wish you could stay longer, though!" Riley mumbled, "I like you better human!"
"Aww, Kenny and Riley sitting in a tree, K-I-" Nikkolai sang.
Anna snickered watching as Kas conjured duct tape over Nikkolai's mouth, stopping him mid song. Nikkolai frowned as he protested undistinguishable profanities under the tape.
Riley blushed as she glared at Nikkolai, "aren't you supposed to be sixteen, because you sure are acting like a five year old!"
Now I see why you love her so much, she doesn't hold back with her mind.
Kenny smirked, nodding his head in agreement as he ruffled Riley's hair, "Towers, that tongue of yours is going to get you in trouble one day," he chuckled.
"It is?" Riley muttered. Kenny grinned as he nodded.
Kenny turned his attention over to the others in the room, "well, now we know what direction to take, let's begin preparations for the spell to return home."
~~~~~
So, it looks like the gang will finally be returning to the present. Who else is shocked about that reveal on Kenny's past? Share your thoughts below!
Stay tuned as we return to the present and see if the Resistance is successful in rescuing Derek's brother from captivity. Will Derek go psycho again, or will he keep his temper in check? Keep reading to find out! ;)