Chapter 3
They had been sitting on the roof for hours. Or, at least it felt so. Where was the person they were supposed to meet?
They finally decided something must have happened to whoever it was that was supposed to meet them, and the two disheartened children began to head back to the home they had been so ready to leave.
They had just started to climb down from the roof when a voice called out, “Wait, you can’t go yet!”
They turned around to find the joker, huffing and puffing on the other side of the roof. He looked like he had just climbed up.
“What kept you?” Luca demanded, “We have been waiting for hours!”
“Shut up,” hissed Cam. “He might help us!”
Luca silently glared at his boots, which had suddenly grown substantially more fascinating than a moment before.
“Hello, Mr. Joker. It’s certainly nice to converse with you in a language besides Elven.”
“Many thanks to you, ma’am,” the joker said with a bow, and, this time addressing Luca, explained, “It wasn’t I who was supposed to be the one to come, but our neighborhood goblin no-showed. Mark my words, kids: never trust a goblin.”
They were both well-aware of the validity of that advice, but politely nodded their heads.
“So, what do we need to do?” Camden asked.
“You really are a businesswoman, aren’t you? So, you want to win the wise man’s sanctuary? Well, you simply must follow the set of directions in your cave. I hid them there a few minutes ago. See, that’s another reason I was late. Stupid goblin! If he had just done his work like we paid him to, I could still be asleep,” the joker trailed off, mumbling something about a goblin, a banana and a huge hairy nose.
“What, exactly, is a banana?” Luca began. “And how do you know where we live? That’s creepy!”
“You know, some of the most under-appreciated creatures in the world are the fairies. They know so much more than people think, they’re good at hiding, and their eyes and ears are simply remarkable. Though, their sense of taste could use some work. I mean, seriously, who doesn’t like truffles!”
Cam let that sink in. She had always just ignored fairies, she hadn’t even known they could talk! And the whole time they had been spying on her!
“Well, I’d better be off! I have six more elves to talk to tonight. And tomorrow I have to run a message through Williamsville. I hate doing my job. But hey, the pay is good!”
And that was the last they saw of the joker.
YOU ARE READING
The Puppeteer
FantasyLuca and Camden escaped the soldiers when they were six and eight. They have been hiding since, hoping the chance to fight back will come someday.
